This 1941 film was the first of twenty Donna completed under her
seven year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It premiered in
Denison, Iowa that June during the town's celebrated Donna Mullenger
Day.
The Get-Away is a story about an FBI agent going undercover as a
prisoner to infiltrate an organized crime gang. While in prison, he
shares a cell with the gang's boss to gain his confidence. Once
that is achieved, the agent executes a preplanned escape so that he
and the boss can rejoin the gang. Along the way, he falls for the
mobster's beautiful sister played by Donna. The ensuing story comes
to a climax when the federal agents face off the gang in a blaze of
glory.
Publicity material from this film often refers to Donna Adams, the
first stage name given to her by the studio as an alternative to
her Mullenger name. This name was short lived, however, as there
was already another actress by the name of Donna Adams somewhere else.
After exploring a few other alternatives, they settled on Donna Reed,
the name she carried for the rest of her career.
Cast
- FBI Agent Jeff Crane - Robert Sterling
- Dr. Josiah Glass - Charles Winninger
- Maria Theresa O'Reilly - Donna Reed
- Warden Alcott - Henry O'Neill
- Mobster Sonny Black - Dan Daily, Jr.
- Jiff Duff - Don Douglass
- "Moose" - Ernest Whitman
- Parker - Grant Withers
