You Only Live Once (1937)

You Only Live Once is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Considered an early film noir, the film was the second directed by Lang in America. At least 15 minutes were trimmed from the original 100-minute version of the film due to its then unprecedented violence. Despite the absence of such scenes, the film was initially successful and is an early film noir classic.

Synopsis

Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda) is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. He marries but is then wrongly convicted for a bank robbery in which six people are killed. He is sentenced to death by electrocution. On the eve of his execution a gun smuggled into the execution area enables him to escape. During the escape he unintentionally kills the prison chaplain. The chaplain was trying to convince Eddie that he has had a last minute pardon. This is because the body of the guilty bank robber and the getaway vehicle with the stolen money have just been recovered from a lake.

Actors