Caged!
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Movie Reviews of Caged!
Movie Review: caged is out!
Summary: 5 Stars
i am so happy this wonderful film is finally on dvd!
virginia kellogg wrote a great script, which i read somewhere was shown to joan crawford and bette davis before it was turned into the flawless noir-style drama we have for our enjoyment. this script had to have been one of the many impsirations for bob fosse's 'cell block tango' in his musical chicago. it couldn't be any other way--for lines and ideas that are present in this 1950 release are also present in the lyrics of that number. and if fosse didn't do it alone, kander and ebb were good co-accomplices!
thinking about the possibility of davis and crawford in this film, maybe they would have been playing the warden benton or matorn evelyn harper. there is no way either of them would have been considered for the lead, marie allen. allen is played to total perfection by eleanor parker. to see her go from frightened, innocent inmate to hardened, bitter parolee is a harrowing process. she is ably supported in so many of her scenes from some of the finest character actors in hollywood at the time such as olive deering as a tragic inmate, jane darwell as a more motherly matron and queenie smith as a spineless twit of a mother.
and now to the rest of the cast, headed by the amzonian hope emerson as cold-blooded matron harper, who makes mama morton look like a teddy bear, agnes moorhead as the beleagured yet authoritative warden, jan sterling as a prostitute pulling dead time, betty garde as shoplifters queen kitty stark and lee patrick as underworld queen elvira powell. each of these women is control of their artistry and each makes an indelible impression in this gallery of portraits of females under strains that we can only imagine.
john cromwell is a name you don't hear often. but he was a confident, assured director that could handle a cast of such size and strength and keep the balance between gut wrenching drama and comedy even and tightly tuned. where are more of his films? and max steiner, the king of schmaltz (and i love his type of schmaltz), dared himself to come out with a score that was so sparse and haunting but in the last few minutes of the film, just lets go with a shrieking, screaming wail of saxophone, trumpet and strings that heralds marie's rebirth as a criminal who is out for what she can get out of life. this underscoring prefigures the acheivements of alex north and leonard bernstein's work on 'streetcar named desire' and 'on the waterfront'.
don't just watch this film on tv--buy it! own it and don't ever let your copy out of your sight. even your own mother wouldn't give it back to you.
Movie Review: "Pile Out, You Tramps!"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a review for the WB film CAGED! (1951) directed by John Cromwell, a film concering Marie Allen,played by Eleanor Parker. Marie is a nineteen year old sentenced to do time for helping her late husband in a small time armed robbery. The husband is killed and Marie is left holding the bag, sentenced to a woman's prison for convicted felons, all of them seemingly much more experienced and hardened than she is. Marie also discovers that she is pregnant and has to have her baby behind bars, a less than ideal circumstance.
As Marie learns her way around the prison and meets the inmates, we see through her eyes the various social rankings among the population and also learn about the matrons and officials, which ones are decent people and which ones are not. Most notably among the prison matrons is Harper, played by Hope Emerson, a giant of a woman who's disposition towards an inmate depends on how much the inmate can share with her, be it either status or money. Like in many other corrupt government and business situations, the fix is in if you can afford it. The warden, played by Agnes Moorehead and her cohorts seem to be decent but ineffective sorts who have lost control of the more aggresive Harper.
But eventually Harper oversteps her bounds and has a former big wheel inmate, Kitty Stark played by Betty Garde, beaten to a pulp thus displeasing the new Queen of the cellblock, vice queen Elvira Powell played by Lee Patrick. Eventually, during a lights out riot, Harper is stabbed to death by Kitty Stark who winds up on death row although there is little sympathy expressed by anyone for the late Matron Harper, and deservedly so.
Finally, after one rejection at a parole hearing and fearing she'll never get out of prison without pull, Marie Allen joins up with vice queen Elvira Powell and has her way out of prison greased by the fixers, but we see the price Marie will have to pay when she's met at the prison doors by a couple of smooth talking types who say they will treat her right.
After Marie walks out the prison doors, the warden tells a clerk to keep Marie's file active, she'll be back.
CAGED! seems to be saying that it doesn't matter what you do after you go to prison, your path is set by either the government or the organized crime outfits if they think they have a use for you.
CAGED! is a really well done film, believable from beginning to end. A great cast, practically all women and all of them up to their roles. A movie you will watch more than once.
I give CAGED! Five Stars.
Movie Review: Excellent film!
Summary: 5 Stars
The previous writers said it all! This is an excellent film. It is grim from start to finish, I don't understand why it is called a "camp classic", this film is far from camp. When Harper shaves Marie's hair off for punishment, and physically pushes her into the solitary cell, that is not camp by a long shot. That scene alone in itself, was very shocking and anyone who thought that was camp needs help! In one of Eleanor Parkers early interviews, she stated that it was her real hair being shaved off, and after the scene was done, it took her awhile to feel normal again, as she was so into the role. She remarked on how everyone got along so well with one another. She said Hope Emerson was such a wonderful woman, how they would all gather around the piano and sing songs. I enjoyed the scene where Harper is in her room, she kicks the radiator because her room is so cold, she goes and reaches underneath her mattress, and pulls out a bottle of booze. She takes a swig, and places it back underneath the mattress. The bell rings and she steps outside to turn on the lights in the bullpen, and she yells, "Pile out you tramps, this ain't no upstairs delicatessan, time for count!!!!" One scene, when the women go to chow, and are standing in front of their food at their eating tables, Harper blows a whistle for them to sit down, and another whistle blow for them to start eating. This scene is not in this DVD. TV prints had this scene edited also, last time I saw this scene was at a womens film festival in San Francisco, about 10 years ago. A good blooper in the film is when after the riot in the bullpen over a cat, Marie holds the cat and says "its dead" and you can see the cat still moving (wonder if they sedated it) In the 80's this film was remade as "Reform School Girls" the similarities are amazing, including the new "Harper". I am glad that this motion picture, considered one of the best women's prison films ever made, is finally seeing the light of day on DVD.Movie Review: First Rate Film About Women's Prison
Summary: 5 Stars
Most films about women's prisons have very likely been pornographic to one degree or another. "Caged" is not in this category. Rather its portrait of prison life is one of depressing harshness from start to finish. The film has an unmistakable theme: most prisons are breeders of new crime and criminals. Though "Caged" was directed by a man the principal scriptwriter was a woman, Virginia Kellogg, who spent several weeks inside a woman's prison, researched conditions in others, and claimed that the scenario was a fair reflection of things that go on in such institutions.
Eleanor Parker plays an inmate who is basically naive and innocent when she goes in, but who, by the time of her release, has become utterly cynical and hardened from her experiences inside. The effectiveness of the film depends very much on Parker's performance, and it is nothing less than brilliant. She projects subtleties and nuances in her persona that enable her carry off the very challenging character transformation with full believability. The supporting cast is also uniformly excellent, led by Hope Emerson as a currupt and brutal matron, and Betty Garde, Ellen Corby, and Jan Sterling as convicts. And the director, cameraman, set designer, and lighting technician deserve plaudits for the effective deployment of light and shadow, and the construction of camera perspective that serve to put the viewer fully into the claustrophobic setting.
"Caged" is a first rate film, but because of its uncompromising stance, waching it may not exactly be fun. On my first viewing, I found it harrowing. However, viewers will appreciate the artistry and craftmanship that went into the making, and especially they should savor the extraordinary performance of Eleanor Parker, who, in this and other roles, seems to have been one of the most consistently underrated actresses in American film.
Movie Review: Great chick flick!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had first seen this movie back when I was a kid in the 80s on late night TV. Little did I know then how much I would come to love this movie and to make it one of my favorites years later. The acting is stellar. Eleanor Parker plays Marie Allen, a scared 19 year old woman expecting a child who has never had a police record before. She learns quite a lot about being incarcerated within a few months. Agnes Moorehead's performance as Mrs. Ruth Benton, the superintendent of the women's prison, is fabulous (Agnes would be on Bewitched 14 years later). Mrs. Benton is very warm, cordial, and willing to help Marie out. Hope Emerson plays Evelyn Harper, the mean spirited, harsh, and hostile matron who rules her group of women with an excess amount of strictness as well as an iron fist. I am so glad to see that this movie is finally out on DVD, though it should have been released much sooner, but, better late than never. There aren't much for special features, except for the trailer, which is a nice addition to the DVD, as well as subtitles. The quality of the audio and video is sharp and clear. The dialog is excellent, and there is some comedy and drama mixed together, and yes, there are some moments that are disturbing to the casual viewer. Highly recommended for anyone who is into older films from the 40s and 50s. Now that this movie is on DVD, there is no need to wait around for it to come on TV anymore. Get this movie on DVD and toss out the old VHS that you recorded sometime ago. A++!!!
UPDATE: I just found out a short while back that this movie has been discontinued on DVD. Why that is remains a mystery to me and other fans of the movie, but I hope that it can be re-released on DVD very soon.