Caged (1950)

Director:

John Cromwell

Writers:

Virginia Kellogg (screenplay)
Virginia Kellogg (story)

Release Date:

19 May 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The Story of a Women's Prison Today!

Plot:

A naive nineteen year old widow becomes coarsened and cynical when she is sent to a woman's prison and is exposed to hardened criminals and sadistic guards.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Sadistic | Pregnant | Beautiful Woman | Prison Matron

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Eleanor Parker	...	Marie Allen
Agnes Moorehead	...	Ruth Benton
Ellen Corby	...	Emma Barber
Hope Emerson	...	Evelyn Harper
Betty Garde	...	Kitty Stark
Jan Sterling	...	Smoochie
Lee Patrick	...	Elvira Powell
Olive Deering	...	June
Jane Darwell	...	Isolation Matron
Gertrude Michael	...	Georgia Harrison
Sheila MacRae	...	Helen (as Sheila Stevens)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Australia:M

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Originally titled 'The Big Cage', an early version of the script was intended as a Bette Davis/'Joan Crawford' vehicle.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Marie Allen announces that her kitten has died, the cat opens its mouth.

Quotes:

Millie: What I'd give for a sink full of dirty dishes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005)

An obscure black diamond from vintage year 1950

John Cromwell's insolently insinuating women's-prison drama Caged appeared as part of 1950's bumper crop (All About Eve; Sunset Boulevard; Born Yesterday; etc.). It holds its own even in that legendary class. With the possible exception of Gilda, was any film noir ever freighted with more innuendo? (And, given the milieu and all-but-all-female cast, that innuendo has a heavily Sapphic tinge.) One need only list the characters and the players to get a map of the direction the drama will take: "new fish" Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker); corrupt, sadistic matron Evelyn Harper (the 6'2" Hope Emerson); hard case Kitty Stark (Betty Garde); vice queen Elvira Powell (Lee Patrick); warden Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead); and one tough old bird who almost steals the whole damn picture ("one more like you would be so much velvet"). Cinematography is dark and evocative. Subsequent women's-prison dramas became little more than exploitative, porny rip-offs; Caged (despite a bit too much grey sermonizing on making incarceration more humane) manages to be a a stylish, engaging and -- without ever being grotesquely violent -- shocking drama. Too bad it has never (to my knowledge) made it to video; scan the movie channels and tape it when it crops up -- this one is for keeping.