Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Micitype Pretty Good

Lawbolisted Powerful

mark.waltz That leaves out Agnes Moorhead as the moral superintendent fighting against veteran matron Hope Emerson who brings her charges anything but hope. She's of the belief that the women deserve to be treated like animals, often passive aggressively being cruel with seemingly kind words. For newcomer Eleanor Parker, a 19 year old accused of being accessory to armed robbery, she learns a great deal in her stint in prison, going from sweet innocent to cynical as she views the shocking cruelties. Betty Garde, as a small time vice queen, faces her hatred of Emerson's Evelyn Harper with the arrival of higher class vice queen Lee Patrick. This is degradation of women by women at it's highest, with lots of hints of sadistic lesbianism thrown in as well.Terrifically written and acted, this was a star making part for Parker, already a veteran but much praised for her detailed performance. Moorhead is excellent as well, presented softer than normal as to increase the maliciousness of Emerson's vile matron. Smaller roles played by Jan Sterling, Ellen Corby and Gertrude Hoffman are other standouts. Wearing little to no makeup, Patrick makes her lust towards Parker plenty obvious. Unlike other women's prison movies, this lacks the camp quotient, although there's plenty of opportunity to make some of the more melodramatic moments into something humorous.Holding it's own nearly 70 years after release, this is going to be the film for which Hope Emerson will always be remembered. Along with Margaret Hamilton's wicked witch and Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers, her sinister matron is one of the best female villains in movie history. This made important points about the abuse of authority and the inhumanity towards inmates that makes no effort to rehabilitate those who have become desperate enough to break the law. There had been women's prison movies before ("Ladies They Talk About", "Sorority House") and after ("Women's Prison", "House of Women") that tried to limit the camp elements (and many more that did not), but "Caged" is the best of the lot on every level.

John austin Caged is a taut, well played prison drama with Eleanor Parker as Marie Allen, a naive, pregnant nineteen year old who gets a stretch in stir for a small time crime. She struggles to maintain her innocence and holds onto the hope of an early parole and leading a clean life. A hardened inmate tries to recruit here into a crime ring on the outside but she resists until all of her defenses are finally broken by life on the inside. Prison life becomes hopeless after Marie's parole is denied and her mother refuses to care for her newborn, forcing her to put him up for adoption. She finally leaves prison a hardened woman with an underworld hookup waiting for her on the outside. It's a dark, film noir type ending for a movie like this- no happy ending for our heroine, even though she finally does get out of prison. There's some social commentary about prison reform woven into this movie. Agnes Moorhead plays the concerned, reform-minded warden against rigid prison officials and a corrupt, hard minded matron played by Hope Emerson (who made a career in tough woman roles). They make a good pitch in this movie, but progressive ideas in corrections were still some years away when this movie was made. We can only imagine what the writers of this movie would say if they were around to see how those reforms have worked out.

sol- Imprisoned as an accomplice to armed robbery, a wide-eyed pregnant teen is gradually hardened by the system in this seminal prison movie starring Eleanor Parker. Disowned by her stepfather and with her husband killed in the robbery, Parker plays a character very alone in the world and while her transformation may be predictable, she absolutely nails it. There is a great moment when the ostensibly toughened Parker shows her inmates how to successfully perform a swindle and the camera lingers on her afterwards as she stares at her hands and wonders what she has become. Parker's most powerful scene though involves an innocent kitten caught up the madness of the prison bureaucracy. Such corruption and cruelty is in fact at the forefront of the film -- something that does not quite work as well as it sounds. Agnes Moorehead is a talented actress, but the film seems to come to a stand-still whenever her head warden is in focus. Moorehead's futile attempts to clean up the prison system and get rid of sadistic guards smacks of self-righteousness, and while it makes sense to "treat prisoners as human beings" as she professes, Moorehead drones on to the point that the message is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Her final scene with Parker is admittedly great though and allows the film to end on a potent note. The best element of all here though is the sound design; whether it be the typewriter keys drowning out Parker's words at the start of the movie, the intrusive ringing bells or the cries of the mentally ill inmates at night, the movie's audio design always enhances the story.

classicsoncall Is there a better opening line in the entire history of cinema to hook a viewer than the one in my summary line above? Man, I've seen prison flicks before but this one tops just about all of them. It borderlines those exploitation films of the Thirties and Forties, but with a twist - this one is actually pretty good. There's a coherent story and the characters are generally believable, and whoever did the casting for the picture deserves a blue ribbon.Take prison matron Evelyn Harper for example. Portrayed by Hope Emerson, this gargantuan cell keeper will give you nightmares for a week after you've seen the picture. You know, I couldn't figure out who she reminded me of and then it came to me. Picture an overweight Larry Fine of the Three Stooges shot up on steroids and you'll be in the right neighborhood. I couldn't resist looking up her bio here on IMDb and her stats are six foot two and two hundred thirty pounds! In the Fifties she did a series of TV commercials as the voice of Elsie the Cow - how appropriate was that?!?!You know, if you go down the cast list for the picture, there's really a lot of talent on board here. Agnes Moorehead is probably the most recognizable name, but Ellen Corby, Jan Sterling, Lee Patrick and Jane Darwell are all respected actresses of the era, and Eleanor Parker in the lead role had just the right amount of doe eyed innocence to make you share in her agony. Sterling probably had the best inmate name - Smoochie the CP ('Common Prostitute'), while Olive Deering's character June was the most tragic, playing out in an almost obligatory prison movie scene in which she hangs herself after 'flopping back in' following a rejected parole board review.Filmed in 1950, this was one of the latter day Warner Brothers films documenting the harsh conditions of prison life while attempting to promote reform as exemplified by superintendent Ruth Benton (Moorehead). She's thwarted in her attempts by a limited budget, conniving politicians and her own matron Harper who's personal connections inside the system make her virtually untouchable. It's like hitting your head against a brick wall, except these were cell block gray.If you go for stuff like this, you might try 1933's "Parole Girl" with Mae Clark in the lead role, or better yet, 1955's "Women's Prison" starring Ida Lupino as a tough minded, non-compassionate prison superintendent. Unlike this movie, "Women's Prison" is chock full of plot holes and continuity gaffes but in it's own way it's just as entertaining as this one. All these flicks are just the ticket if you ever find yourself in solitary.