''Women's Prison'' or ''Women's Prisons'' (French: ''Prisons de femmes'') is a 1938 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Roger Richebé Roger Richebé (3 December 1897, Marseille - 10 July 1989 in Ville-d'Avray), born Roger Gustave Richebé, was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. Selected filmography * ' (1930) (producer) * '' La donna di una notte'' (1930) (pr ...

and starring

Viviane Romance Viviane Romance (born Pauline Ronacher Ortmanns; 4 July 1912 – 25 September 1991) was a French actress. Viviane Romance was born in Roubaix, France. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and was elected Miss Paris of 19 ...

Renée Saint-Cyr Renée Saint-Cyr (; 16 November 1904 – 11 July 2004) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1933 and 1994. She was the mother of Georges Lautner, who also achieved fame in the film business, albeit as a director. ...

and Marguerite Deval. Based on the 1930 novel of the same title by

Francis Carco Francis Carco (born François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the ''Fantaisiste'' school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for ''L'Homme libre'' and ''Gil Blas ...

, it was remade twice as the 1947 Swedish film ''

Two Women ''Two Women'' ( it, La ciociara , rough literal translation "The Woman from Ciociaria") is a 1960 war drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica from a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini and De Sica, based on the novel of the same name by Alberto ...

'' and the 1958 French film ''

Women's Prison This article discusses the incarceration of women in correctional facilities. As of 2013 across the world, 625,000 women and children were being held in penal institutions, and the female prison population was increasing in all continents.

''. It was made at the

Neuilly Studios Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

with scenes also shot at the Convent of the Ursulines in Montpellier. The film's sets were designed by the art director

Roland Quignon Roland Quignon (1897–1984) was a French art director.Crisp p.151 He designed the sets for more than fifty films during his career. He also directed four films. Selected filmography * ''The Dying Land'' (1936) * ''The House Across the Street'' ( ...

. Along with another contemporary film '' Prison Without Bars'' it portrayed the female inhabitants with sympathy. Both films were successful at the box office.Crisp p.221 Despite its title, only a few scenes take place in prison and it mostly follows a character after she has been released from jail marries an industrialist and attempts to start a new life.

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, Colin. ''French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 1, 1929–1939''. Indiana University Press, 2015. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Larsson, Mariah & Marklund, Anders. ''Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader''. Nordic Academic Press, 2010.

External links

* 1938 films 1938 drama films French drama films 1930s French-language films Films directed by Roger Richebé French black-and-white films Films set in Paris Films based on French novels 1930s French films {{1930s-France-film-stub fr:Prisons de femmes (film, 1938)