Black Tuesday 1954

A violent con, Vincent Canelli, Edward G. Robinson escapes prison on the night of his execution. With the help of a phony newspaper reporter and Canelli’s girlfriend, Hatti Combest Jean Parker, who has planned the escape, the gang abducts five hostages: the prison priest, the prison doctor, one of the guards, the young reporter whose place has been taken by one of the gang, and the daughter of another guard. This young woman is kidnapped to force her father — who, unlike the guard who is taken hostage, always treats the death row inmates well — to facilitate the escape.

Another inmate, Peter Manning Peter Graves, is taken along because Canelli wants the large amount of stolen money Manning hid before going to jail. He killed someone during the robbery, and refuses to reveal to the authorities where the money is unless his death sentence is changed to a life sentence. All of the other death row inmates are taken along too, but Manning is injured badly in the escape. He is treated by the hostage prison doctor, Vic Perrin, and when he regains consciousness, is disturbed to learn that Canelli abandoned the other three inmates; they did not know the escape was going to happen, and have nowhere to go, and no one and nothing to help them in their escape, unlike Canelli. The search for these prisoners will dilute the pursuit of Canelli and make his escape easier. Manning and Hatti go to collect the money, but his wound reopens and a bank security officer spots the blood, recognizes Manning’s photo in the newspaper, and catches a glimpse of the getaway vehicle and its license plate.

The gang ends up at a hideout, but as they prepare to flee the country with the loot, they’re surrounded by police. Canelli threatens to kill hostages if he’s not given safe passage; he shoots and seriously injures one of the hostages, and murders the kidnapped prison guard to make his point. He then plans to throw the injured hostage down from the upper floor to his death. This is finally too much for Manning, and he ends up killing Canelli, then deliberately goes out to the police with his gun in his hand, rather than go back to death row.