A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A melodrama? You bet. But isn't every day in prison a real melodrama. The plot is pretty simple, this is a movie about characters. I can't imagine actresses having more fun than what is offered here; even the smallest roles are so well defined. The scene with Marie's mother is painfully honest in explaining how these situations are not simple. In spite of the horror, there is a lot of good humor and kindness shown in these horrifyng situations. I can't believe that anyone could find a boring second in this beautifully acted, strongly directed, knowingly written and brilliantly photographed masterpiece. You might smile afterwards over how outrageous it is, but I bet no one smiles during. One of Hollywood's greatest that somehow is forgotten today.

That leaves out Agnes Moorhead as the moral superintendent fighting against veteran matron Hope Emerson who brings her charges anything but hope. She's of the belief that the women deserve to be treated like animals, often passive aggressively being cruel with seemingly kind words. For newcomer Eleanor Parker, a 19 year old accused of being accessory to armed robbery, she learns a great deal in her stint in prison, going from sweet innocent to cynical as she views the shocking cruelties. Betty Garde, as a small time vice queen, faces her hatred of Emerson's Evelyn Harper with the arrival of higher class vice queen Lee Patrick. This is degradation of women by women at it's highest, with lots of hints of sadistic lesbianism thrown in as well.Terrifically written and acted, this was a star making part for Parker, already a veteran but much praised for her detailed performance. Moorhead is excellent as well, presented softer than normal as to increase the maliciousness of Emerson's vile matron. Smaller roles played by Jan Sterling, Ellen Corby and Gertrude Hoffman are other standouts. Wearing little to no makeup, Patrick makes her lust towards Parker plenty obvious. Unlike other women's prison movies, this lacks the camp quotient, although there's plenty of opportunity to make some of the more melodramatic moments into something humorous.Holding it's own nearly 70 years after release, this is going to be the film for which Hope Emerson will always be remembered. Along with Margaret Hamilton's wicked witch and Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers, her sinister matron is one of the best female villains in movie history. This made important points about the abuse of authority and the inhumanity towards inmates that makes no effort to rehabilitate those who have become desperate enough to break the law. There had been women's prison movies before ("Ladies They Talk About", "Sorority House") and after ("Women's Prison", "House of Women") that tried to limit the camp elements (and many more that did not), but "Caged" is the best of the lot on every level.

Caged is a fairly straightforward prison movie. It is set inside a female prison and told from the point of view of a young and innocent female prisoner. The politics inside the prison involving fellow inmates and wardens forms a major part of the film. The loss of innocence is the film's major theme. Eleanor Parker as the innocent young woman is seriously underrated. Jan Sterling from Ace in the Hole also makes an appearance in a small role. The film's final scene when Parker enters a car full of men establishes the complete corruption of her soul. I had never heard of Parker before I watched this film. She is beautiful and her tortured expressions (like when she tries to save the kitten) made you feel for her. She even shaves her hair off for the role. The actress who played the mean and sadistic warden was very good too. There are some finely/cleverly composed shots in this film. Like the one right after the prison riot. The head warden is admonishing the rioting females and behind her two junior wardens hold torches which provide the lighting. The warden's face is not visible so even though she is shouting at the prisoners, we don't really know what she is really thinking. It is noir cinematography at its very best.

Is there a better opening line in the entire history of cinema to hook a viewer than the one in my summary line above? Man, I've seen prison flicks before but this one tops just about all of them. It borderlines those exploitation films of the Thirties and Forties, but with a twist - this one is actually pretty good. There's a coherent story and the characters are generally believable, and whoever did the casting for the picture deserves a blue ribbon.Take prison matron Evelyn Harper for example. Portrayed by Hope Emerson, this gargantuan cell keeper will give you nightmares for a week after you've seen the picture. You know, I couldn't figure out who she reminded me of and then it came to me. Picture an overweight Larry Fine of the Three Stooges shot up on steroids and you'll be in the right neighborhood. I couldn't resist looking up her bio here on IMDb and her stats are six foot two and two hundred thirty pounds! In the Fifties she did a series of TV commercials as the voice of Elsie the Cow - how appropriate was that?!?!You know, if you go down the cast list for the picture, there's really a lot of talent on board here. Agnes Moorehead is probably the most recognizable name, but Ellen Corby, Jan Sterling, Lee Patrick and Jane Darwell are all respected actresses of the era, and Eleanor Parker in the lead role had just the right amount of doe eyed innocence to make you share in her agony. Sterling probably had the best inmate name - Smoochie the CP ('Common Prostitute'), while Olive Deering's character June was the most tragic, playing out in an almost obligatory prison movie scene in which she hangs herself after 'flopping back in' following a rejected parole board review.Filmed in 1950, this was one of the latter day Warner Brothers films documenting the harsh conditions of prison life while attempting to promote reform as exemplified by superintendent Ruth Benton (Moorehead). She's thwarted in her attempts by a limited budget, conniving politicians and her own matron Harper who's personal connections inside the system make her virtually untouchable. It's like hitting your head against a brick wall, except these were cell block gray.If you go for stuff like this, you might try 1933's "Parole Girl" with Mae Clark in the lead role, or better yet, 1955's "Women's Prison" starring Ida Lupino as a tough minded, non-compassionate prison superintendent. Unlike this movie, "Women's Prison" is chock full of plot holes and continuity gaffes but in it's own way it's just as entertaining as this one. All these flicks are just the ticket if you ever find yourself in solitary.