Convicted Woman

From Columbia Pictures, I don't know many pictures from this era, and especially about prison topics. Warner Bros, Metro Goldwyn Mayer studios were rather the lead companies speaking of this scheme. This one is not an escape story, but an interesting tale showing an unusual point of view about the penitentiary system in the USA. Young Glenn Ford doesn't really justifies by itself to see this one; just wait five or six years and you'll have a great Glenn Ford. It's better to enjoy the Rochelle Hudson's performance. The story offers nothing exceptional, not really great scenes, nothing to remember, just a good little prison film.

This is essentially a remake of the 1938 Dead End Kid/Humphrey Bogart movie "Crime School", except with women instead of the Dead End Kids. Rochelle Hudson plays the Billy Halop role and Frieda Inescort fills in for Bogart. Also borrows some of the plot from "Hell's Kitchen" with Ronald Reagan.

Very tame for a women's prison movie by today's standards. Not as entertaining as the Dead End Kid versions, but well done and easy viewing.

Convicted Women was Glenn Ford's third film and the first of three that he made with Rochelle Hudson. According to son Peter's biography of his dad he liked working with Hudson, but wasn't crazy about their work together.

Ford is billed all the way down in the cast at 5. He plays a newspaper reporter who along with attorney Frieda Inescourt befriends Hudson who gets herself railroaded into a shoplifting rap and sent off to women's prison.

It's a pretty rotten place run by chief matron Esther Dale and June Lang who is the queenpin among the prisoners and has her own gang. The usual cliches concerning prison pictures especially those for women are found here.

Some of the others in this distaff prison population are are Lola Lane, the tragic Mary Field whose death sparks an investigation and in a small role Donna Reed.

The script has a lot of holes in it, but this was a B picture and I'm sure it wasn't on Harry Cohn's priority list. It's passably entertaining.

If you can accept that a women's prison is basically a sorority house waiting to be organized, you might enjoy this programmer. Betty Andrews (Hudson) is in the wrong place at the wrong time and goes to prison as a result. She's an innocent victim of mistaken identity, and had the screenplay extended this tough-minded premise into the prison itself, something memorable, like Caged (1950), might have resulted. Instead, the prison population turns out to be young, shapely (except for Tubby), and well-scrubbed. Even the "boss con" Duchess (Lang) looks ready for a night on the town. Of course, the casual cruelty of the uncaring system toughens Betty in a flash, transforming her into a potential social menace, that is, until crusading reformer Mary Ellis (Inescourt) arrives.

Now, I'm on Ellis's side. Prisons should be as humane as possible, not only for the good of the inmates, but for society as well. But this is Hollywood at its phoniest, where every pitfall is overcome by a near miraculous turn of the script. Look at how easily Brent (Ford) is able to locate the overdue Betty or how compliant the commissioner is or how quickly even Duchess turns around. The message here is a laudable one, namely, that kindness works. However, it's spread on in such simple-minded fashion that it becomes little more than propaganda for a good cause. Perhaps the screenplay reflects New Deal optimism of the time, and worked for those reform-minded audiences. Now, however, the movie's main interest is to fans of a lively young Glenn Ford before he learned the power of low-key.

In the 1930sand into the 40s, Hollywood made a lot of films similart to "Convicted Woman"....films that advocated prison reform, rehabilitation and humane treatment for the prisoners. While not as hard hitting as films like "Crime School", "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" and "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", "Convicted Woman" is well made and entertaining...particularly for a B-movie.

When the story begins, Betty (Rochelle Hudson) is going on a job interview and ends up being arrested for theft! While the evidence against her isn't clear and she has no record, the judge sentences her to a year in a women's prison. Once there, Betty ends up seeing just how cruel and awful the place can be...and she wants out...even if it means trying to escape. However, when a new warden is brought in, things improve...except for Betty's attitude...at least initially. By now, she's hardened, cynical and full of hate....thanks to the prison and its evil matron.

While this prison looks like paradise compared to men's prisons in movies, the movie did a good job of making you care about the women AND sympathize with them. Additionally, it's pretty well made for a B. I'd rate it hgher except for one minor problem...I've seen quite a few similar films...too many to list them all above. Still, it's better than just a time-passer....and it's a chance to see young Glenn Ford in one of his earliest roles.