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Ida Lupino gets one of her juiciest roles here. It may not be one of her subtlest but she gets to sink her teeth into it. She is the conniving, heartless, loveless warden of the title institution.

The inmates include blowzy dames from various studios. It's a great cast. We have Jan Sterling, Audrey Totter, and Cleo Moore. Moore is sans Hugo Haas.

It's a trifle hard to believe the plot. A co-ed prison where the women are abused. But though it may not be terribly cogent, it's strong. It's forceful.

Early in the movie Juanita Hall, playing a character named Polly, is introduced. She says she was named after the hospital where she was born: Polyclinic. Hey, I was born there, too. Maybe I should have been named Clint.

Watch this one. It's not campy. It can be taken very seriously. But it's also fun to see all these dolls cracking wise and playing tough.

Women's Prison (1955)

This highlights Ida Lupino, and though her role is central it is small. She plays that hardened, selfish "dame" she pulled off in many of her movies like no one else, in this case a prison warden. Lupino is never campy like Bette Davis, or sultry like many others (even when she wants to be). She's also not idiosyncratic like Gloria Grahame, and this is good and bad. Lupino here and often elsewhere is a stalwart presence--she holds up her end of the bargain in any scene, without stealing the scene.

Her counterpart, even though this is mainly a woman's movie top to bottom, is the doctor played by Howard Duff. But the real stars are the prisoners, an array of women both confident and downtrodden. (Look for Juanita Moore, from "Imitation of Life.") Having these women revolt against Lupino's evilness is what we all want, and it's quite a drama.

There are many times when you will groan or laugh at what the plot gets away with (like the husband who sneaks in to see his wife, or the warden of the men's prison in general), but you'll really love the best parts, the best character actors who are really filled with character, and the fast plot. A good short fun one.

Women's Prison is directed by Lewis Seiler and jointly written by Jack DeWitt and Crane Wilbur. It stars Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyliss Thaxter, Howard Duff and Warren Stevens. Music is orchestrated by Mischa Bakaleinikoff and photography by Lester H. White.

Cheap but entertaining piece of prison shlock, Women's Prison gets in and simmers on the heat for an hour and ten minutes until the inevitable explosion for the finale. The standard roll call of prison staples adheres to formula, new fish who clearly doesn't belong, sassy good time gal, sadistic warden, beatings, emotional hell, sexual frustration and of course a riot! There's solid traces of psychological discord in the narrative, not least with Lupino's splendidly vile warden, who, because she can't function with men on the outside world, promptly vents her pent up frustrations on the female inmates. A nice addition to the plot is that it's a co-ed prison, the mens prison is but a bricked wall away from the girls. Cue a neat little thread of a lustful Warren Stevens popping next door for some fun time with his also incarcerated wife.

Problem with the film is its look. Mood is fine but this is one of the nicest, cleanest and airiest prisons seen in film! Isolation and claustrophobia are a key ingredients of a good prison film, but those feelings are missing here, with Lester White's photography hardly utilising the chances on offer. How the film has come to be regarded as a "prison noir" is a mystery, unless the mere presence of Lupino warrants it a place?! The steam press room scenes work well, and the tear gas finale is nicely realised, but mostly this is good because of some neat lady acting performances and the afore mentioned psychological smarts in the story. Also of interest is the play off between Lupino and Duff's kindly prison doctor, which since they were married (an on off marriage that would last for decades), carries with it a bit of spice as they jostle for the sanity of meek Helene Jensen (Thaxter).

Subtle as a sledgehammer but ever so enjoyable, Women's Prison just about deserves its cult classic status. 7/10

Ida Lupino and Howard Duff head a cast in a story about a Women's Prison. But these two who were married in real life at the time are hardly romantic leads in this film.

Ida plays the head of a female division of a state prison, the overall warden is Barry Kelley. The message the film is trying to give although the reason for it is pretty exotic is that boys will be boys and that women ought to be in a separate facility altogether. The main plot line of this film is convict Warren Stevens trying to get over to the women's division to see his wife Audrey Totter. Stevens's successful visits which get Totter pregnant get the whole thing crashing around Lupino's head.

It's all been done before, especially by some in this cast. Howard Duff was one of the convicts in Brute Force and there are definite elements of that film carrying over here. More so even than the classic Caged in which Jan Sterling also played the same kind of brassy dame who knows the ropes.

In Caged you'll remember the chief villain was the sadistic guard Harper played by Hope Emerson, the warden was the sympathetic Agnes Moorehead. Here the corruption stinks at the top where Lupino takes out her own unfulfilled life on the inmates. The entire cast performs remarkably well, especially Lupino and Sterling.

As for how it ends, if you've seen another Ida Lupino classic, They Drive By Night than you kind of know what happens to her. Still Women's Prison is worth seeing it again.

The female wing of a maximum security prison welcomes bosomy peroxide blonde Jan Sterling (as Brenda Martin), a returning inmate. Alongside her is remorseful first-time offender Phyllis Thaxter (as Helene Jensen), a plain housewife convicted of vehicular manslaughter after accidentally killing a child. In the men's division, armed robbery convict Warren Stevens (as Glen Burton) is caught trying to sneak over to the women's side, where his wife Audrey Totter (as Joan) is serving time as an accomplice. Watching over the women is slightly sadistic director Ida Lupino (as Amelia van Zandt). In a turned-up collar and high heels, Ms. Lupino runs a tight ship. Her cruelty is balanced by kindly prison doctor Howard Duff (as Doctor Crane)...

Whatever its intentions, "Woman's Prison" is more amusing than hard-hitting. Producer Bryan Foy appears to have been aiming for realism heavily dosed with lurid popular appeal. The result is perversely fun. Performances are starchily stilted, which is appropriate. Lewis Seiler and his crew follow and flatter the characters. Best scene may be the inevitable riot, which is accomplished by simply stating. "Throw the master switch that opens all the gates." Without fuss, Mr. Seiler and photographer Lester White are effective with smooth inmate panning and shadowy close-ups. In a nice supporting cast, 1930s star Mae Clarke (as Matron Saunders) delivers some great comments about "prison pictures," before seeing one at the Bijou.

****** Women's Prison (1955/02) Lewis Seiler ~ Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Howard Duff, Phyllis Thaxter

With three of the best movie "bad girls" how can you go wrong? Jan Sterling, Cleo Taurus Moore and Audrey Totter! Add Ida Lupino as an incompetent, hard nosed warden and snivelling Phyllis Thaxter and you have movie camp magic! Its so entertaining you'll forget to wonder where the gals got girdles and tailored uniforms or how they got their roots done while in the pen.

(There may be Spoilers) Prison drama set in a woman's prison where the head superintendent Amelia Van Zandt, Ida Lupino,is far more dangerous to the inmates as well as the prison staff then the most hardened criminals in there.

Constantly having the women under her control beaten and abused, which Amelia herself is very found of doing, creates a climate of terror in he clink that erupts into a full-scale prison riot at the end of the movie. We first get to see Amelia in action as soon as the movie "Women's Prison" starts with her handling of new prisoner Helene Jensen, Phillis Thaxter. Helene convicted of manslaughter, she ran over a little girl, is put into isolation and by the next day is almost dead from shock. This despite the objections by the prison doctor Crane, Howard Duff,that keeping Helene in a cell by herself for any period of time may well kill her.

The women's prison being connected to a mans prison is also causing problems with prisoner Glen Burton,Warren Stevens, sneaking into the women's lockup and having, among other things, conjugal relations with his wife who's a prisoner like himself Joan, Audrey Tottor, that leads to her becoming pregnant.With the news of Joan's pregnancy hitting Warden Block, Barry Kelly, like a lighting bolt he has Women Superintendent Amelia Van Zandt put on the carpet. Warden Block warns her that if she doesn't find out how Joan's husband Glen, it seems obvious to everyone that he's the baby's father,got into the women's section of the prison she'll be out of a job.

Amelia now in a panic of losing her job as head of the women's prison has poor Joan, who doesn't know how Glen got into the women's prison, beaten and tortured to the point where she lapse into a coma. Dr. Crane finding out what was happening to Joan has both Amelia and Warden Block put on notice that he'll report them to higher ups by, if Joan passes away, signing Joan Burton's death certificate with the cause of her death being murder. Thing quickly start to get out of hand when the women prisoners lead by Joan's friend and cell-mate Brenda, Jan Sterling, start a hunger strike over the treatment Joan got from Amelia and that leads to a prison takeover by the women prisoners with Amelia taken hostage.

Glen again breaking into the womens wing of the prison finds his wife in the hospital ward on life-support being attended by Dr. Crane. After Joan tells Glen she'll be waiting for him, no matter how long it takes with their child, to greet him when he's finally released from prison she suddenly passes away! That drives Glen into a mad frenzy pulling out a gun and going looking for his wife's murder the universally, by now everyone in the movie, hated Superintendent Amelia Van Zandt.

Wild shootout with Glen braving bullets and tear gas canisters to get to Amelia and meet out justice for what she did to his wife Joan. Amelia is save by Dr. Crane from being beaten and shot to death by the women inmates and Glen, who's himself shot by the prison guards. You can see by now that Amelia's mind already snapped and she's to end up in a straight-jacket and padded cell like many of the women prisoners she put under the same conditions due to her sadistic and hateful dislike of the women that she was in charge of.

It later turned out that Amlia's inhuman actions were the result of her not being able to attract any man, even though she was very attractive, to marry her because of her rottenness and unbalanced and overly suspicious mindset.

Dismissed by the critics at the time of it's release as a mediocre copy of 1950's prestigious "women's prison" drama CAGED, 1955's WOMEN'S PRISON has eclipsed that Oscar-nominated movie at least in terms of latter-day fame and as a iconic piece of 1950's Hollywood. The movie, more sensational and lurid than it's predecessor, opened the door for countless low-budget "women in prison" films in subsequent decades, most of which had characters more than a little similar to the ladies on display here. Clearly when it comes to babes behind bars pix, the public at large prefers bad sexy chicks on the rampage than a serious study of the prison system.

That's not to say WOMEN'S PRISON isn't a fairly terrific movie - it is, with a sensational performance as Ida Lupino as the coolly professional yet sadistic lady prison warden Amelia Van Zant. Ms. Lupino may have appeared in a number of classier films but she rarely had such an iconic role as she does here and she's superb. There aren't many actresses who would choose to underplay such a malevolent character as Lupino does; one could well imagine some of her contemporaries making Amelia a fire-breathing dragon from scene one.

Lupino is joined by a cast that includes virtually every "bad girl" actress of the era as one of the inmates - Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, and even (most deliciously) the casting of erstwhile 1930's "bad girls" Mae Clarke and Gertrude Michael as prison matrons. There's also perpetually sweet Phyllis Thaxter as the "new fish in the aquarium", serving one to ten years for vehicle manslaughter when she killed a young child. Already traumatized by the incident by the time she arrives at prison, meek little Phyllis is no match for Lupino's sadistic set-up at the prison which only makes things worse for her. Audrey Totter, often quite the bad girl in other movies, is another inmate who is more sinned against than sinner, innocent but jailed as an accessory to her husband's theft. Indeed, it's a bit incredible that none of the inmates seems to be remotely a person of violence or immorality - friendly floozy Jan Sterling is in the slammer for writing a bad check!! The whole cast is quite good and Sterling is excellent as basically the leader of the girls. Mae Clarke does very well in one her larger roles post-1940; on the other hand, the always appealing Cleo Moore is wasted in a rather thin smallish role as one of the inmates, a comic part as a Southern blonde bombshell. Vivian Marshall, an actress with only a handful of credits (most of them unbilled bits) comes close to stealing the picture as the inmate whose gift for mimicry (check out her fantastic burlesques of Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead) comes in handy when the women revolt. Overwrought it may be but WOMEN'S PRISON deserves it's status as a cult film with terrific performances and it's melodrama smoothly handled by underrated director Lewis Seiler.

This is NOT a film that would ever be mistaken for an episode of "Masterpiece Theater"! In fact, in many ways it's a sensationalistic piece of junk...but also a very well-made and entertaining piece of junk! In the 1950s, there were a ton of women in prison films and this might just rank among the best. Part of the reason for this being better than average is the excellent cast. Ida Lupino is a treat to watch as a sadistic warden who is more screwed up and vile than the inmates! And, among the inmates are such colorful dames as Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter and Phyllis Thaxter.

The film begins with a lady (Thaxter) being sent to lady for accidentally killing a child due to her negligent driving. Thaxter is emotionally fragile and the prison doctor is concerned about her. However, the warden is insistent that Thaxter be broken just like the rest of the prisoners and pushes the woman to a mental breakdown. In fact, throughout the film Lupino pushes the prisoners to near-riot and she seems to have people skills that would make Attila the Hun seem like a member of the Peace Corps by comparison! There's a lot more to the film--but I don't want to spoil the suspense.

The bottom line is that the film is highly entertaining by being unapologetically loud and over the top. Sensational but far from subtle--this is a great guilty pleasure.

Ida Lupino is the warden of a women's prison, which holds all kinds, those in for the long haul, those trying to rehabilitate, those who keep coming back because they don't know any better or just don't care, and those who through a terrible accident don't really belong there. The excellent cast includes Jan Sterling (one of those who keeps coming back), Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, and Phyllis Thaxter (as one who doesn't really belong with rough characters) as those serving time in the clinker, and Howard Duff as the doctor there for their wellbeing. But it seems that under the treatment of Ida, they are not encouraged to rehabilitate. She treats them all like beasts, like all they understand is the whip, when they need a helping hand to turn their lives around, if they will. The movie seems to sensationalize or over-dramatize the-revolting- prisoners-and-the-warden-with-no-heart plot, but as viewers we tend to eat it up, with such a great cast of actresses. The film may be rather formulaic and predictable, but we still enjoy it all, down to the last drop. Ida has never been more sadistic, even up against her real life husband Mr. Duff! Watch an extreme example of a women's prison! Hopefully!

This movie is nirvana for trashy B-movie lovers. The cast is incredible. I believe Ida Lupino played a similar role in a 70s TV movie called "Women In Chains." In this one, "Women's Prison," one of the female inmates (there are male inmates, too) is a movie star impersonator, a trait that hilariously figures into the plot. Some of the actresses in this film also appeared in the earlier and much better "Caged": Gertrude Michael, Jan Sterling. There was another women's prison movie called "House of Women" soon to come. Don't miss this absurd movie! They showed it on Turner Classic Movies recently as part of their gay series. It will probably show up again.

The fifties provided from Hollywood the most terrific movies ever made about women behind bars: this one WOMEN'S PRISON and CAGED, directed by John Cromwell and starring Eleonor Parker in an inmate role. Here, on the contrary, the female lead is actually the evil one of the film; the awesome Ida Lupino in the cruel warden's role. One of my favourites of hers. I never get bored, tired, watching this absolute perfect prison drama, as much, if not more, riveting as any men's prison tales, in the line of BRUTE FORCE or RIOT IN CELL BLOCKK 11. Because with women, you have something different, not only brutal physical violence but emotional cruelty, so typical with women's atmosphere. Jan Sterling and Phillis Thaxter are also excellent in this story, where, I repeat, character study, face off, rivalry is purely outstanding.

Phyllis Thaxter goes to prison for running over a child. In there, she doesn't adjust, but is an unwilling witness to the brutality of the system. Warden Ida Lupino is a well-manicured, buttoned-up sadist. When Audrey Totter turns up pregnant, it's obvious that her husband, Warren Stevens, has snuck over from the men's side of the prison. He refuses to talk untill Miss Totter is released. Under orders from men's warden Barry Kelly, Miss Lupino tries to beat the information out of Miss Totter, but she doesn't know; she winds up in the infirmary, possibly dying, and the women riot.

Crane Wilbur had a hand in the script, which goes way overboard in terms of exposing the problems of the system, but the performances are terrific, with Jan Sterling a standout and Cleo Moore and Juanita Hansen are very good. It's also good to see Gertrude Michael and Mae Clarke on the screen. But the men's parts are sketches, with Howard Duff as the prison doctor reciting his canned reproaches to his real-life wife adequately to advance the plot.

Still, it's Miss Thaxter who's the real problem. She remains feeble throughout the entire movie, and despite her suffering, never loses the perfection of her permanent wave. Good thing the script only touches in with her occasionally. Or perhaps that's the way it was edited.

Your standard babes behind bars flick with the usual assortment of scenarios. This one is slightly different in that the men and women share a prison, separated only by a wall. This leads to an unusual scenario where a fella sneaks in to the other side and impregnates his wife, which eventually provides the film with its inmates-take-over-the-prison climax. Most notable is the star-studded cast. Ida Lupino is the sadistic warden, hamming it up delightfully. Howard Duff is the sympathetic doctor. Among the more memorable inmates are Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyllis Thaxter, Juanita Moore (introduced in the painfully undignified position of scrubbing floors while singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"), Jan Sterling and Vivian Marshall. The movie is kind of fun and moves swiftly, but is too formulaic and lacking in nuance. CAGED is a far better option.

Not a directorial effort from Ida Lupino, but an essential companion to some of her illustrious achievements from behind the camera, which often took noir to unusual locations, whilst confronting important moral and social issues.

In Women's Prison, she is the intractable, autocratic chief, who oversees a repressive regime. She talks a good rehabilitation game, but her heart is full of hate and retribution. As decent and vulnerable new girl, Phyllis Thaxter painfully discovers, Lupino gives no quarter and recognizes no distinction between the hardened criminal and the criminally negligent. Barry Kelly, warden of the adjoining men's prison is cut from the same abrasive cloth. Prison doctor, Howard Duff, provides the voice of enlightenment, reason and empathy, in attempting to take Thaxter under his wing, but finds himself swimming against the current. When he tries to psycho analyze Lupino, her hostility goes into orbit.

In stark contrast, there is an admirable loyalty, unity and camaraderie amongst the cell mates, who openly support each other in the face of the harsh conditions. Not so much a potboiler as a pot about to boil over. That moment arrives, when the heartless Lupino is responsible for an easily avoidable tragedy.

Intelligently written and conceived, to incorporate an interesting romantic subplot involving an inmate from the men's quarters, Women's Prison is not a classic, but a highly charged, emotive and often harrowing drama. Lupino is on top form as the domineering, deranged head honcho, receiving strong support from familiar noirites Jan Sterling and Audrey Totter. The joker in the pack is little known Vivian Marshall, doing splendid impressions of Bette Davis and Lupino's character, with her 'Look here Quackenbush,' routine, offering memorable comic relief in this frequently grim tale. Her sentence?....Probably for stealing Alphabetti Spaghetti!

Though a low-budget B movie this film was extremely well directed, scripted and acted with some amusing moments of impressions by Vivian Marshall, nicely integrated into the plot when she has to mimic one of the custodians in the film (name omitted for those who haven't seen the film). Howard Duff was great as the prison Dr. with a great line about signing the death certificate. The funniest line in the film is undoubtedly the malapropism on the word "diaphragm" as "diagram." Phyliss Thaxter, as usual, was a standout. Fans of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series will be happy to see her here, since she was a frequent performer in that series. Also noteworthy was Juanita Moore, though in a relatively minor role.

The one puzzling thing about this film is it may well have the worst movie title in film history. I can't imagine a duller title than "Women's Prison." It sounds more like a temporary title used until someone could come up with something better but they were unable to.

A melodrama centering on the harsh realities of life at a women's prison from 1955. Following different inmates as they go through the day to day of being interred we focus on a woman, played by Phyllis Thaxter (she committed manslaughter when she hit a young girl w/a car), who loses it almost immediately due to the reality of her situation w/the poles of authority, the strict authoritarian, played by Ida Lupino, not really giving a damn & the kindly doctor of the women's ward, played by Howard Duff, who advocates Thaxter to be gingerly indoctrinated into the system. We meet different prisoners along the way but besides Thaxter, another woman, played by Audrey Totter, who's husband is in the adjoining men's ward continually tries to meet up w/her culminating in an illegal conjugal visit (where she gets knocked up) which infuriates the male warden forcing him to put Lupino in check which sends her over the edge when Trotter is questioned & beaten as she tries to find out how her man got into the women's side. When Trotter succumbs to her injuries, the women unite & revolt, taking over their side of the jail w/Trotter's hubby vowing revenge against Lupino setting up the final tense standoff. Not fully a hard hitting expose on the prison system (watch 1950's Caged instead) or a camp riot (like 1974's Caged Heat) which leaves the final presentation somewhere in the middle, not bad but not really that good but watchable w/Lupino the best thing in it as she continues to insist to anyone who'll listen that Thaxter is a 'psychopath'. Also starring Juanita Moore (from the Imitation of Life remake) as an inmate & Warren Stevens as the problematic husband.