Blackwell's Island Reviews

Garfield is a tough investigative reporter who makes a crusade of exposing and sending to prison big-time mobster Fields. Once Fields is incarcerated, however, Garfield hears that the powerful hood has set himself up as king of the cell block by using his influence with politicians and the warden. Outraged, the reporter gets himself thrown into prison to gather first-hand information and expose the corrupt dealings. Fields discovers his presence and trys to kill Garfield, but the reporter escapes and blows the whistle on the whole crooked operation. There is a very funny bit in which Garfield is purposely given prison clothes too large for him. An identical scene occurred years earlier with Spencer Tracy in 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING--Warners was never a studio to throw away a good bit if one more guffaw could be squeezed out of it. A definite quickie for Garfield, who is good in the film, but by this point in his career he had proved himself capable of starring in better pictures. The script idea was based on actual prison conditions at New York's Welfare Island in 1934.