Mill Creek Entertainment and Columbia have done us another big favor, this time assembling a big collection from the big house (for a February 2016 release): Tales From The Prison Yard. It gives us six prison movies, ranging from a Sam Katzman quickie to Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail (1973). For me, the attraction is two more Fred F. Sears pictures to add to my collection.
Convicted (1950)
Directed by Henry Levin
Starring Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell, Dorothy Malone, Will Geer
Cell 2455 Death Row (1955)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring William Campbell, Marian Carr, Kathryn Grant, Harvey Stephens, Vince Edwards
Escape From San Quentin (1957)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring Johnny Desmond, Merry Anders, Richard Devon, Roy Engel
City Of Fear (1959)
Directed by Irving Lerner
Starring Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer, Patricia Blair, Steven Ritch
The Valachi Papers (1972)
Directed by Terence Young
Starring Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura, Jill Ireland, Joseph Wiseman
The Last Detail (1973)
Directed by Hal Ashby
Starring Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James, Carol Kane
The Hannibal 8 
Toby,as I mentioned over at FWOTF,
I thought this collection would be wonderful
if THE VALACHI PAPERS and THE LAST DETAIL
were substituted with a couple more Katzman’s.
I’ve never seen THE VALACHI PAPERS and enjoyed
THE LAST DETAIL at the time,but it’s not the kind of
picture I’m into these days.
I know Bronson and Nicholson have more pulling
power than Johnny Desmond and William Campbell.
As a demented B Movie junkie this set would have been
beyond sensational if it included the Katzman’s
STATE PENITENTIARY and CHAIN GANG.
(Both Columbia’s BTW)
CHAIN GANG sees Sam in a rare “social comment”
mode.
Another flick lurking in Columbia’s vaults is the non
Katzman PRISON WARDEN which like STATE PENITENTIARY
was the cinema swan song for Warner Baxter.
At the moment,of course Mill Creek are only releasing
“previously released” Columbia titles in their ultra low
priced sets,I hope this will change.
I hope in the future we will get Sam Katzman Western
Collections and a William Castle Western Collection.
A Jungle Jim collection would be most welcome as well.
Furthermore Mill Creek could really make Toby’s day and issue
a ten film collection of Fred Sears movies,Heaven knows
there are plenty to choose from.
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