The movie’s intent is emphasizing these things happen every day. There’s little compassion inside the prison itself where the employees and lifers have heard every story a million different ways, whether it’s the nature of the crime or a woman coming in pregnant. Who would buy Davis and Crawford as hardened women living their lives “behind the iron” without a heaping dose of melodrama and redemption? Freedom and confinement are separated by a sharp fence here, but the women are continually tempted (or taunted) with the noise of the train where “people are going home.” For them, the “end of the line” is just the beginning. Thankfully, the movie abandoned movie star theatrics in favor of lesser-known actors. Caged was originally planned as an A-picture with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as the leads. Their documentary approach to issues like prison reform and crime showcased the harsh underbelly of society from the comfort of a movie theater, and reminded you of the harsh realities awaiting you for just thinking of breaking the law. The social welfare film was a staple of the 1950s. As she struggles to serve out her sentence she comes up against a vicious matron (Hope Emerson) and hardened criminals who assert Marie is doomed to a life of crime. Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) is serving time after being convicted of armed robbery. The various tropes of “women in prison” movies are delicately established, but Caged is more concerned with characterization and film noir archetypes than anything in the vein of exploitation. If you go back further you’ll find 1950’s Caged, a social welfare “expose” on the harsh realities of a women’s prison. Before Orange is the New Black rocked television screens, the women’s prison was a location commonly lampooned in exploitation movies of the 1970s or X-rated content.
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