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Caged
Caged
Actors: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson, John Cromwell
Directors: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson, John Cromwell
NR     2014


     
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Actors: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson, John Cromwell
Directors: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson, John Cromwell
Creators: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson, John Cromwell
Studio: Warner Archive Collection
Format: DVD
DVD Release Date: 04/08/2014
Original Release Date: 04/08/2014
Theatrical Release Date: 04/08/2014
Release Year: 2014
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 5
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English
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Member Movie Reviews

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...
The ultra-sleazy "Women In Prison" genre did not start with John Cromwell's 1950 film "Caged," but it certainly received a boost from it. It's a genre that transcends culture - pretty much every country with a robust filmmaking industry (Germany, Japan, Italy, the good ol' US of A) has offered its own spin on the genre. Additionally, numerous well-known actors and directors (in varying waxing and waning points in their careers) have dabbled in it. Even the first feature film from venerated director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Swimming to Cambodia, Philadelphia) was 1974's "Caged Heat."

In "Caged," perpetually dewy-eyed Eleanor Parker plays Marie Allen, a newly-widowed woman whose husband was killed knocking over a gas station for the princely sum of 40 bucks. Marie was considered an accomplice and sent to the big house, along with the fetus she didn't know she had.

Like Shawshank's Andy Dufresne, Marie adapts to prison life - the food, the routine, the work (she's assigned to the laundry), and the risk of clinging to hope. Her cellmates each have their own story to tell, of course, some more interesting than others.

The central conflict in this film is unique among prison films - the head warden, Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead) actually cares about the prisoners and wants to ensure a reduction in recidivism; the chief matron Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson) doesn't give a shit and just wants to break them to ensure obedience. From what I've read, this conflict in the story was born from producer Jerry Wald's desire to affect reforms in the women's prison system, similar to the reforms that followed 1932's "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang."

Parker famously allowed her head to be shaved for this role - it still makes headlines today when Sigourney Weaver or Natalie Portman does it; I'm not sure what the press in the 50s said about it. Either way, she along with Emerson received well-earned Oscar nominations for their performances.

"Caged" exists in a strange nexus between the stilted artificiality of films from the 40s and a grittier 70s realism. Despite being a part of the WIP genre, overall it's a respectable film with some genuinely tough women.

Grade: straight B