Millonarios en prisión

Millionaires in Prison (1940)

** (out of 4)

Silly "B" picture from RKO about four businessmen who go to prison for embezzlement and we see the "changes" they make while behind bars. Whenever I see a movie come up on Turner Classic Movie and it involves prison, it always gets recorded because the Golden Age of Hollywood usually delivered some pretty good prison films. Sadly, this here isn't one of the good ones despite some fine performances. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which just offers up way too many cliché moments as well as some really stupid plot twists and turns. One such moment is some comic relief when two of the men want better food to eat during their stay. Um, not funny. Another weird twist happens towards the end and involves a doctor needing to do something good but I won't spoil it for you. Again, at just 63-minutes the film seems twice as long and that's never good when you're watching a second-tier picture. The one saving grace are the fine performances scattered throughout the film. Lee Tracy is extremely good in his leading role and we get nice support from Raymond Walbum, Morgan Conway, Linda Hayes and even Shemp Howard has a nice role that you wouldn't expect to see him in. Still, MILLIONAIRES IN PRISON just doesn't have enough credibility to work.