Prisoners battle each other -- and the police -- when they escape the Colorado State Penitentiary.
Practical Effects
Shot inside real Colorado State Penitentiary with actual inmates as extras.
Direction
Wilbur's documentary-style staging makes every corridor feel like a trap.
Acting
Scott Brady's desperation feels borrowed from genuine convict exhaustion.
Director
Crane Wilbur
Scott Brady
Sherbondy
Jeff Corey
Schwartzmiller
Whit Bissell
Heilman
Stanley Clements
New
Charles Russell
Tolley
DeForest Kelley
Smalley
Ralph Byrd
Officer Gray
Mabel Paige
Mrs. Oliver
Henry Brandon
Freeman
Robert Bice
Morgan
Ray Bennett
Willie Bennett
Robert Kellard
Officer Winston R. Williams
Cay Forester
Mrs. Wilson
Paul Scardon
Joe Bondy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Crane Wilbur was so committed to authenticity that he used real guards, real cells, and real prisoners — some of whom had participated in the actual 1947 riot that loosely inspired the plot.
This was part of a brief 1948-49 cycle of 'prison docu-noirs' that collapsed once the Production Code cracked down on films that seemed to glamorize criminal behavior — Canon City walked the line by being too bleak to glamorize anything.
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