User Reviews

Systemic injustice had been addressed before, notably in the early 30s with films like "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang," but in the post-war years the penal, justice, and social systems were practically vivisected in a spate of critical flicks like "The Snake Pit" and "Gentleman's Agreement." "Caged" belongs to that period.

Eleanor Parker, a pregnant teenager, is convicted of being particeps criminis in her husband's bank robbery, but she was only doing it out of love. Nevertheless, she gets a year in the slams.

The woman's prison is full of pathetic and revolting women of varying ages and backgrounds. Their one hope is to get the hell out as quickly as possible, which is understandable, except for the wretched old lifers. We are introduced, as in most of these expositions, to the argot of the institution. ("CP" is "common prostitute.") You can guess that the screenplay was done by a woman because the suffering these penned-up creatures go through can best be understood by a woman. They sob, they beg, they're insulted, they give premature birth, they commit suicide. A male prison movie would be full of fist fights, blowtorches, breakouts, bashed heads, and, more recently, homosexual rape. This movie share with the male prison movie mostly the bitterness of the inmates and the sadism of the corrections officers.

Eleanor Parker does alright by the role of the new "fish". (That's part of the jargon.) Her character is so innocent and inexperienced that Powell isn't required to express much more than anguish and, on occasion, horror.

But it's only barely Eleanor Parker's movie. She serves as the audience proxy. The really interesting characters include the constantly angry but not unsympathetic Kitty, played by Betty Garde, probably more familiar as the deceitful Wanda Skutnik in "Call Northside 777." Then there is sexy, cynical, young Jan Sterling, a "CP". Agnes Moorehead is the sympathetic but impotent warden.

But the chief figure you'll remember is the headmistress, the human behemoth, Hope Emerson, a tall plump exploitative sadist who is thoroughly evil and who enjoys her villainy. She's full of contempt for her charges and has connections that keep her in her position.She demands payment for small rewards, like caramel candies and cigarettes. She sneers as she parades around in front of the horny women, all dressed up in what looks like a wardrobe from 1890, talking about how some rich guy is going to take her to a fancy place, then up to his penthouse, and "it's very comfortable, if you know what I mean." The formula -- misery piled upon misery, spoiled hope upon spoiled hope -- is followed so religiously that at times it's almost amusing in its sly way.

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.

It's exactly what you think. A high strung camp classic with Eleanor Parker as a good girl gone bad after a year or so in the joint. She's a babe in the woods brutalized by monstrous prison matron Hope Emerson. By the time she leaves she's gone from teeny-bopper to party girl, all acted out as only the hammy Parker can do it. Emerson is truly menacing, looking like a male wrestler in drag. Her bullying Harper is juxtaposed against saintly warden Agnes Moorehead, a bleeding heart battling the establishment and espousing a lot of mumbo jumbo about prison reform. It's not flat out awful, but this silliness is nothing to be taken seriously. Directed in the most straight-laced fashion by John Cromwell. High points: Parker attacking Emerson; any scene with Jan Sterling; Parker going for a parole hearing (where one of the board members un-ironically makes it clear he can't work his hearing aid). Ellen Corby, Jane Darwell, Lee Patrick (as Elvira Powell) and Betty Garde are great in supporting roles.

SPOILERS!!!! Meek mild Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) is sentenced to 5 years in prison for a robbery attempt her husband forced her into--he was killed. She's stuck in a cell block run by big evil Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson). She sees or has to deal with beatings, strongly implied lesbian come ons, madness, suicide and mutilation. She is released after a reduced sentence--but she's now a hardened criminal.

Some of this is dated. The dialogue is tame (but it had to be) and when Parker's head is sadistically shaved it's not half as shocking now as it must have been in 1950. Still this is a strong movie and extremely well made. What's most surprising is there are a few characters that are quite obviously lesbians--Emerson's Harper and Elvira Powell played by Lee Patrick. Nothing is made explicit (they even make sure Harper mentions her boyfriend) but it is there and it's hard to miss. Quite surprising for a 1950 film.

All the acting is excellent. Agnes Moorehead overacts (but in an amusing way) as warden Ruth Benton. All the female convicts are very well done but Emerson and Parker really carry this movie. Emerson is downright horrific in her role and you see Parker go from meek and mild to cruel and hard-bitten. Both deservedly were Oscar-nominated for their roles. So it is dated but still powerful and well worth seeing.

Caged is a fairly straightforward prison movie. It is set inside a female prison and told from the point of view of a young and innocent female prisoner. The politics inside the prison involving fellow inmates and wardens forms a major part of the film. The loss of innocence is the film's major theme. Eleanor Parker as the innocent young woman is seriously underrated. Jan Sterling from Ace in the Hole also makes an appearance in a small role. The film's final scene when Parker enters a car full of men establishes the complete corruption of her soul.

I had never heard of Parker before I watched this film. She is beautiful and her tortured expressions (like when she tries to save the kitten) made you feel for her. She even shaves her hair off for the role. The actress who played the mean and sadistic warden was very good too.

There are some finely/cleverly composed shots in this film. Like the one right after the prison riot. The head warden is admonishing the rioting females and behind her two junior wardens hold torches which provide the lighting. The warden's face is not visible so even though she is shouting at the prisoners, we don't really know what she is really thinking. It is noir cinematography at its very best.

CAGED is an important movie of its own genre, maybe one of the most relevant due to the way it tackles its gritty and heretofore unexplored subject matter head-on, devoid of sentimentality and hope. It can be even taken as a voice for those women who have no voice, those who regardless of the gravity of their crimes, have been literally "locked away" from society and forced to an accelerated involution into the subhuman where the only way to survive is to become the antithesis of good and give in to corruption, here dominated by the overpowering, smothering persona of Hope Emerson as Evelyn Harper. Whatever its position in cinema history (it can also be placed as one of the earliest examples of queer cinema due to its inclusion of aggressive lesbians and lesbian actresses in prominent roles), CAGED is an unforgettable experience, a perfect match of Neo-Realism, Crime Drama and Film-Noir summed into a relentless assault of the senses that only grows more and more desperate as it delves deeper into its sordid story. Marie, here played by Eleanor Parker in what has become her most-remembered movie role, is haunting as the ingénue who gets ground into mincemeat and comes out a hardened criminal. It certainly is light-years ahead of the blonde dimwit that Judy Holliday portrayed in BORN YESTERDAY which eventually won the Oscar. Perhaps Oscar-voters didn't know what to make of it. Perhaps its very sordidness, its pulp roots, and its B-movie looks took away from its chances. It's a shame that due to its ahead-of-its-time release, CAGED, a dark horse in 1950 (completely obliterated by the larger than life ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BLVD.) has now, nearly sixty years later, grown into a monster of its own despite garnering no awards during its release. However, CAGED is a fantastic film, with a first-rate cast including the likes of Agnes Moorehead, Lee Patrick, Betty Garde, Ellen Corby, Jane Darwell, Sheila McRae, and Jan Stirling in a scene-stealing role as Smoochie and a presence that points at the type of women that would become icons of beauty a full decade later -- think Goldie Hawn and Twiggy.

Well made film prison film and a must see for anyone that likes Elenor Parker, who is good, but Agnes Moorehead and Hope Emerson are even better. Emerson (nominated for an Oscar) is brutal as she commands the pregnant Marie Allen (Elenor Parker) to scrub the prison floor when she learns that Allen is unable to pay her way into a decent prison job. The use of period-contextual prison jargon makes this film extremely interesting. The one-sheet from this film is fantastic!!!! It features Marie Allen's fellow inmates: Claire, a queen of the prison vice-ring, Smoochie - a street-lamp gal, and Emma, the prison matron's patsy. Finally, similar to the ending in Johnny Apollo (1940), and to quote the one-sheet, "She was part-good before-She's ALL BAD NOW!"

I watched this movie not really expecting it to be particularly good - but I was wrong. It was great. I was a fan of the Australian soap opera Prisoner Cell Block H, but this film tells it all in an hour and 40 minutes, and does it with more class and style.

We see the prison through the eyes of 19 year-old Mary Allen (Eleanor Parker), a frightened pretty pregnant ingenue who is in prison for aiding and abetting her husband who tried to rob a "5 and dime" store. He was killed in the ensuing shoot-out. Although Mary is a criminal, it is clear that she should never have been imprisoned - she's basically a good girl who was unlucky and stupid. The film progresses a series of losses in her life - first her best friend kills herself when she doesn't get her parole. Mary goes into early labour but fortunately the baby is OK. However, Mary's family won't look after it so it is taken away from her and placed with adoptive parents. Mary also misses out on the chance of parole, the upper-class, old white men who run the system are shown as uncaring buffoons. Then she finds a kitten, only to have it killed during a riot. Because of the riot she has her shaved by the evil authoritarian matron and ends up in solitary confinement.

Mary gradually develops from a snivelling pussy into a confident hard nut - the acting her is unbelievable, it's difficult to believe you're watching the same actress from the beginning of the film. Her entire voice, posture and manner have changed. However, throughout the film, no matter what Mary loses, we are aware that she still has the most important thing - her sense of morality. The great tragedy shown in this film is that by the end, even this is worn away and Mary agrees to join a criminal network because they will ensure she gets a quick parole. The final scenes, when she flicks a cigarette across the steps of the prison and gets into a car full of mobsters to the accompaniment of a very sleazy jazz wind orchestra is one of the most memorable climaxes in movie history.

This is an excellent film, gripping, funny in places, sad, campy and intensely involving. During the scene when Top Dog Kitty Stark stabs the evil matron with scissors, I was shouting along with Mary "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" I love it.