A sassy screenplay aids this B women's prison movie a great deal in spite of progressive viewpoints that are a little too cheerily presented to be realistic. The accidental wearing of the same dress of a department store thief ends up with Rochelle Hudson being sentenced to probably the worst prison in her district. Even with powerful defense attorney Freda in escort on her case, she is found guilty for something she did not do. When she gets to the prison, she finds it is run by a corrupt matron (Esther Dale, in one of several similarly cast roles) and a female princess known as "he duchess" (June Lang). With the help of returning prisoner Lola Lane (who provides much of the sass), Hudson becomes accustomed to the ways of the clink. Getting the message to reporter Glenn Ford that a prisoner whose death was listed as pneumonia was actually suicide causes Dale to be demoted and Inescort to be given the top job, which causes the prison's severe rules to be eliminated and a more relaxed atmosphere to be instituted. But Dale and Lang continue to scheme and this results in Hudson being kidnapped when Inescort arranges for a group of prisoners to have furlough at Thanksgiving.
Certainly, prison reform is a serious issue that remains pertinent until this day. but the way that these girls, seeming more out of a sorority than an actual women's prison, are granted an easier existence is far too sudden and far too experimental. Inescort is directed to be extremely cheery, more like a Girl Scout den mother than a prison warden. it's more of the same for Esther Dale who might have seen play prison matrons in at least two other films and she is just as ruthless as she was in those. In spite of its ridiculous twist, it is still an enjoyable film because the dialogue is a lot of fun and the film flashes by very quickly. It's nice to see Ford at the beginning of his career, pretending at one point to be an attorney to fool Dale while the audience knows that he is a reporter. The scene I wanted, Dale confronting Ford for his deception and him basically telling her off, does not unfortunately occur but there is a delightful denouncement concerning her character at the end, as well as for the trouble making duchess.
Certainly, prison reform is a serious issue that remains pertinent until this day. but the way that these girls, seeming more out of a sorority than an actual women's prison, are granted an easier existence is far too sudden and far too experimental. Inescort is directed to be extremely cheery, more like a Girl Scout den mother than a prison warden. it's more of the same for Esther Dale who might have seen play prison matrons in at least two other films and she is just as ruthless as she was in those. In spite of its ridiculous twist, it is still an enjoyable film because the dialogue is a lot of fun and the film flashes by very quickly. It's nice to see Ford at the beginning of his career, pretending at one point to be an attorney to fool Dale while the audience knows that he is a reporter. The scene I wanted, Dale confronting Ford for his deception and him basically telling her off, does not unfortunately occur but there is a delightful denouncement concerning her character at the end, as well as for the trouble making duchess.