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 system, dealing on contraband in exchange for favors from her imprisoned "girlies". The parole system is corrupt as well. To obtain parole, women must show that they have employment opportunities and familial support awaiting them outside prison. Obviously, that's difficult for most of them, especially in 1950, where there were few job prospects for women (and even less for women felons it can be assumed). The workaround is to volunteer to join a criminal gang after they get out. Inmates who retain influence in the outside world will then arrange for a phony job. Of course, this means indebtment into a life of crime and the beginning of a vicious cycle of imprisonment.

There's also female community in the prison. Eleanor Parker's character forms strong bonds with other inmates despite their differences. Even one of the gang leaders pities her rival after she's sentenced to isolation and her spirit is broken by the punishment. They know the toll that imprisonment can take on the mind and body. At one point, a kitten is snuck in and the women hide it and care for it. Is it motherly instinct? Is it that they don't want this innocent creature to be hurt like they were? Regardless, the scene shows that they retain their capacity for love despite the dehumanizing conditions they find themselves in.

More often than not, their story before prison is one of cruelty at the hands of men. Here they become their own support system and leave that behind. In fact, there's not a single woman in the film who sentimentally pines to return to her boyfriend or husband after she leaves. Still, there aren't strong undertones of homosexuality (or sexuality at all), there couldn't have been in 1950, just a few slight nods to it. 

When men are seen, they aren't portrayed very positively. The parole boards the inmates appear before are three out-of-touch geezers, comfortable deciding the fates of the women briefly presented to them. The only other time they're seen, they oppose prison reform that could improve the lives of the inmates. In a great scene, Parker has her head shaved by the chief guard, Hope Emerson. The cruel and defeminizing character of this gesture is of course lost on the men in charge, who refuse to punish her. 

The film shows its age, or perhaps the influence of the censors, in one scene. An older woman, a "lifer". tells Parker to reform, to get out there, marry and have children. She'll find that "she'll be glad for a sink of dirty dishes". But this scene feels out of place and is instantly retconned by the film's ambiguous ending. Parker's hair grows back, to a blonde buzz. She gives up on an honest life and corrupts her ideals to get out. The prison's honest warden, played by Agnes Moorehead, tells her assistant to keep her file, she'll be back. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Before she leaves, she throws away the wedding ring that's given back to her and puts on lipstick. Her transformation is complete, from the terrified girl who came in to this... Embittered, but empowered, she's never looked better, and close enough to an antihero.