''Ladies They Talk About'' is a 1933

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

directed by

Howard Bretherton Howard Bretherton (13 February 1890, in Tacoma, Washington – 12 April 1969, in San Diego, California) was an American film director, film editor, and the father of film editor David Bretherton. Career He began his career as a propman and then ...

and

William Keighley William Jackson Keighley (August 4, 1889 – June 24, 1984) was an American stage actor and Hollywood film director. Career After graduating from the Ludlum School of Dramatic Art, Keighley began acting at the age of 23. By the 1910s and 1920s ...

, and starring Barbara Stanwyck,

Preston Foster Preston Stratton Foster (August 24, 1900 – July 14, 1970), was an American actor of stage, film, radio, and television, whose career spanned nearly four decades. He also had a career as a vocalist. Early life Born in Ocean City, New Jersey ...

, and

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

. The film is about an attractive woman who is a member of a bank-robbery gang. It is based on the play ''Gangstress, or Women in Prison'' by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles. In 1928, Dorothy Mackaye, #440960, served less than ten months of a one- to three-year sentence in San Quentin State Prison.Gene Coughlin, "Tragedies of the Stage", ''Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph'' (September 12, 1948), p. ''American Weekly'', p. 7.

Plot

Nan Taylor is a member of a gang of bank robbers, posing as a regular customer to distract the security guard while her accomplices take the money. Her cover is blown by a policeman who had arrested her before, and she is arrested again. Reform-minded radio star David Slade falls in love with her, and gets her released as a favor from District Attorney Simpson. When she confesses that she is guilty, though, Simpson has her imprisoned. At San Quentin State Prison, Nan meets fellow inmates Linda, "Sister Susie", and Aunt Maggie, as well as prison matron Noonan. Slade continues to send Nan letters, but she refuses his entreaties. Meanwhile, Susie has a fancy for Slade, and resents Nan for spurning him. Her bank accomplice, Lefty, visits her, and tells her that Don is now imprisoned in the men's section on the other side of the wall. Lefty tells her to make a map of the women's section and a copy of the matron's key, so the men can escape via the women's section of the prison. Nan believes Slade told the prison officials about the escape plot and Don is shot dead as he gets to Nan's cell to break her out. Nan is given another year, and is not allowed visitors, but vows to seek revenge on Slade. When she is released, Nan goes to a revival group meeting hosted by Slade. He is glad to see her, and she is escorted to a back room, where he professes his love for her. She scoffs and accuses him of turning in her bank robber accomplices. She shoots at him, but only hits him in the arm. Sister Susie sees this from outside from a

keyhole A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token or coin), by supplying secret information (such as a number or letter permutation or pas ...

, but Slade denies that he has been shot, and Slade and Nan announce their intention to marry.

Cast

* Barbara Stanwyck as Nan Taylor *

as David Slade *

as Gangster Don * Dorothy Burgess as 'Sister' Susie *

Lillian Roth Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 – May 12, 1980) was an American singer and actress. Her life story was told in the 1955 film '' I'll Cry Tomorrow'', in which she was portrayed by Susan Hayward, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best ...

as Prisoner Linda *

Maude Eburne Maude Eburne (born Maud Eburne Riggs, November 10, 1875 – October 15, 1960) was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles. Early years Eburne was born the daughter of John and Mary Riggs, in Bront ...

as Aunt Maggie *

Ruth Donnelly Ruth Donnelly (May 17, 1896 – November 17, 1982) was an American film and stage actress. Early years and family Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donnelly was the daughter of Harry Augustus and Bessie B. Donnelly. Her uncle, Freder ...

as Prison Matron *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Lefty Simons * Robert McWade as District Attorney Simpson *

Grace Cunard Grace Cunard (born Harriet Mildred Jeffries; April 8, 1893 – January 19, 1967) was an American actress, screenwriter and film director. During the silent era, she starred in over 100 films, wrote or co-wrote at least 44 of those production ...

as Prisoner Marie (uncredited)

Production

Unlike many other films of the women-in-prison genre, Taylor's fellow inmates are genuine criminals, rather than innocents in prison by mistake.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said, "When a reformer and a dashing female bank bandit fall in love, their home life may be somewhat as illustrated in the lingering finale of ''Ladies They Talk About,'' ..After a torrid argument in which Nan, the gun-girl, accuses her beloved of frustrating a jail-break in which two of her pals were killed, she loses her temper, draws a gun from her handbag, and shoots him. 'I didn't mean to do that,' Nan remarks a moment later as David Slade falls to the floor with a bullet in his shoulder. 'Why, that's all right, Nan,' responds her husband-to-be. 'It's nothing.'" .."It is in the prison scenes that the film provides some interesting drama. ''Ladies They Talk About'' is effective when it is describing the behavior of the prisoners, the variety of their misdemeanors, their positions in the social whirl outside, their ingenuity in giving an intimate domestic touch to the prison, and their frequently picturesque way of exhibiting pride, jealousy, vanity, and other untrammeled feminine emotions.""Ladies They Talk About (1933) - A Woman Bandit."
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', February 25, 1933.

Remake

The film was remade in 1942 under the title ''

Lady Gangster ''Lady Gangster'' is a 1942 Warner Bros. B picture crime film directed by Robert Florey, credited as "Florian Roberts". It is based on the play ''Gangstress, or Women in Prison'' by Dorothy Mackaye, who in 1928, as #440960, served less than ten ...

'', starring

Faye Emerson Faye Margaret Emerson (July 8, 1917 – March 9, 1983) was an American film and stage actress and television interviewer who gained fame as a film actress in the 1940s before transitioning to television in the 1950s and hosting her own talk show ...

References

External links

* * * * {{William Keighley 1933 films 1933 crime drama films 1930s prison films American black-and-white films American crime drama films American prison films 1930s English-language films American films based on plays Films directed by William Keighley Films set in San Quentin State Prison Warner Bros. films Women in prison films 1930s American films