I was really quite impressed by this movie. The Last Mile is an account of death row inmates awaiting execution. This has been a common theme in movies over the years, of course, but The Last Mile dates all the way back to 1932. In case you're wondering, it is not a silent picture, nor is the video quality bad at all. The film suffers somewhat from its strident political viewpoint, but it does make for fascinating viewing.

Walters is the man brought into cell # 5, having been convicted of murdering his business partner in cold blood. He's innocent, but that doesn't really matter now that he's in the big house. We soon come to know all the men in the death house to some degree, and most of them are depicted in a much more favorable fashion than the prison guards. One man possesses a rich singing voice, another one drives everyone crazy with his howls and poetic tirades, one plays the macho prisoner constantly letting the guards have it while trying to buck up the spirits of the guys like Walters, etc. The audience is treated to an extended scene featuring one prisoner's walk down that last mile to the door of the execution chamber. It makes for a poignant scene, but it also highlights the issues I had with the film. The film announces its vocal anti-death penalty stance in the very first frame of the film (in the form of an introductory note), and it never wavers from the predetermined focus. The convicts are all basically nice guys who are scared and nervous about their imminent deaths, while the prisoners are brutes who like nothing more than to rub the coming executions' in the noses of the condemned. Looking death in the eye, the convicts worry about their families, lament the fact that they have so much to live for, and generally present themselves as men being unduly punished by an unjust system. Oddly enough, not one man utters a word of remorse or even acknowledgement for the crimes that put him in the situation in the first place.

Even after the prisoners get the jump on the guards and seize control of the death house, they are still presented in a favorable light. We are apparently still supposed to feel sorry for them because the system has forced them to take such drastic, murderous action. In The Last Mile, everything is always the fault of society and the law; if it weren't for that bad old death penalty, such things would not happen - or so we are led to believe. This film clearly fits the mold of propaganda, in my opinion, yet I can't deny the fact it is a well-made, gripping film.