Caged (1950)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

John Cromwell

Writers:

Virginia Kellogg (screenplay)
Virginia Kellogg (story)

Release Date:

19 May 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Will she come out a woman or a wildcat?

Plot:

A naive nineteen year old widow becomes coarsened and cynical when she is sent to a woman's prison and is exposed to hardened criminals and sadistic guards.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Sadistic | Pregnant | Shaved Head | Expectant Mother

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Eleanor Parker	...	Marie Allen
Agnes Moorehead	...	Ruth Benton
Ellen Corby	...	Emma Barber
Hope Emerson	...	Evelyn Harper
Betty Garde	...	Kitty Stark
Jan Sterling	...	Smoochie
Lee Patrick	...	Elvira Powell
Olive Deering	...	June
Jane Darwell	...	Isolation Matron
Gertrude Michael	...	Georgia Harrison
Sheila MacRae	...	Helen (as Sheila Stevens)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Australia:M

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Originally titled 'The Big Cage', an early version of the script was intended as a Bette Davis/'Joan Crawford' vehicle.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Marie Allen announces that her kitten has died, the cat opens its mouth.

Quotes:

Evelyn Harper: Come on you tramps - line up for Christmas.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005)

"Grab A Last Look at Free Side Baby"

The film I like to compare Caged to is not a male prison film, but rather to The Women. Although there are minor male roles in Caged and The Women have no men in it, make no mistake, this film shows a woman's world.

The world of the women's prison is light years away from those society Republican matrons of The Women, but in terms how they act it ain't too much different. It's just that things are a lot more raw than they are on free side.

The film is seen through the eyes of protagonist Eleanor Parker who drew a one to fifteen year sentence on a robbery in which her husband was killed. Due to the influence of the prison even with a relatively compassionate warden like Agnes Moorehead, by the time she leaves she's as tough a cookie as those she met and dealt with as fellow cons and as matrons.

Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson as the wicked matron Harper both received Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. Parker lost to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday and Emerson was beaten out by Josephine Hull in Harvey. Yet the whole film is so well cast it seems a shame to single out just those two performers.

Two of the most interesting characters were Betty Garde as a tough con who runs the cell block until an enemy in the person of Lee Patrick who is a society madam arrives for a short term. There rivalry unwittingly sets up a lot of tragedy all around.

In the pre-Stonewall Hollywood, lesbianism saturates Caged as it does in few other films. Hope Emerson is always singled out, but there are more than hints of it in the characters of Garde, Patrick, and Moorehead. Look also for good performances by Ellen Corby as the loopy murderer of her abusing husband and Jan Sterling in on a prostitution rap.

I think if the cast of The Women were ever thrown into prison as they are in Caged, I think the behavior would be exactly the same. They can afford to be more civilized in some of the richest acreage of free side.