King of the ‘Bs’ producer Bryan Foy, who spent much of his career doing low-rent follow-ups to pricier fare @ Warner Bros., continued the tradition over at Columbia. Here, the Warners template pic is CAGED/’50, and this knock-off plenty effective on its own trashy terms; enlivened by an impressive cast of tough movie broads: inmates Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore & Audrey Totter, plus Phyllis Thaxter as a sweet, broken soul among the convicts. And, as trump card, sadistic Ladies’ Prison Director Ida Lupino. (As wild card, a male unit lies but a thin wall away.) Working yet again with reliable, if unimaginative Lewis Seiler helming (violence & same-sex undertones at a minimum), Foy’s tight budget forces him to reduce what should be a large prison population to a mere thirty or so souls, just enough for Lupino to turn the screws on before she goes all Captain Queeg on us. (Frugal as always, producer Foy takes a dramatic page out of Columbia’s THE CAINE MUTINY, which just happened to be in release as this was getting underway.) Look for Lupino’s real life husband Howard Duff as nemesis & prison doctor; perhaps he can explain just how Ms. Totter manages to get pregnant merely by kissing her husband during an illicit visit from the male side of the wall. (Yeah, they close the door, but just how fast does this horny guy work?)
DOUBLE--BILL: As mentioned above, CAGED.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The general prison population is integrated, but cell-by-cell . . . still segregated.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Like many studios, Columbia was compressing the Grey Scale of their b&w product. (Because of limitations in early tv picture resolution?) But journeyman cinematographer Lester White still puts out a handsome, if generalized, low-key/high contrast noir look.
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