Film noir fused with social realism in a woman’s prison. And it’s not pretty.

Caged (1950, Robert Cromwell) ***

Eleanor Parker (as Marie Allen) earned her first of three Oscar nominations playing a “young and innocent” inmate in this horror show of a woman’s prison. Billed as, “The Story of a Women's Prison Today!” Caged conforms to the muckraking mold of the urban and social realism Warner Bros. films of the 1930’s and is the flip side of The Big House. Hope Emerson dominates, both literally and figuratively (earning an Oscar nod as best supporting actress), as the sadistic matron towering over the inmates as a modern day gorgon exacting tribute payments while enjoying the protection of the state’s political machine. From a doe-eyed innocent Marie Allan turns into a hard case who has given-up any hope of returning to her old life (“From now on what’s in it for me is all that matters. For that forty bucks I heisted I certainly got myself an education”). As powerful as the Mervyn LeRoy pre-code classic I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (“How do you survive?” “I steal.”) Standout performances from Agnes Morehead, Jane Darwell, Jan Sterling, Lee Patrick and Gertrude Hoffman (in a bit role as Millie, an elderly "lifer" who warns Marie to go straight) make this a true noir classic.