Women's Prison

“I hate to tell you this, but your wife is a borderline psychopath,” says the manipulative woman who will later prove herself to be the actual psychopath in Lewis Seiler’s trashy Women’s Prison, an unabashed imitation of John Cromwell’s 1950 Caged which doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of Cromwell’s work but still makes highly entertaining use of an outstanding cast of actresses. The caged women include Cleo Moore’s dimwitted Mae, who says things like “One squawk from you and I’ll punch a hole right in your diagram”; Jan Sterling’s protective Brenda Martin, who scalds her own hand on purpose to distract the guards for a friend; Audrey Totter’s Joan Burton, whose husband resides in the neighboring men’s prison; and Phyllis Thaxter’s Helene Jensen, the timid new arrival who becomes immediately hysterical. While Sterling brings a magnificent shine to every film in which she appears, the highlight here may be sadistic prison matron Amelia van Zandt, portrayed by Ida Lupino, whose emotional meltdown in the final act harkens back to her riveting performance on the stand in Raoul Walsh’s They Drive By Night (1940). In fact, sadism seems to be a requirement for employment at the prison with the singular exception of Crane (Howard Duff, Lupino’s real-life husband), the prison doctor who, despite being appalled by the treatment of inmates, attempts to stop Brenda from leading an uprising. Cinematographer White offers a handful of memorable compositions (note the straitjacketed Helene in the padded cell), but the film’s main draw is Seiler’s — and the cast’s — willingness to go over the top.