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Young and pregnant, innocent Shirley Knight has been sent to a women's prison for being the driver of a car in a robbery commited by her boyfriend. Giving birth to her baby in prison, Knight hopes to get parole so she can raise it in a proper atmosphere. She befriends various prisoners, including fellow mother Constance Ford whose young son is loved by all the women inmates. (It seems in this prison system, female prisoners are allowed to have their children with them.) Things get tough when warden Andrew Duggan falls in love with her and doesn't want her to get paroled. Then, a tragic incident ensues, sending the prisoners into rebellion and bringing on major media attention.Women's prison films have been a frequent source of subject matter ever since "Ladies of the Big House" in 1932. There have "Ladies They Talk About"; "Condemned Women", the Oscar nominated "Caged" (of which this is apparently a remake of), and "Women's Prison" with an overly dramatic Ida Lupino. They have a huge camp element, filled with butch wardens or matrons (such as Esther Dale and Hope Emerson), over-the-top dialogue (several of them actually refer to the female inmates as "fish"), and plenty of cat fights. In "House of Women", we get to see Constance Ford ("Another World's" matriarch Ada Hobson) duke it out with matron Jeanne Cooper (matriarch Kay Chancellor of "The Young and the Restless"). While the butch presence of a Hope Emerson type matron is missing (Cooper is too feminine to be considered butch), there is still enough sexual tension between these women to drop all sorts of inuendoes. Shirley Knight, then at the height of her career (thanks to "Sweet Bird of Youth" the same year) is equally innocent and tough as she adapts to her surroundings. Andrew Duggan does a good job as the warden. Ford gets the most scenes to steal as she goes from strong-but-kind to vengeful when she faces a difficult tragedy. Those who remember her as Sandra Dee's nasty mother in "A Summer Place" and as Rachel's supportive but blunt mother on "Another World" will be rivited every time she is on screen. It is sad her film career never took her further than the types of roles Warner Brothers gave her (even on loan to United Artists, she was very typecast as mental institution nurse Joan Crawford's "right hand man".) Ford is very worthy of the types of roles given at the time to Angela Lansbury. (Look for Ford as a flirtatious millionaire's wife opposite Warren Beatty in "All Fall Down"; Her one scene is unforgettable!)In summary, "House of Women" is an enjoyable over-the-top drama which allows several actors to really chew up the scenery. While the references to it being a remake of "Caged" are somewhat exaggerated (they only really share an innocent heroine put behind bars and the studio which produced them both), it stands on its own as an entertaining camp drama.
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