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Plot

William K. Howard, a once-prestigious director fallen on hard times in 1939, proved that he still had the "right stuff" with the modest tearjerker Back Door to Heaven. Wallace Ford stars as Frankie, a pugnacious drifter stigmatized by his reform-school upbringing. Frankie and his former "classmate" Jud (Stu Erwin) try to go straight, but get mixed up in a robbery, during which a man is killed. Though not responsible for the murder, it is Frankie who is railroaded to the death house. Nonetheless, he manages to bust out -- just in time for his grammar school class reunion, presided over by teacher Miss Williams (Aline MacMahon), the only person who ever tried to give Frankie a break. Despite severe storytelling shortcomings and gaping logic holes, director Howard managed to make a silk purse out of the critically acclaimed Back Door to Heaven. However, what may once have been social realism, now seems more like a sentimental, mawkish melodrama.
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
85min.
Theatrical Release Date:
09/15/2008
DVD Release Date:
11/23/2004
Distributor(s):
Paramount
Director(s):
William Howard
Starring:
Wallace Ford , Aline MacMahon , Stuart Erwin , Patricia Ellis , Bert Frohman
Themes:
Teachers and Students,Down on Their Luck,Escape From Prison,Crime Gone Awry
Tone:
Bleak,Downbeat,Tearjerking
Keywords:
class-reunion,drifter,murder,prison-escape,reformatory,robbery
Language:
English