mark.waltz This amusing but dated and corny musical short shows how escaped inmates from a hard as nails prison miss out on the glamorization of their cells when the warden decides to make a few changes after they are notified of an upcoming inspection of prison conditions. It basically turns into a Busby Berkeley like visit as chorus girls, singing inmates and other entertainers get to show their stuff. "Steak again? What I wouldn't give for some beans!" one prisoner basically says, their dirty uniforms altered into almost like tuxedo like outfits. In the meantime, the prisoners interrupt a college picnic, hide from their pursuers in a pond (one of them squirting one of the dogs on their trail with water out of the straw providing them with air), then desperately try to return when they hear about the good times going on. One diminutive prisoner desperately wants to go back to the rock pile thanks to a nagging wife while the others who forced him to escape want to partake of the good times they're missing. The dogs on their chase are your every day "nellie dog", chasing the prisoners on their hind legs with their coiffed tales wagging in the breeze. It's all in good fun, and the final shot is hysterically funny. More a curio than a work of art, it's nostalgia at its most eye-rolling silly, and I think most of the laughs are at its expense rather than with it.

MartinHafer Of all the ludicrous places to set a musical short, some very kooky people at Vitaphone thought it would be a great idea to have it be on a chain gang!! Yes, when I think of song and dance, I often think of chain gangs!! When the film starts, the chain gang is singing up a storm and having an awfully good time, or so it seems. Some of these guys actually DO want to escape and they soon bolt towards freedom. Go figure...as it looked awfully amusing on the chain gang! Soon the law goes chasing after these fellows and the escapees wander upon a swell dance party...and everyone runs away when they see these guys in striped uniforms. Little do the escapees know that they SHOULD have stayed with the gang. This is because in the meantime, a committee is coming to inspect the barracks and the health of the chain gang. Because of this the boss decides to make a few 'small changes' to impress the committee. This actually is VERY funny...and you just have to see it for yourself. And what does happen to these five escapees? Just see it for yourself...you won't regret it.This movie manages to work for one reason...it is completely ludicrous and silly. Anthing else would have been in bad taste and stupid....and while this one is very stupid, it's stupid in a GOOD way! Very cute and surprisingly funny...and a nice counterpoint to Warner's big hit from the year before, "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang".

fredcdobbs5 I don't mind parodies at all--I loved "The Producers" and think "Springtime for Hitler" is terrific--but the people who did this travesty hadn't the slightest idea of what a parody was. This schizophrenic little short doesn't quite know what it's supposed to be--it bounces from slapstick comedy to musical numbers to (somewhat) serious comments on the brutal chain-gang system, and fails miserably at all of them. The lead "comic", someone named Jerry Bergen, was someone I had never seen before and, hopefully, won't see again. As bad as this short is, he makes it even worse, and with his incessant mugging, shouting and forced slapstick he manages to combine the worst excesses of Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey into one annoying and talentless little twerp.If there's anything that could be even remotely considered to be a bright spot, it's a bevy of scantily dressed chorus girls doing a Radio City Rockette-type production number in the prison's chow hall--don't ask--and there's an amusing bit where the prison authorities track down the escaped prisoners not with large bloodhounds but with small poodles. Other than that, this atrocity has absolutely nothing whatsoever going for it.

Michael_Elliott 20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)** (out of 4) During the 1930s Warner was known for their hard-hitting social dramas and I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG was one of their greatest. This two-reeler is a spoof of that film and centers on a group of chain gang workers who grow tired of the horrid conditions so they decide to escape. Soon afterwards they get word that the prison has made some terrific changes so the men decided they want to break back in. 20,000 CHEERS FROM A CHAIN GANG has a pretty good title but that's about the only good thing going for it. It wasn't rare for Warner to spoof their features in their short films so this here certainly isn't anything new but at the same time very little is done with it. There are a few funny moments scattered throughout the film including one bit where the men are being chased by the dogs but the dogs turn out to be poodles and other non-threatening breeds. Another funny moment happens when the men try to break their chains but have a few issues. With that said, there are several moments that simply aren't funny and at times the film just comes across very boring and flat. This includes the entire second half of the picture where we see all the "changes" that were made but I assure you none of them will add any entertainment value.