Action Classic Double Feature - Draegerman Courage/Road Gang

Make 'em powerful, make 'em topical, and make 'em fast! One of the hallmarks of the 1930s at Warner Bros. was the studio's string of muscular, social-conscience B programmers that championed the downtrodden. Road Gang, scripter Dalton Trumbo's account of a reform-minded journalist (Donald Woods) unjustly sentenced to a brutal prison work camp, revisits the terrain of the studio's influential I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Next, frequent screen villain Barton MacLane plays the heroic leader of a desperate, 10-day effort to reach survivors of a mine cave-in in Draegerman Courage, a sturdy screen wallop that some say draws on a real-life incident. Brace for impact with these two rock-solid standouts!

• drama