Canon City (1948, Dir: Crane Wilbur)
This exciting film noir drama, shot in semi-documentary style, reenacts a
real-life Colorado prison break of 1947. Scott Brady (younger brother of
tough-guy actor Lawrence Tierney) stars as a good-natured inmate caught in
the middle as the escaped convicts terrorize the town. The cast also
includes Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell, Star Trek's DeForest Kelley, and in a
documentary preface, the prison's real-life warden and convicts.

The excellent photography was by the legendary Hungarian cinematographer
John Alton. Director Crane Wilbur began his movie career in 1914,
co-starring with Pearl White in The Perils of Pauline. He switched from
acting to screenwriting and ultimately directing, making several prison
films along the way. His 1950 film Outside The Wall was shot in
Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, and his next film, Inside the
Walls of Folsom Prison, inspired Johnny Cash to write one of his first hit
records.