A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her... Read allA gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 1 win & 5 nominations total
- Helen
- (as Sheila Stevens)
- Inmate
- (uncredited)
- Jeffries
- (uncredited)
- Mr. Cooper
- (uncredited)
- Commissioner Sam Walker
- (uncredited)
- Inmate
- (uncredited)
- Inmate
- (uncredited)
- Man in Car
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) led to prison reform in six states, Warners producer Jerry Wald wanted to do the same for women's prisons and sent former newspaper reporter Virginia Kellogg out. She had written a novel that became a Kay Francis film, Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933), about a doctor who bears a child out of wedlock. She had also written well-researched original stories that were the basis for T-Men (1947), about treasury agents, and White Heat (1949), starring James Cagney as a psychotic gangster. She spent months doing research for Caged (1950) at prisons around the country, and was even briefly incarcerated in one of them. Her research is evident in the script with authentic prison slang of the era, and details of prison life, such as the caste system, and the tedium of daily life. Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld received an Oscar® nomination for Caged (1950)'s story and screenplay.
- GoofsAn inmate, Georgia Harrison, gets hysterical and breaks the window in her corridor. In this case, the window was inside the bars, which is why the glass would be in a protected and unreachable position. Instead, the bars would have been placed first inside, then the glass further away. The glass would probably be re-enforced glass with wire or even safety glass. Otherwise, an inmate could do just what Georgia did, break it. Then pieces of the glass could be used against other inmates or even prison employees. But then if the glass was safety glass, the scene with Georgia breaking the window would not have been quite so dramatic.
- Quotes
Marie Allen: I feel a little sick.
Infirmary Nurse: Get that way often?
Marie Allen: Yes, the last week or so.
Infirmary Nurse: Say, you expecting company?
Marie Allen: [mumbles] I don't know.
Infirmary Nurse: [cynically] Another pregnant one! Get up!... You know who the father is?
Marie Allen: My husband.
Marie Allen: [sarcastically] Well, ain't we gettin' respectable! Could he help with the expenses?
Marie Allen: He's dead!
Infirmary Nurse: [with contempt] Another bill for the state! Get dressed!
- ConnectionsEdited into House of Women (1962)
It was a bit of daring to show how corrupt the prison system can be and "inmates decaying" as one character put it.The lead character (Eleanor Parker) goes from being an innocent to becoming as hard as anyone else in the prison system due to the efforts of her matron and chief tormentor (Hope Emerson). It is because of this transformation that the film goes from being a routine prison drama to a first-rate noir thriller.
Jan Sterling, who plays "Smoochie" in the film, was at the screening and spoke afterward. She said director John Cromwell (father of character actor James Cromwell) did a great job of making you feel like you were in prison. She said by the end of the shoot, the performers felt like they were really confined. Parker, Emerson and the script by Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld were nominated for Oscars.
- subcityii
- Aug 2, 2001
Details
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1