Caged

Unrated

5/19/19501h 36m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ The Story of a Women's Prison today ~

Overview:

A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.

Director:

John Cromwell

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

prison
pregnancy
women's prison
prison warden
prison guard
film noir
prison riot
shaved head
christmas

Cast

Eleanor Parker

~ as ~

Marie Allen

Agnes Moorehead

~ as ~

Ruth Benton

Ellen Corby

~ as ~

Emma Barber

Hope Emerson

~ as ~

Evelyn Harper

Betty Garde

~ as ~

Kitty Stark

Jan Sterling

~ as ~

Jeta "Smoochie" Kovsky

Lee Patrick

~ as ~

Elvira Powell

Olive Deering

~ as ~

June Roberts

Jane Darwell

~ as ~

Isolation Matron

Gertrude Michael

~ as ~

Georgia Harrison

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

John Chard
Written 11 year(s) ago
7.5
Prisoner 93850

Caged is directed by John Cromwell and adapted by Virginia Kellogg from her own story Women Without men that was co-written with Bernard C. Schoenfeld. It stars Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Betty Garde and Hope Emerson. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie.

Teenager Marie Allen (Parker) is sent to a women’s prison after being found guilty of being an accomplice in a robbery, a robbery that saw her husband killed. She’s also pregnant and will have to have the child in the prison. Struggling to come to terms with her incarceration and the tough regime overseen by brutish warden Harper (Emerson), Marie comes to realise that she may have to go through a major character transformation to survive.

Unfairly tagged as camp and sounding on synopsis like what would become a cheese laden staple of women’s prison movies, Caged is actually rather powerful film making. The deconstruction and subsequent transformation of a young woman who clearly doesn’t belong behind those walls, is bleakly told. The prison is a foreboding place, the lady character’s reactions to their surroundings and way of life are emotionally charged.

Frank in its portrayal of prison life back then, but sly with its insinuations of sexual proclivities and criminal doings on the inside, the writing has a crafty edge most befitting the sombre tone that pervades the picture. Parker leads off the list of great performances to bring the drama to life, and with Guthrie’s black and white photography superbly emphasising claustrophobia and pungent emotional turmoil, it rounds out as a thoroughly gripping piece of film. With an ending that’s appropriately biting as well. 7.5/10