IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7.8K
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The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.
Charles 'Chic' Sale
- Ethan
- (as Chic Sale)
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams
- Rogers
- (as Guinn Williams)
Earl Askam
- Corridor Guard
- (uncredited)
Hooper Atchley
- Teletype Operator
- (uncredited)
Allen Black
- Baby Taylor
- (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone
- Rafferty - Guard
- (uncredited)
Ward Bond
- Casey - Guard
- (uncredited)
Wade Boteler
- Pat - Policeman with Package
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile his previous film Fury (1936) -- his first American film -- had gone down well with critics, the Hollywood brass were unsure what to make of Fritz Lang and his politicized films. To the rescue came his Fury star Sylvia Sidney, who loved working with him and urged her producer Walter Wanger to consider him for the directing job on this film. Ironically, Lang gained a reputation on this film for being difficult to work with, resulting in his not working for another 18 months.
- GoofsAt about the 30 minute mark, Eddie is looking out the window of the flophouse with a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand. A man enters, telling him that there's a phone call for him. Eddie flicks the cigarette out the window, but the next shot shows him running down the stairs with it still between the fingers of his right hand where it remains for the entire phone conversation until he drops it to the floor.
- Quotes
Joan Graham: Anywhere's our home. On the road. Out there on a cold star. Anywhere's our home.
- ConnectionsEdited into Dillinger (1945)
Featured review
In Fritz Lang's second American movie, 1937's "You Only Live Once" (not twice), Sylvia Sidney, aka "the Face of the Depression," plays what must be the loyalist girlfriend/wife in screen history. Her man, three-time loser Eddie Taylor (played by a pre-"Grapes" Henry Fonda), has just been released from prison, and wastes little time getting himself into all sorts of trouble again. But Sylvia is all forgiveness, and even takes it on the lam with him in her gravid condition, in one of Hollywood's earliest instances of criminal lovers on the lam...a genre that would later produce such classics as "They Live By Night" (1949), "Gun Crazy" (1949), "Badlands" (1973) and, of course, 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde." Although "You Only Live Once" creaks a bit here and there, I must say that this in one very involving film. Sidney and Fonda make a marvelous team, and it is nice to see Barton MacLane playing a nice guy for a change, instead of his usual growling bully. Lang's roots in German expressionism are evident here, as shown particularly in the design of Fonda's isolated prison cell, during a fog-enshrouded prison break, and in that final, heavenly shot. The film is a bit bleak and depressing, as decent characters fight futilely against their fates, but the filmmakers leave little doubt whose side they're on. And, to its credit, the film shows very vividly how dangerous it can be to give in to the temptation to purchase a pack of smokes! Oh...this DVD is in fair condition at best, revealing a damaged print source, and with zero extras to speak of. If ever a film warranted a restoration...
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Three Time Loser
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $575,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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