Hell’s Highway (1932)

In yet another entry in the ‘prisons are hellish nightmares’ series, this film has Richard Dix as a career criminal planning an escape from the brutal prison camp he currently inhabits. At the moment of egress, he discovers his young brother has recently been ensconced in the same camp. The film depicts the horrors of forced labor camps, here building the satirically named Liberty Highway, and the murderous results when the prisoners couldn’t perform. The ending is hokey and contrived, but the film isn’t bad beyond that. Plus Louise Beavers appears, albeit very shortly, in a non-maid role.