Producer-writer extraordinaire Mark Hellinger followed his groundbreaking hit The Killers (1946) with the most hardboiled prison picture ever made. The “men on the inside” (Burt Lancaster, Howard Duff, John Hoyt, and Whit Bissell) are matched against hideously sadistic prison captain Hume Cronyn, all while pining for their “women on the outside” (Ann Blyth, Yvonne De Carlo, Ella Raines and Anita Colby). Superbly crafted by director Dassin, this picture is a classic example of post-World War II noir realism that, once seen, can never be forgotten.