Noir is the New Black! At some point, all prison movies tend to be the same, but 1950 is probably not that point. Caged is a melodramatic appeal for prison reform, with a crusading warden unable to make a difference in the life of doe-eyed Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker), incarcerated on a bum rap and within a year, turned into a hardened recidivist. So you've got your criminal sisterhood, your wise lifers, your corrupt screws, cruel punishments, and just the normal shock of losing rights and freedoms... From our position up-time, we've seen it all before, but Caged remains a potent drama steeped in realism and filled with memorable characters that help make the harsh moments all the more shocking. Hope Emerson makes a great villain, the prison matron on the take who devises old-school punishments for her charges and is especially hard on our heroine. Both of them got Oscar noms for this and I'd say they were worthy of them.
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AndrewB
elcid
You can't lick the system. Excellent film.Siskoid
Noir is the New Black! At some point, all prison movies tend to be the same, but 1950 is probably not that point. Caged is a melodramatic appeal for prison reform, with a crusading warden unable to make a difference in the life of doe-eyed Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker), incarcerated on a bum rap and within a year, turned into a hardened recidivist. So you've got your criminal sisterhood, your wise lifers, your corrupt screws, cruel punishments, and just the normal shock of losing rights and freedoms... From our position up-time, we've seen it all before, but Caged remains a potent drama steeped in realism and filled with memorable characters that help make the harsh moments all the more shocking. Hope Emerson makes a great villain, the prison matron on the take who devises old-school punishments for her charges and is especially hard on our heroine. Both of them got Oscar noms for this and I'd say they were worthy of them.MMDan
https://archive.org/details/Caged1950