Condemned Women (1938)

Director:

Lew Landers

Writers:

Lionel Houser (screenplay)
Lionel Houser (story)

Release Date:

18 March 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A sensational drama of girls in prison

Plot:

Shoplifter Linda Wilson doesn't care much for life inside or outside jail until she starts a relationship with prison psychiatrist Philip Duncan...

Plot Keywords:

Jail Break | Perjury | Prison Riot | Women's Prison | Doctor

Cast

Sally Eilers	...	Linda Wilson
Louis Hayward	...	Dr. Philip Duncan
Anne Shirley	...	Millie Anson
Esther Dale	...	Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
Lee Patrick	...	Anna 'Big Annie' Barry
Leona Roberts	...	Kate Holt
George Irving	...	Warden Edmund Miller
Richard Bond	...	David
Netta Packer	...	Sarah Norton
Rita La Roy	...	Cora
Florence Lake	...	Prisoner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Adams	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Hooper Atchley	...	Prosecutor (uncredited)
Jack Carson	...	Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Detective (uncredited)
Alec Craig	...	Counterman on Ship (uncredited)
Edythe Elliott	...	Dr. Barnes (uncredited)
John Marston	...	Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Vivien Oakland	...	Mrs. Walter Hempstead (uncredited)
Betty Roadman	...	Matron (uncredited)
Kathryn Sheldon	...	Matron (uncredited)
Paul Stanton	...	Judge (uncredited)

Directed by
Lew Landers

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lionel Houser		screenplay
Lionel Houser		story

Produced by
Robert Sisk	....	producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Nicholas Musuraca

Film Editing by
Desmond Marquette

Art Direction by
Van Nest Polglase

Art Department
Feild M. Gray	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Earl A. Wolcott	....	sound recordist

Editorial Department
Douglas Travers	....	montage

Music Department
Roy Webb	....	musical director
Nathaniel Shilkret	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Max Steiner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1938) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

First full length feature film of Dorothy Adams.

This women's prison movie is never really convincing.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Try as they may, the women prisoners are never really convincing criminals. Top-billed Sally Eilers and Anne Shirley are suited to the roles, because they are the ones you root for and they are not criminals at heart. In fact, Shirley is taking the rap for a theft her boyfriend committed, so that he may continue with his studies. But Lee Patrick, the tough convict who supposedly "runs" the prisoners, and who plans an escape with some vague, half-baked ideas, is just miscast. Perhaps I'm just used to her roles as a congenial best friend to the stars. The one woman who scores well is Esther Dale, as the vindictive head matron, resentful and threatened by the new young doctor, Louis Hayward, ordering tests she's opposed to on inmates, and paying much attention to Eilers. Hayward is always pleasant to watch even though here he is a bit unprofessional in his actions. As for the escape, whoever heard of women escaping from prison? Perhaps they are more apt to accept their lot rather than scheme to get out. In any case, the escape sequence showed a poorly thought out, haphazard plan. The only time I got involved in the women's plight involved unfairness, such as when the women gang up on Eilers thinking she was a stoolie, or when Patrick plants stolen drugs on her (for which she gets two weeks of solitary) because she would not cooperate with her plan to escape. I also was upset when poor innocent Shirley gets shot and killed in the escape and riot that followed. And the ending was pretty hokey and very unrealistic.