Drama about a young woman, Erica, who is wrongly implicated in a crime and sent to prison for five years, where she faces deplorable conditions. With the aid of the warden, she sets out to p... Read allDrama about a young woman, Erica, who is wrongly implicated in a crime and sent to prison for five years, where she faces deplorable conditions. With the aid of the warden, she sets out to prove her innocence.Drama about a young woman, Erica, who is wrongly implicated in a crime and sent to prison for five years, where she faces deplorable conditions. With the aid of the warden, she sets out to prove her innocence.
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Did you know
- TriviaProduced by Bryan Foy, of the original Seven Little Foys, two of his sisters, Mary Foy and Madeline Foy also appear in the film in uncredited roles as inmates.
- GoofsAlthough a running subplot involves two inmates arguing over the heartthrob merits of Troy Donahue (then a Warners contract player), during an outdoor scene in the prison yard Donahue's name has clearly been dubbed over the women saying a different name, suggesting the exterior was shot first and the decision to use Donahue's name a later idea integrated during interior shooting.
- Quotes
Warden Frank Cole: Your record says you used to be a stripteaser.
Candy Kane: Oh, that sounds so inelegant. When I was a stripteaser they used to call it bein' a extra-dysiast.
Warden Frank Cole: You mean an "ecdysiast".
Candy Kane: Well, I never did know how to pronounce it. But they say I sure did know how to do it.
Warden Frank Cole: I'm sure you did.
- ConnectionsEdited from Caged (1950)
Women's prison films have been a frequent source of subject matter ever since "Ladies of the Big House" in 1932. There have "Ladies They Talk About"; "Condemned Women", the Oscar nominated "Caged" (of which this is apparently a remake of but really doesn't much in common with other than its setting and studio) and "Women's Prison" with an overly dramatic Ida Lupino. Later entries were not nearly as well made, produced on lower budgets with a definite element of sleaze. Just watch 1969's "99 Women" (with an outrageously bad Mercedes McCambridge) and 1983's "Chained Heat" (with a horribly bad Linda Blair). They have a huge camp element, filled with butch wardens or matrons (such as Esther Dale and Hope Emerson), over-the-top dialogue (several of them actually refer to the female inmates as "fish"), and plenty of cat fights. In "House of Women", we get to see Constance Ford ("Another World's" matriarch Ada Hobson) duke it out with matron Jeanne Cooper (matriarch Kay Chancellor of "The Young and the Restless"). There are also two inmates that are obviously tough lesbian characters whom several of the others have nicknamed "Butch".
While the butch presence of a Hope Emerson type matron is missing (Cooper is too feminine to be considered butch), there is still enough sexual tension between these women to drop all sorts of innuendos. Shirley Knight, then at the height of her career (thanks to "Sweet Bird of Youth" the same year) is equally innocent and tough as she adapts to her surroundings. Andrew Duggan does a good job as the warden. Ford gets the most scenes to steal as she goes from strong-but-kind to vengeful when she faces a difficult tragedy. Those who remember her as Sandra Dee's nasty mother in "A Summer Place" and as Rachel's supportive but blunt mother on "Another World" will be riveted every time she is on screen. It is sad her film career never took her further than the types of roles Warner Brothers gave her (even on loan to United Artists, she was very typecast as mental institution nurse Joan Crawford's "right hand man".) Ford is very worthy of the types of roles given at the time to Angela Lansbury. (Look for Ford as a flirtatious millionaire's wife opposite Warren Beatty in "All Fall Down"; Her one scene is unforgettable!)
In summary, "House of Women" is an enjoyable over-the-top drama which allows several actors to really chew up the scenery. While the references to it being a remake of "Caged" are somewhat exaggerated (they only really share an innocent heroine put behind bars in addition to my other comparisons above), it stands on its own as an entertaining camp drama. The script comes off as a bit trite and some of the dialog does not at all seem real, but overall, the film truly is entertaining and a cut above many lesser films of the same theme.
- mark.waltz
- Mar 8, 2003
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Details
- Release date
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- Also known as
- Ladies of the Mob
- Filming locations
- Lone Pine, California, USA(police cars and motorcycles speed past the Dow Hotel)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1