Caged
Directed by John Cromwell
Written by Virginia Kellogg from the story “Women Without Men” by Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld
1950/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Evelyn Harper: Line up, you tramps. This ain’t no upstairs delicatessen.[/box]
Here is another 1950 film packed with meaty female parts. It’s a bit cliched but entertaining.
Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) has been sentenced to one to 15 years in prison as an accessory to a gas station hold-up in which her husband was killed. As the film begins, it is her first day in the pen. She is greeted with a physical exam in which it is discovered that she is pregnant. She is greeted by the reform-minded warden Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead), told to keep on the straight and narrow, and assigned light duties in the laundry due to her pregnancy.
Then prison life comes down on her like a ton of bricks. She is under the charge of matron Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson) who at first offers to do her numerous favors then loses interest when she discovers Marie has no money and comes from a poor family. She immediately orders Marie to begin scrubbing floors. The pretty nineteen-year old also attracts the attention of a tough murderess who tries to lure her into her shoplifting gang by saying she can arrange an early parole. Marie resists these and other temptations.
Things begin to go to hell when the rough treatment causes Marie to go into premature labor. The baby is born in appalling conditions but survives. Then Marie’s mother, whom she had counted on, cannot take the baby. It is put up for adoption. After this, Marie loses her sweet innocence. She is denied parole and goes crazy. Things get worse from there and Marie becomes tougher and tougher until she is a thoroughly hardened criminal on release. With Ellen Corby, Jan Sterling, and Lee Patrick as inmates and Jane Darwell as a matron.
This has many of the standard tropes of a women’s prison picture including psycho prisoners, lesbian overtones, and the sadistic and corrupt matron. This might even be the origin of what later became cliché. The acting is all very good. I just loved Hope Emerson’s performance. She extracted every bit of juice from her villain. Eleanor Parker was appropriately pathetic.
Caged was nominated for Academy Awards the in categories of Best Actress (Parker); Best Supporting Actress (Emerson); and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.
Trailer
