Riot in Cell Block 11 (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray + DVD)

 

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• Brand Name: Ingram Entertainment Mfg#: 715515114615
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• Genre: PB DRAMA
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Directed by Don Siegel

(6 customer reviews)

DESCRIPTION: 

Early in his career, Don Siegel (The Killers) made his mark with this sensational and high-octane but economically constructed drama set in a maximum-security penitentiary. Riot in Cell Block 11, the brainchild of producer extraordinaire Walter Wanger (Foreign Correspondent), is a ripped-from-the-headlines social-problem picture about prisoners' rights that was inspired by a recent spate of uprisings in American prisons. In Siegel's hands, the film is at once brash and humane, showcasing the hard-boiled visual flair and bold storytelling for which the director would become known and shot on location at Folsom State Prison, with real inmates and guards as extras.

Riot in Cell Block 11 (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray + DVD) REVIEW FROM REAL BUYERS:

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
need this on dvd
By Michael Noronowicz
great movie , i had it on vhs . this 1954 classic movie needs to be on DVD the film shows neville brand starring in this as one of the inmates that riots for better rights in the prison a very good storyline

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Classic Prison Drama
By Michael B. Druxman
If producer Walter Wanger hadn’t gone to prison for shooting theatrical agent Jennings Lang in the lower region of his body, RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 might never have been made. Wanger pulled the weapon on Lang because he believed that the agent was having an affair with his wife, actress Joan Bennett.

The producer only served a four-month term in a minimum-security correctional facility, but he emerged from that experience with some strong feelings about prison reform. That, and the fact that there was a spate of prison riots across the country during the early 1950s, motivated Wanger to make the 1954 film, now a minor classic of the genre.

Written by Richard Collins, directed by Don Siegel and actually shot at Folsom Prison, RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 is a vigorous, violent drama about desperate men pushed to their limit; trying to regain a portion of their humanity. The cast is filled with many familiar faces; character actors who seldom got the opportunity during their careers to play roles as rich as these.

Neville Brand and Leo Gordon are the ringleaders of the riot, taking guards as hostages to insure that their demands for better prison conditions are met. Robert Osterloh is another convict, a passive member of the rebellion, who helps Brand better frame the demands, and Emile Meyer, as the warden, and Frank Faylen, as the governor’s representative, are the authority figures.

Siegel’s direction is gritty, fast paced; his scenes often shocking. If the movie has a flaw, it is an over abundance of speechifying about prison reform.

RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 has now been released by The Criterion Collection in a 2K digital restoration; two-disc set (Blu-Ray/DVD). Extras include audio commentary by film scholar Matthew H. Bernstein, excerpts from Don Siegel’s autobiography and Stuart Kaminsky’s 1974 book about the director, both read by Siegel’s son, actor Kristoffer Tabori, excerpts from a 1953 radio documentary about prison reform, plus a booklet with an essay by critic Chris Fujiwara, a 1954 article by Walter Wanger and a tribute to Siegel written by director Sam Peckinpah.

© Michael B. Druxman

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Leo Gordon
By Marty A. Silvert
Leo Gordon, who plays one of the convict leaders was once a convict himself in San Quentin. Gordon served a stretch in San Quentin prison for armed robbery. "Riot in Cell Block 11" was filmed at San Quentin, and many of the guards remembered Gordon from his time there, when he was regarded as a troublemaker. Prison officials would not let Gordon enter and leave the institution with the other cast and crew members; he was only allowed to enter and exit by himself, and was thoroughly searched each time.

This is a very good movie and is a good example of movies made in the 1950', especially when directed by Don Siegel

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