Parole Girl

Sylvia Day (Mae Clarke) is working a racket with Tony Grattan where Tony cries out - in a big department store - that he's been robbed and Sylvia runs for the exits. Tony fingers Sylvia as the thief. The department store security guards haul her and Tony into the office of a store manager. Then Tony "discovers" his wallet just slipped down and says that he is very sorry and slips away. Meanwhile Sylvia starts the waterworks and says she has never been so humiliated and intends to sue. She walks away with a five hundred dollar check from the store.

The second time the pair try this they are not so lucky. The insurance company has circulated information about the pair trying this and Sylvia is caught, although Tony gets away. She begs for mercy and says she is not a habitual criminal, and the store manager she is talking to is persuaded, but he needs the OK of his superior, Joe Smith (Ralph Bellamy). Smith says that he can't do that. The insurance company demands that they prosecute or else they cancel the insurance. So Sylvia goes to jail for a year, swearing vengeance against Smith for refusing to even hear her out.

For Sylvia not to be a criminal she certainly and quickly develops the wiles of one. She figures out how to stage a situation in jail where she is the heroine and gets paroled for her bravery. She suddenly sees through her old partner Tony's ulterior motives, AND she manages to frame Smith so that she has him right where she wants him. Smith believes the two were married when he was out on a drunken night on the town celebrating his promotion at the store. The problem is that he is already married to somebody to whom he has been estranged for years but never bothered to divorce, making him a bigamist. And Sylvia knows he is a bigamist. So she makes him go with the ruse that they are legally married so that she doesn't need a job while on parole. Plus she lavishly spends Joe's finite salary on the finest fashions. She says when her parole is over she will let him go about his life. How will this work out? Watch and find out.

Nobody in this situation gets that much sympathy from me, least of all Sylvia. She heard Smith say that it was the insurance company that prevented him from letting her go, but it is his life she chooses to ruin. Joe Smith is fine with thinking he had taken sexual advantage of a complete stranger. He only gets concerned when he thinks he is now married to said stranger.

There are some interesting smaller parts here. Ferdinand Gottschalk as the store owner, Mr. Taylor, is a delight. Although I'd like to think if I was old and lonely, as he says he is, that I would not resort to trying to create surrogate grandchildren and forcing my employees into public displays of affection for my own entertainment. Hale Hamilton is great as Tony, the villain who is much more obvious and not nearly as clever as he thinks that he is.

And finally there is tragic Marie Prevost who, to have such a bit part as far as screen time, plays a very pivotal (and frankly unbelievable) role in the plot. At this point she has lost much of the weight that caused her career to go downhill, but she looks rather ill and haggard too. She'll have only four more credited roles before her death in 1937.

PAROLE GIRL (1933) is a variation of the Girl who seeks retribution for a alleged wrong done to her. The original play WITHIN THE LAW (1912) no doubt was the source material for this screenplay. Just changed enough, to avoid being sued for plagiarism.

THE NUTS; Sylvia Day (Mae Clarke) gets picked up for shop-lifting. Joe Smith (Ralph Bellamy) is not sympathetic to her problems. In fact never sees her but has flunky turn her over to the law. After serving time and out on 'Parole' she tricks Smith into marrying her to exact her revenge. Eventually pair fall in love and at the fade out REALLY get married. At 67" it is just long enough to be entertaining without taxing the audience.

WITHIN THE LAW would be filmed in 1916, 1917, 1923. In 1930 it would be filmed under the title of PAID M.G.M. and star Joan Crawford. The version we are most familiar with is WITHIN THE LAW (1939) M.G.M. and would feature contract player Ruth Hussey, running 65". Last version was INTAQUAM (1969) a Shaktiman Enterprises, production of India. Though this plot-line had been used from T.V. movies too soap operas.

One final note, the attractive Mae Clarke though looking very chic had the most unflattering 'butch' hairstyle to grace the 'silver screen'.

Parole Girl (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly but extremely entertaining drama from Columbia has Mae Clarke once again taking "C" level material and raising it a notch. This time out she plays a troubled but smart woman in a con game with a man (Hale Hamilton) who pretty much owns her. She ends up in jail after getting caught ripping off shopping stores and once behind bars she swears vengeance on the insurance man (Ralph Bellamy) who refused to give her a break and demand that she go to jail. This is an extremely bizarre and strange little gem that will certainly keep fans of "B" movies entertained because you'll never quite know where the thing is going. For starters, the story itself is downright stupid as we're never really given a good reason as to why this woman would be so angry with this man. Why not the judge, store owner or the con man who got her into the racket? You also have to consider the fact that she's never seen this man so how she actually manages to do her thing is never quite clear. Another funny thing with the story is that it of course has to have a few twists and turns, which includes the woman eventually falling for the man but soon her scam backfires once again with a twist that I won't ruin here. Clarke turns in a very good performance and it certainly ranks as one of the best I've seen from her. She's very believable in the early scenes of fear as she begs not to be sent to jail. She's also believable as the hell bent femme fatale out for revenge. She plays both sides of the coin perfectly and her chemistry with Bellamy is very realistic and makes for an interesting 65-minutes. Bellamy, one of my favorite character actors from this period, manages to have all the charm and dignity that we've come to expect from him. Marie Prevost is quite annoying but that's the way her character was meant to be. This film has certainly been forgotten throughout the decades and I'm sure not too many were overly interested in it back when it was released. I'm sure most people, like myself, will be drawn to it because they're fans of FRANKENSTEIN and want to see Clarke in another role. Those people will certainly want to check this film out but fans of "B" movies will as well as the movie goes fast enough to not have any dull moments and in the end it's the perfect filler if you're up late at night and need something quick to watch.

If you find yourself sleepless at 3 am and you've got an hour and fifteen minutes to kill with Turner Classic Movies, you can do worse than this charming romance that, while mostly predictable, takes you places and keeps up a good pace.

"Parole Girl" comes with a competent cast, pre Hays' era sexuality, and a time capsule visit to 1930's America. I counted at least six improbable plot devices, but, oh--who cares? Bellamy was believable. And I fell in love with the intelligent, cunning Mae Clark.

What guy, sleepless at 3 am wouldn't hope to find himself in Bellamy's predicament with a woman as alluring and devious as Mae Clark's character?

Sylvia Day (Mae Clarke) is caught pickpocketing in a department store. The accuser, Tony Grattan (Hale Hamilton), finds his wallet after all and Sylvia threatens to sue the store. The manager pays her $500. It's all a scam. She wants to quit, but Tony pushes her to do it one more time. The scam is going as planned until the insurance company calls. Store manager Joe Smith (Ralph Bellamy) insists on getting the cops involved due to their insurance policy. She's sentenced to one year in prison and vows revenge on Smith.

This is an interesting premise from the start. I like the scam although it would never work in the modern world. It's more plausible back then although $500 is a lot. Grapefruit-face Mae Clarke is able to straddle the divide between innocence and criminal. She's a bit of both. I am looking for a dark tragedy. It is pre-Code after all. Nobody should have a happy ending in this movie.