Caged (1950) - Women in Prison
Women in prison cinema has gone through a few iterations, but it began with this excellent 1950 Warner Bros film, directed by John Cromwell, which lays the foundations for the 1970s genre outings it would birth (as well as modern-day takes like Orange Is The New Black). It's more polished than the entertaining cult classics by Roger Corman which would follow. It's not as sexual either. But all the ingredients are there. After she's arrested for being an accessory to armed robbery, Eleanor Parker is sent to prison to serve out her time (her husband was killed committing the crime). She's no hardened criminal, just scared. She's quickly introduced to the internal politics and hierarchy of the prison, with its cruel guards and scheming inmates. It's a hallmark of these films, and possibly of real-life prison as well, that they are their own societies, with their own rules. The chief guard, played by Hope Emerson, is a violent sadist who herself profits from the sys
