Lady Gangster (1942)

Director:

Robert Florey

Writers:

Anthony Coldeway (screenplay)
Dorothy Mackaye (play)

Release Date:

1 April 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

An actress gets mixed up with a criminal gang and winds up taking the rap for a $40,000 robbery. Before she's sent to prison...

Plot Keywords:

Criminal Gang | Car Chase | Radio Broadcast | Montage | Prison Escape

Cast

Faye Emerson	...	Dot Burton
Julie Bishop	...	Myrtle Reed
Frank Wilcox	...	Kenneth Phillips
Roland Drew	...	Carey Wells
Jackie Gleason	...	Wilson (as Jackie C. Gleason)
Ruth Ford	...	Lucy Fenton
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Stoner
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Jenkins
Dorothy Adams	...	Deaf Annie
William Hopper	...	John (as DeWolf Hopper)
Vera Lewis	...	Ma Silsby
Herbert Rawlinson	...	Lewis Sinton
Peggy Diggins	...	Mary
Charles C. Wilson	...	Detective (as Charles Wilson)
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Stew (as Bill Phillips)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #8267) | USA:Not Rated (DVD)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Quotes:

Mrs. Stoner: So the quicker you realize that this i neither a country club nor a concentration camp, the better. It's up to the women themselves how they're treated. If you behave yourself, we'll meet you more than halfway, but if you want to be tough, we can be tough with you. Now, is that clear?
Dorothy Drew Burton: Yes.
Mrs. Stoner: Yes, what?
Dorothy Drew Burton: Yes, Ma'am.

Movie Connections:

Version of Ladies They Talk About (1933)

Soundtrack:

Blues in the Night

A 'Brutal' Typical 1930s Prison Flick

When I see old-time prison/crime movies, I laugh out loud at some of the things I see, at least compared to films of the last 40 years which may be very profane and sadistically violent but at least they are realistic.

In this film, the lead female character " Dot Burton," played by Faye Emerson, is sent to a women's prison. Inside are all white women except one black, who dances all the time. Talk about a stereotype. Emerson and her best buddy in here look like lesser versions of Rita Hayworth, Look around and you more of these nice, wholesome-looking babes. I guarantee you no prison population has ever looked this good! Yes, there are a few "baddies" and, of course, they are ugly women.

The story also gives us a typical classic movie romance in which a guy falls in love with a "dame" the first time he talks to her. Then she falls for him quickly and but right away, of course, there is a misunderstanding and now the woman hates him. Ten minutes later she loves him again, then hates him, then loves him, etc. etc. No wonder few people in the film world ever took marriage seriously. On screen,it was just one big joke.

Anyway, the story is pretty interesting even if it is more than a bit too dated. The film might be noted more for having two very young actors in here than anything else, guys who went on to because famous on television in the 1950s: Paul Drake and Jackie Gleason. Drake was Perry Mason's assistant on hat hit TV show and Gleason, of course, went on to huge TV fame with "The Honeymooners" and other shows. Here, he is billed as Jackie C. C Gleason.

"Lady Gangster" is only a little over an hour which is fine and the DVD transfer was surprisingly good. This was part of a 4-movie disc called "Mobster Movies," put out by Platinum. I have two of these discs so there are eight films I can watch, movies that, as far as I can tell, were not available on VHS. The other movie I watched on one of the other discs did not have the good picture quality this one had, so they probably vary from film-to-film.

But, despite the drawbacks, these 1930s films are fun to watch because they are fast-moving, short and entertaining.