City Without Men (1943)

Director:

Sidney Salkow

Writers:

Martin Berkeley (story)
Donald Davis (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

14 January 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Women fighting for their men, and their right to love them!

Plot:

A young woman's husband has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. In order to be near him to try to help him get his sentence overturned, she moves into a boardinghouse near the prison whose residents are the wives of inmates. |

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Linda Darnell	...	Nancy Johnson
Edgar Buchanan	...	Michael T. Mallory
Michael Duane	...	Tom Adams
Sara Allgood	...	Maria Barton
Glenda Farrell	...	Billie LaRue
Leslie Brooks	...	Gwen
Doris Dudley	...	Winnie
Margaret Hamilton	...	Dora
Constance Worth	...	Elsie
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Mrs. Slade
Sheldon Leonard	...	Monk LaRue
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Arthur Loft	...	Lawyer (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Prison Farm (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Early Oscar beggar

Forgettable bit notable for Margaret Hamilton as one of the wives of prisoners. Hilarious moment is when all the wives in the boarding home gang up on one who is seeking to run off on her husband, watch Hamilton's tough act especially. YOu can't miss it. Think of Laverne and Shirley tough acts (second time I have referred to that show in commenting on old movies) or even Ethel Mertz behaviour. Edgar Buchanan (Uncle Joe of 'Petticoat Junction') and Sara Allgood as the boarding house mother BEG for Academy Award nominations. I don't know what ever made anyone think Buchanan could draw sympathy and pity from an audience, but every performance he gives, he is emoting or spewing wisdom or in PJ's case, thinking he is stealing the show with laughs and warm humour. Here he plays an alcoholic lawyer who pleads for Linda Darnell's husband. He actually might have been effective without the alcoholic slant. Allgood's attempts at sympathy are utterly pathetic and blatantly obvious.

In the end, when all seems said and done, Glenda Farrell kind of sets the stage for some sort of sequel is all I can figure. Thankfully there wasn't one, or it there was, I never saw it. Again, Hamilton does manage a few good laughs with her incarcerated husband.