Very well executed

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

. . . as Humphrey Bogart, born in 1899, pretends to be a 25-year-old (apparently stricken with one of those premature aging diseases). A chain smoker, Bogart could more plausibly pass for 60 than 25 at this point in his film career. To rub salt in viewers' wounded sensibilities, the plot of SAN QUENTIN is a garble of Sunday School hogwash, no doubt scribbled out during rest breaks from Latin recitals. Bogart's character "Kennedy" could have seen his son become a U.S. president. Instead, minions of the lemon-sucking One Per Cent, represented here by "Steve Jameson" (Pat O'Brien) glory in their hypocrisy while wallowing in corruption as great as that found in present day Russia or China. Jameson makes one desperate attempt after another to charm the bloomers off Kennedy's sister, in a clear conflict of interest with his duties as guard captain at Kennedy's prison. He sets up Kennedy's escape, then lies to uniform cops to aid and abet a fleeing felon. (If this is not a Capital Crime, then there's no justice in America.) Since the bozos on the ecclesiastical board of U.S. Censors contend that they have a Divine Dispensation to overlook all sins of the Rich, they felt no qualms in letting Mr. O'Brien's Lord Fauntleroy character come out smelling like a rose at the end of his crime spree which resulted in Kennedy's and others' deaths. When you're wondering how America could build up so much Bad Karma to deserve the horrible losses we suffered in WWII, you need not look much beyond SAN QUENTIN.

This is a good solid entertaining formulated prison picture that stars Pat O'Brien & Humphrey Bogart in good form & backed by an excellent cast of Warner Bros. contract players such as Ann Sheridan, Barton Maclane, Joseph Sawyer, Veda Ann Borg etc. Pat O'Brien is the Army Captain Steve Jameson that takes over as the new warden of San Quentin Prison replacing Lt. Druggin (Barton Maclane)who's reduced to a tough prison guard. Humphrey Bogart portrays Joe "Red" Kennedy a small time crook that gets arrested & lands in the Big House & comes face to face with Captain Jameson who thinks Kennedy can be rehabilitated. Bogart is in his element as the tough convict Red Kennedy but also has some depth & dimension predating Roy Earle in High Sierra. Not just another one dimensional type gangster Bogart so often played in the 30's.San Quentin doesn't bring anything new to the genre in 1937, the early 30's already introduced audiences to prison life in The Big House, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing & I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang. San Quentin is a very watchable prison movie with a winning formula that works if you like the genre. I love prison movies & if it was good enough for Spencer Tracy, Paul Muni, George Raft & James Cagney then it was good enough for Humphrey Bogart.All these actors were part of the Rogues Gallery of Thugs that excelled in gangster films & did time in the Big House. This is a very fast paced story that packs a lot of elements in just 70 minutes. We see a singing Ann Sheridan, a prison strike, a rifle carrying bible thumping nut ball & of course the inevitable prison escape climaxed by an exciting high speed chase that involves cars, motorcycles, a freight train, spectacular crashes & dare devil stunts. I have this & several other early Bogart & Spencer Tracy movies on VHS & I'm quite pleased to find San Quentin out on commercial DVD, of course I had to buy it & there's even a commentary for this. Which tells me that San Quentin is a fairly significant movie worthy of some attention & praise. Bogart gets 2nd billing to Pat O'Brien, Bogie was previously in Marked Woman 2nd billed to Bette Davis as a crusader of justice. But in 1936 Bogart had the lead role as a factory auto worker in Black Legion, released in 1937. 1937 was a good year for Bogart. His next film was Dead End.

"San Quentin" was Humphrey Bogart's 21st picture, his fifth of seven in the year 1937 alone, and the ninth following his 1936 breakthrough in "The Petrified Forest." In this one he plays Joe "Red" Kennedy, who goes to the titular big house as a young tough and comes under the wing of an even tougher bird, "Sailor" Hansen, well played, as usual, by Warner Bros. character actor Joe Sawyer. The new "captain of the yard," underplayed nicely by the always dependable Pat O'Brien, enters into a romance with Kennedy's sister May, a sassy and brassy nightclub singer appealingly portrayed by Ann Sheridan, whilst causing resentment in the previous captain, the forever growling Barton MacLane. This was an important role for Bogey, in a relatively minor (though undeniably fun) picture, in that it provided him with his first "criminal with a heart of mush" role, a role that would see its apotheosis four years later in "High Sierra." "San Quentin" is a remarkably compact film, and it really is something how much action and story are crammed into its brief 70 minutes. Director Lloyd Bacon does keep things moving; his film is filled with swiftly delivered, hard-boiled patter, and an aborted prison strike, an escape attempt, a dynamite high-speed car chase, a romance and even a nightclub number (Ann's rendition of the very bright and bouncy "How Could You?") keep things percolating right along. There is no flab or wasted moments in this Warner Bros. outing, that's for sure! Although not quite in the same exalted league as Bogey's next picture, "Dead End," "San Quentin" does still deliver the goods. It is a must-see for fans of any of the stars mentioned above, especially for those who want to see Bogey's star early on and unmistakably on the rise....

This type of picture was playing pretty constantly since the beginning of talkies (eg. I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and even the even earlier The Big House).Pat O'Brien plays the tough but fair warden who's trying to give the good cons a break and the bad cons what they deserve. He makes one mistake, though and that's falling for one con's sister.Yeah, sounds pretty clichéd, doesn't it. There is even an obligatory escape sequence and guess who has to die? If you know anything about the early movie career of Humphrey Bogart, you will not be surprised.Still, the actors under contract to Warner Bros. give it their all, especially Pat O'Brien and even more so Barton MacLane as the Lieutenant with a thorn in his side. MacLane played this role pretty much in every movie he was in.Bogart does what he can with the role of the criminal trying to go straight but he is pretty much a cog in the plot machine. Ann Sheridan as his sister is pretty much relegated to looking worried and otherwise look good.The movie moves with a rapid pace. Not a minute is wasted, only for maybe one song. The production values are pretty good considering this is a B-picture and the movie also has some humor.So, it isn't Gone with the Wind but what is?