The spirit is willing but the flesh is meek in this women’s prison drama from scripter Crane Wilbur and fast fading ‘King of the ‘Bs’ producer Bryan Foy. (His penultimate credit . . . out of 255!) The pair missing the pulse & vigor they were still putting out as late as WOMEN’S PRISON/’55.* A shame since the story has some unusual touches for the genre, especially in having kids living in prison dorms next to mom till they turn three. (Is this fact-based?) That’s the situation Shirley Knight finds herself in, unable to find a friend or relative to take her child while she waits for a favorable parole hearing. But tough warden Andrew Duggan isn’t going for it. Seems the tough guy who’s never led a women’s penitentiary before, has gone ‘soft’ on Knight and wants to keep her close by. Parole denied, the inmates rise up in revolt and a hostage crisis prison riot. Easy to imagine what producer Foy would have done with this set-up back in his mid-1930s to mid-1940s Warners’ heyday. All those tasty contract players on board for a few days of shooting; high contrast process lab work adding layers of chiaroscuro to edgy compositions; newspaper headlines to tighten the pace; unbearable tension & maudlin music to pump up the death of one of the cute kids . . . No more. Now, it’s all flat tv lighting and attempts at naturalistic acting. Boo!
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: As mentioned, WOMEN’S PRISON/’55. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/09/womens-prison-1956.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: How did Shirley Knight, with Oscar nom’s for SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH/’61 and DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS/’62 book-ending, land as the lead in this bottom-of-the-bill programmer? (Hope she got a new agent but pronto!)
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