Customer Reviews

Caged!

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Caged is a powerful and absorbing drama starring Oscar-nominated Eleanor Parker in the lead role. She delivers a complex and memorable performance as a young, pregnant prison inmate. Her Oscar competition in 1950 was staggering: Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard, Bette Davis and Anne Baxter for All About Eve and the winner, Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday. Agnes Moorehead does an excellent job as a sympathetic but ineffectual warden, but the performance you will never forget goes to Oscar-nominated Hope Emerson, who dominates every one of her scenes as the cruel and sadistic prison matron. Lee Patrick appears as the a wealthy and influential prison inmate lusting for the Eleanor Parker character. Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Gertrude Michael, Ellen Corby, Olive Deering and Jane Darwell are excellent in supporting roles. This is a memorable film which was shocking in it's time and still delivers a strong punch for today's audiences. I recently viewed the DVD and the picture and sound quality are excellent which adds to the viewing experience.

That's just one of the great lines from this fantastic women's prison film made in 1950 that amazingly has never been previously released. Eleanor Parker, giving the performance of her career, stars as Marie Allen, a timid and innocent 19-year old who is sent to prison after being charged as an accomplice in a minor robbery. The brutality of prison life will change her life forever. This is a stark film, both in content and style, with taut dialog and astute observations about harsh prison conditions, corrupt government officials and the emotional turmoil of people put in such situations. In addition to Parker, every performance is a stand-out. Hope Emerson is unforgettable as the evil prison matron, Betty Garde as an inmate who befriends and tries to protect Marie and Lee Patrick as Elvira Powell, an inmate with powerful outside connections all will leave an indelible memory for viewers. Even the bit parts are memorable - the wonderful Gertrude Hoffman, as older inmate Millie who sadly says, "I'm a tall weed in the grass and the grapevines bloomin', what I'd give for a sinkful of dirty dishes."

I've seen this film numerous times and every time I watch it I catch a line that I missed before. It is a film that holds up and a film that you won't soon forget.

I first saw this film on the "late-late show" when I was 13 and it has stayed with me since (I'm 56 now). Along with "The Snake Pit" (set in a mental institution) it set the standard for so many "incarcerated women" films to follow, as well as for numerous parodies (most notably, the stage produciton, "Women Behind Bars." which featured Divine as the sadistic matron). For decades I've wondered why it has not been made available in video format. Better late than never. While there is certain camp aspect to it (broadly-drawn characters, some over-the-top acting), I agree that it should not be labeled a "camp classic." It's a classic, no modifier needed.

The previous writers said it all! This is an excellent film. It is grim from start to finish, I don't understand why it is called a "camp classic", this film is far from camp. When Harper shaves Marie's hair off for punishment, and physically pushes her into the solitary cell, that is not camp by a long shot. That scene alone in itself, was very shocking and anyone who thought that was camp needs help! In one of Eleanor Parkers early interviews, she stated that it was her real hair being shaved off, and after the scene was done, it took her awhile to feel normal again, as she was so into the role. She remarked on how everyone got along so well with one another. She said Hope Emerson was such a wonderful woman, how they would all gather around the piano and sing songs. I enjoyed the scene where Harper is in her room, she kicks the radiator because her room is so cold, she goes and reaches underneath her mattress, and pulls out a bottle of booze. She takes a swig, and places it back underneath the mattress. The bell rings and she steps outside to turn on the lights in the bullpen, and she yells, "Pile out you tramps, this ain't no upstairs delicatessan, time for count!!!!" One scene, when the women go to chow, and are standing in front of their food at their eating tables, Harper blows a whistle for them to sit down, and another whistle blow for them to start eating. This scene is not in this DVD. TV prints had this scene edited also, last time I saw this scene was at a womens film festival in San Francisco, about 10 years ago. A good blooper in the film is when after the riot in the bullpen over a cat, Marie holds the cat and says "its dead" and you can see the cat still moving (wonder if they sedated it) In the 80's this film was remade as "Reform School Girls" the similarities are amazing, including the new "Harper". I am glad that this motion picture, considered one of the best women's prison films ever made, is finally seeing the light of day on DVD.

John Cromwell's 1950 classic, "Caged" is one of Warner Brothers great films. Chilling for its' day, it still packs a great blow. You'll recognize Eleanor Parker as Marie Allen, who enters the Women's Penn at the ripe age of 19. Her transformation is well crafted. She's supported by the warden, beautifully played by Agnes Moorehead. Unfortunately Marie is assigned to Corridor B where the brilliant, 6'2", 230 pound Hope Emerson is assigned as matron. Miss Emerson, as Evelyn Harper, terrorizes the sixty girls in her "bullpen" as does it with great skill. Each of her scenes is a delight to watch. (Make sure you see her in "Westward the Women", 1951. Very different performance.)
"Caged" also includes a number of great character actresses from theatre, film, radio, and early television. They include Betty Garde (Aunt Eller in "Oklahoma"), Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton in "The Waltons"), Jane Darwell (Ma Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath"), Eileen Stevens (The nurse in "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman"), Lee Patrick (Mrs. Topper in the sitcom "Topper"), Gertrude Hoffman (Mrs. Odetts in "My Little Margie") and many, many more women I'm sure you'll recognize and enjoy watching.
Miss Parker was nominated for Best Actress, but lost to Judy Holliday ("Born Yesterday") and Miss Emerson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and gave the award to Josephine Hull ("Harvey").
You will not be disappointed when you add this classic to your collection.

Ohio born Eleanor Parker was a ravishing beauty with a distinctive, beautifully modulated speaking voice who never quite reached the heights of stardom predicted for her by both critics and colleagues. Co-star Glenn Ford called her "the least heralded great actress" and Oscar winning director Robert Wise referred to Parker as "an artist of the first rank."

Placed under contract by Warner Brothers in 1942, Parker lacked the temperament to fight for the good roles that were offered first to Bette Davis, Ida Lupino and (later) Joan Crawford. Nor did she create an identifyable screen persona, preferring instead to disappear within her characters. Still, she carved out an impressive film career for herself which brought her three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

The best role of her Warner's career came at the very end of her studio contact in 1950. In John Cromwell's magnificent CAGED, Parker stars as Marie Allen, the innocent, pregnant young wife who's sent to prison for being an accomplice in her husband's crime. There, she's corrupted by the cruel and heartless penal system and the career criminals she's incarcerated with.

Eleanor Parker's transformation from frightened child-woman to bitter con is remarkable. Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep has written of her admiration of Parker's performance. "CAGED was one of the first films I ever saw," Streep wrote, "where I understood the transformation of character that is possible for an actress in a film." At the end of CAGED, when we see the hardened, embittered Marie emerge from prison, it's hard to beleive it's the same actress who was so frightened and innocent at the film's start.

Eleanor Parker received the first of her three Best Actress Oscar nominations for her stunning performance, and won the Venice Film Festival's Best Actress prize. And she's surrounded by a cast of equally fine actresses who are all at their best.

Hope Emerson, who may be best remembered now as the circus strong woman in ADAM'S RIB (1949), also received an Oscar nomination as the cruel, Amazonian prison matron, and Agnes Moorehead is equally fine as the kind, frustrated prison warden.

The marvelous Jan Sterling as Smoochie, the CP (common prostitue), has some of the films best lines which she delivers in great wise-cracking tradition. She is the film's comic relief, and provides some welcomed levity to the otherwise grim circumstances.

Warner's long-time character actress Lee Patrick also has some fine moments, as do Ellen Corby, Betty Garde, Olive Deering, Jane Darwell and Gertrude Michael.

But it's Parker's exceptional performance, and the fine direction of the under-rated John Cromwell, that make CAGED one of the best Warner Brother films of the decade.

The trailer for "Caged" exclaims: "Warner Brothers reveals the Menace that Turns Today's First Offenders into Tomorrow's Legion of the Lost". This 1950 film makes no attempt to obscure its social agenda, which is to promote an overhaul of the American prison system, a system which the filmmakers felt created and protected criminality as much as it punished it. To this end, we visit a women's prison, where a clean-cut, pleasant young woman who made one mistake will be compelled by circumstances to embrace a life of crime. Corruption, physical abuse, and the mixing of first offenders with hardened criminals are the ills that infect the prison and victimize inmates who might otherwise go straight.

19-year-old Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) has been convicted as an accessory in an ill-fated hold-up that left her husband dead. Delicate, scrupulously polite, pregnant, and terrified, Marie arrives at the State Women's Prison to serve her time. The progressive prison Superintendent Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead) is sympathetic to the plight of first offenders but struggles constantly just to obtain adequate funding to run the facility. Marie is placed under the authority of sadistic, corrupt prison matron Harper (Hope Emerson), who keeps her job through political connections. Marie is determined not to misstep and be paroled in 10 months, but everything and everyone work against her.

We never lose sight of the fact that Marie is "caged" -by bars and walls, and by corruption, selfishness, and misguided paternalism. The claustrophobia, noise, and humiliation of the prison environment are present in every scene. I don't know how widespread the behavior in "Caged" was in American prisons circa 1950. But it's interesting that the film doesn't only attack the obvious sources of trouble -corruption and political apathy - but also condemns the self-righteous, well-meaning parole board, who deem the horrible prison environment preferable to freedom for a young woman with "no favorable home conditions and no beneficent influences on the outside." Accurate or not, "Caged" is very hard-hitting and presents Marie's loss of autonomy with frightening empathy.

The DVD (Warner 2007): Picture and sound quality are good. The only bonus feature is a theatrical trailer. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, and Spanish.

"Caged" is actually an excellent film with excellent performances. It really ought not to be marketed as period camp. It's a deeply serious film and helped to expose unconstitutional conditions in prisons of that era. Much like what "The Snake Pit" did for mental asylums and their treatment of patients, "Caged" helped to shine a light on much needed change in the women's penal system. Both films have similar styles and are still relevant today. Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay are perfect examples. Regardless of your politicial or social perspectives, if you're a film buff, "Caged" is worth more than one viewing to really appreciate it. A+.

CAGED was written with great insight by Virginia Kellogg, who posed as an inmate in a real women's prison in order to gain true authenticity for the subject. The results still speak for themselves. With no overly dramatic pretense or campy stunts, CAGED is a powerful character study about the transformation of one young woman, forced into prison for a crime she barely committed.

Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker, "Detective Story") is arrested and sent to jail as an accomplice for a gas station robbery. Her unemployed husband, in bad need of money, was shot and killed in the attack. Once inside the prison, Marie learns that she is two months pregnant--and there will be no sympathy for the jailbird mother. Sadistic head Matron Harper (Hope Emerson) makes Marie's life a misery, forcing the expectant mother to spend hours scrubbing the floors. Marie's only salvation lies with the kindly superintendent Mrs Benton (Agnes Moorehead), and the possibility of getting an early parole. But with Matron Harper on the warpath, Marie's chances of escaping her hell are as bleak as the jailhouse walls...

Eleanor Parker's amazing, Oscar-nominated performance is the icing on the cake for this riveting movie. Her transformation from naive innocent to hard-boiled jailbird is a marvel to witness. Observe the way her body language and the tone of her voice changes during the film. CAGED also features some of the most talented actresses of the period (Lee Patrick, Ellen Corby, Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Jane Darwell and Olive Deering), all free from makeup and the glamorous trappings of regular Hollywood fare.

Nothing about this film seems false or calculated. The characters are very real and fleshed-out, everyone has their own story to tell. You'll be able to find new aspects and angles each time you watch it. The minimalist score is provided by Max Steiner. CAGED is a rare gem that deserves to be rediscovered.

The DVD includes the trailer. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

I totally disagree with the criticism that Parker was "awful." Total nonsense. She couldn't be more vulnerable as the film starts, and her transformation is a remarkable one. In an interview, none other than Meryl Streep singled out Parker's performance as an influential one while growing up, seeing how a character can evolve so dramatically by the end of a movie. Parker deserved the nomination. The entire cast is excellent, and the direction by John Cromwell is effective and intelligent in tone.