From Columbia Pictures
Directed by Lewis Seiler
Starring
Ida Lupino
Jan Sterling
Cleo Moore
Audrey Totter
Phyllis Thaxter
Howard Duff
Warren Stevens
Barry Kelley
Vivian Marshall
Gertrude Michael
Juanita Moore
You know, if one likes a movie with an assortment of actresses in it, all interacting with one another-- and you know someone who does, uh-huh-- what could possibly be more effective than a women's prison movie? And just so no one trips over oneself thinking up some fancy title, let's just call it Women's Prison. We'll keep it simple.
Simple and a bit delusional, that is. I've never set foot inside a prison so maybe I'm going out on a limb here. But there's an appearance of unreality... and it's strong enough that it leads me to include the film under the guilty pleasures banner. Prisons aren't this antiseptic... neat, orderly, tidy. The inmates aren't all likely to like one another this much. There's singing and laughter. When one woman comes back for a second stay, someone says ah, back on campus. They treat the joint like it's a sorority house or maybe a sleepover. Frankly, they're all portrayed as rather swell dames.
The bad guys, therefore, and not surprisingly, are two wardens and most of the matrons and guards. A different twist to this prison yarn is that it concerns two prisons, one male and one female, that are next to one another.
Ida Lupino is the warden of the female side and she is at first glance tough, butch and unyielding and then we see that she is violent and cruel and ultimately insane and a killer. Barry Kelley as the other warden is equally sinister. Howard Duff plays the sympathetic doctor for both prisons whose support of the prisoners and contempt for the staff makes him a candidate for sainthood.
The movie opens with the arrival of Jan Sterling and Phyllis Thaxter. Sterling is a tough but kind, newly-bleached blonde returning for her second stay. Thaxter is a first-timer, a woman wholly out of place due to her wholesomeness and naivete, who deeply regrets her carelessness in operating a vehicle that resulted in the death of a small child. When Sterling notices Thaxter's deer-in-the-headlights look she says you won't like it at first but when you get used to it, you'll really hate it.
Lupino treats Thaxter very poorly, resulting in the latter being hospitalized for trauma and nearly dying. Her story is interspersed with the contentious relationship between Duff and Lupino and also Lupino and Kelley.
Then we get into the segment that puts the film on its course for a rip-snorting finale. Audrey Totter and Warren Stevens are married prisoners. He sneaks over from his area into the women's side, much to the consternation of the two wardens, and one visit gets a little too conjugal. Shining any sort of light on the suggestion this couple has done the deed was pretty brazen for 1955. Those censors must have nodded off.
When her pregnancy is discovered, all hell breaks lose. Kelley (who seems to have the most authority) tells Lupino she has one week to get Totter to spill the beans on how Stevens gets into the women's side. Kelley can't get the info out of Stevens no matter how many threats are leveled. So Lupino starts in on Totter (who doesn't know how her husband managed it) and the warden beats her prisoner so badly that Totter eventually dies. Oh-oh, we know what's coming down. Totter was like Miss Congeniality and loved by all.
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| Everyone cheers at Sterling, Moore & Marshall roughing up Lupino |
Sterling, Cleo Moore, Vivian Marshall and a few others overtake the guards and plan to stage a coup. Murdering Lupino is a part of the plan. We have suspected that Sterling is every bit as formidable as Lupino all along and we breathlessly await their clash. Well, ok, some of us do. We're not all so breathless either.
Stevens has found his way to join in on the melee as have Kelley and a few of his guards who come looking for him, not realizing a riot has begun. Duff, ever the mediator, tries to cool down any number of tempers. The ladies rough up Lupino a bit and send her fleeing down the hall and into an open padded cell. An injured Stevens with gun in hand limps to the cell but is stopped as he's about to kill her.
The ladies also plan Lupino's demise but Duff admonishes them, stressing that such an action will undermine their plight to bring a focus on their deplorable conditions. One cannot help snickering because the only such condition is Lupino.
The film ends as it begins... with Thaxter. Now she is leaving and we are happy for her. The actress was always a competent performer but she went irritatingly over the top here. She screamed and jumped at cell doors closing, at the sounds of whistles and at approaching matrons. Once the hysteria ended, so did her part to a degree.
Lupino and Duff were unhappily married in real life which probably aided in making their onscreen adversarial relationship more believable. Her career was enjoying a resurgence. This was the third of four films the Duffs would make together. I always thought when Lupino was bad she was very, very good. She nails this part.
Totter was not only a film noir queen but she was frequently a bad girl. Here she enjoys one of her most sympathetic roles while playing the only character who dies. The under-rated Stevens turns in his usual polished performance.
Sterling always brought a sharp edge to her roles and while she was always superb as a villainess, here she is most likeable as the leader of the revolt. She certainly had the best lines. She is also an efficient adversary for Lupino... and that requires some good acting.
Columbia hyped Moore as a blonde bombshell and was hoping to turn her into a major star. It never happened. While she was given third billing, she has the least to do of the five lead actresses.
Vivian Marshall only made a few films but in this one she provides some of the lighter moments with her impersonations. Her Bette Davis is dead-on and she does a mean Tallulah Bankhead and even a decent Ida Lupino.
Women's Prison is certainly not as good as the 1950 Eleanor Parker-Agnes Moorehead-starrer Caged but I do suspect it set the tone for some female prison flicks to follow. It is often referred to as a noir but it is not. It is more of a potboiler. It clearly doesn't get everything right about prison life but while it borders now and then on camp, I gotta say it is entertaining from start to finish. I find it irresistible.
Next posting:
The mouth that roared
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