''Caged'' is a 1950 American
women-in-prison film noir directed by
John Cromwell and starring
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
,
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
,
Betty Garde
Katharine Elizabeth Garde (September 19, 1905 – December 25, 1989) was an American stage, radio, film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Garde was starring in productions of South Philadelphia's Broadway Players by ...
,
Hope Emerson
Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960;) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. An imposing person physically, she weighed between and stood tall in her prime.
Early life
Emerson was born in ...
, and
Ellen Corby. It was nominated for three
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
.
The film portrays the story of a young newlywed sent to prison for armed robbery. Her brutal experiences while incarcerated, along with the killing of her husband, transform her from a meek,
naive
Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...
woman into a hardened convict. The film's subplot includes massive prison corruption.
''Caged'' was adapted by
Virginia Kellogg
Virginia Kellogg was an American film writer whose stories were adapted into the screenplays for ''White Heat'' (1949) and ''Caged'' (1950). Kellogg was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story for ''White Heat'' (1949) at the 22nd Academ ...
from the story "Women Without Men" by Kellogg and
Bernard C. Schoenfeld. The studio had originally intended the film to be a vehicle for
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
and
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was si ...
, but reportedly Davis had said she did not want to make a "dyke movie" (a film with
lesbian content) and turned it down.
Plot
A married 19-year-old, Marie Allen (
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
), is sent to prison after a botched armed robbery attempt with her husband, Tom, who is killed. While receiving her initial prison physical examination, she learns that she is two months pregnant.
Marie has trouble adjusting to the monotonous and cut-throat world of the
women's prison. She meets Kitty Stark (
Betty Garde
Katharine Elizabeth Garde (September 19, 1905 – December 25, 1989) was an American stage, radio, film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Garde was starring in productions of South Philadelphia's Broadway Players by ...
), a murderous shoplifter, who says once Marie gets out, Kitty will get her a job "boosting" (
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
). Marie does not want to get involved in crime, but Kitty explains the realities of prison life; "You get tough or you get killed. You better wise up before it's too late."
Told she can be
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
d in ten months, Marie witnesses prisoner after prisoner being "flopped back"—granted parole—but then not released from jail because no job had been arranged by her parole officer. One flopped-back prisoner, June (
Olive Deering
Olive Deering ( Corn; October 11, 1918 – March 22, 1986) was an American actress of film, television, and the stage, active from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. She was a life member of The Actors Studio, as was her elder brother, Alfred ...
), hangs herself given the hopelessness of her situation. For Marie, this steadily drains her own hopes of getting out early.
Despite the hardships under
sadistic
Sadism may refer to:
* Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation
* Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...
matron Evelyn Harper (
Hope Emerson
Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960;) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. An imposing person physically, she weighed between and stood tall in her prime.
Early life
Emerson was born in ...
), Marie gives birth to a healthy but premature baby. She plans to "temporarily" grant full custody to her mother, with the intent of getting the child back after she is released, but Marie's
stepfather
A stepfather or stepdad is a non-biological male parent married to one's preexisting parent.
A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren.
Culture
Though less comm ...
had already decided not to allow the baby into his house. Marie's mother uses the excuses that she is "too old" and "hasn't a penny in
ername" as reasons why she cannot help Marie. After Marie is denied a parole, she tries half-heartedly to escape. She is not punished for that attempt, although prison authorities do force her to give up her child for adoption.
The arrival of "vice queen" Elvira Powell (
Lee Patrick) sets off a rivalry with Kitty. Elvira bribes Harper to put Kitty in
solitary confinement, where Kitty is beaten. When a kitten is found in the jail yard, Marie attempts to make it a pet, but Harper tries to take the little animal away, an action that prompts the inmates to riot. The kitten is accidentally killed during the
melee
A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...
; and after order is restored by the staff, Marie is punished this time for trying to escape again by being sent to solitary confinement.
Before taking Marie to an isolated cell, Harper shaves Marie's head, symbolically stripping her of her innocence. Harper has disagreements with the sympathetic reformist prison superintendent, Ruth Benton (
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
), especially after this latest incident with Marie. Because Harper is a political appointee, the police commissioner refuses to fire her and instead asks for Benton's resignation. When Benton declares that she will demand a public hearing, the resignation issue is dropped.
Kitty finally rejoins her fellow inmates after serving a month in solitary confinement, but she is distraught and mentally unstable. After being harassed by Harper in the prison cafeteria, Kitty stabs Harper to death as the inmates watch and make no attempt to stop it. Marie—now hardened by her exposure to career criminals and sadistic guards—actually encourages Kitty in the fatal assault.
Up for parole once again, Marie has allegedly found a "cashier's job" outside the prison. In reality, the job is simply a ruse to get released so she can join Elvira Powell's shoplifting gang. Marie leaves the institution a cynical, unscrupulous woman after living and surviving there for over a year. Before she departs, Benton asks her why she is going into crime when she could go get a legitimate job. Marie says she got all the education she needed in prison. After she leaves, an office assistant asks Benton what to do with Marie's file. Benton replies, "Keep it active, she'll be back."
Cast
*
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
- Marie Allen
*
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
- Ruth Benton
*
Ellen Corby - Emma Barber
*
Hope Emerson
Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960;) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. An imposing person physically, she weighed between and stood tall in her prime.
Early life
Emerson was born in ...
- Evelyn Harper
*
Betty Garde
Katharine Elizabeth Garde (September 19, 1905 – December 25, 1989) was an American stage, radio, film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Garde was starring in productions of South Philadelphia's Broadway Players by ...
- Kitty Stark
*
Sheila MacRae - Helen
*
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling (born Jane Sterling Adriance; April 3, 1921 – March 26, 2004) was an American film, television and stage actress. At her most active in films during the 1950s (immediately prior to which she had joined the Actors Studio), Sterling ...
- Jeta Kovsky aka "Smoochie"
*
Lee Patrick - Elvira Powell
*
Jane Darwell
Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
- Solitary Confinement Matron
*
Gertrude W. Hoffmann - Millie
*
Olive Deering
Olive Deering ( Corn; October 11, 1918 – March 22, 1986) was an American actress of film, television, and the stage, active from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. She was a life member of The Actors Studio, as was her elder brother, Alfred ...
- June Roberts
*
Gertrude Michael - Georgia Harrison
Critical reception
In 1950, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave a mixed but predominantly positive review of ''Caged''. The film industry's long-established, widely read
trade paper
A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...
believed the film might struggle in the "general market", characterizing it as a "grim, unrelieved study of cause and effect" that "still adds up to very drab entertainment".
[“Brog.”(1950)]
"'Caged'"
review, ''Variety'', May 3, 1950, page 6. Internet Archive. Retrieved August 29, 2018. Nevertheless, ''Variety'' was very complimentary of nearly all aspects of the film's production, including its direction, editing, set designs, music, and cast performances, especially those of Parker and Emerson:
Another American reviewer in 1950, ''Film Bulletin'', gave generally high marks as well to ''Caged''.
["'Caged’ Stark, Gripping Prison Film Is Highly Exploitable"]
''Film Bulletin'' (New York, N.Y.), May 8, 1950, page 10. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 1, 2018. The New York-based weekly publication, which promoted itself as an “Independent Motion Picture Trade Paper”, did contend that the film's "stark, gripping" social commentary would be even more powerful if the "dismal atmosphere" of its storyline had at least a few contrasting lighter moments.
[ “'Caged’”, ''Film Bulletin'' observed, "is to penal institutions what ‘]The Snake Pit
''The Snake Pit'' is a 1948 American psychological drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Beulah Bondi, and Lee Patrick. Based on Mary Jane Ward's 1946 semi-autobiogra ...
’ was to mental institutions and ‘ The Lost Weekend’ to alcoholism."[
In a much later review, critic Emanuel Levy in 2007 generally praised the film too:
'']Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide
''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally calle ...
'' in 2014 favorably awarded ''Caged'' three out of four stars, also describing the film overall as “stark” with "remarkable" performances.Caged
at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
Accolades
In popular culture
''Caged'' is satirized in a 1977 '' SCTV'' comedy sketch
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...
as "Broads Behind Bars" with the character of Marie renamed "Cheryl" (and portrayed by comedian Catherine O'Hara). Cheryl is depicted as a teenager in the mid-to-late 1950s, who after smoking "pot" ends up in prison after being framed for armed robbery and also learns later that she is pregnant. The character of Kitty is played by Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...
, while John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' seri ...
, in drag, plays the role of matron Harper (called "Schultzy"). A knife fight between Kitty and Harper occurs in the skit, instead of a fork as in the film, although both Kitty and Schultzy die. Kitty is fatally stabbed by Schultzy, and Schultzy is later killed by Cheryl. For her action, Cheryl is then told she can be released from prison, however, she responds by only laughing and declining the offer, echoing Kitty's remark in the original film, “No dice!” The skit
Skit may refer to:
*
* A short segment in a performance, such as:
** Sketch comedy
** Hip hop skit
** Puppet skit
** Promo (professional wrestling)
* Skit note, parody of a banknote
See also
* Skete
A skete ( ) is a monastic communi ...
, in the end, presents itself not only as a parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
of “women-in-prison” movies like ''Caged'' but also as a spoof
Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to:
* Forgery of goods or documents
* Semen, in Australian slang
* Spoof (game), a guessing game
* Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets
__NOTOC__ ...
of the anti-marijuana films that were presented to students in many American high schools during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
Streaming audio
* Eleanor Parker also stars in the radio version of ''Caged'', which was originally broadcast eight months after the film's release. It was presented by NBC Radio on August 2, 1951, as episode #112 of the network's anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
''Screen Directors Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...
''. That adaptation is free for download at th
Internet Archive
{{John Cromwell
1950 films
1950 drama films
1950s prison films
American black-and-white films
American prison drama films
1950s English-language films
Film noir
Films directed by John Cromwell
Films scored by Max Steiner
Warner Bros. films
Women in prison films
1950s American films