Paul Muni delivers a performance that earned an Academy Award nomination in this brutal expose of prison conditions based on the autobiography that changed the United States' penitentiary system--I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang. When broke, would-be architect James Allen (Muni--Bordertown) is wrongly arrested and convicted for a small-time holdup, he is sent to prison to work on a chain gang. After enduring years of hard labor that kills many prisoners, Allen escapes and builds a successful new life. But his landlady (Glenda Farrell--Torchy Blane films) learns the truth and blackmails Allen into marriage, although he is in love with another woman.