Susan Oliver's movie debut has her in a reform school, where the Jean Inness character is convinced that she and the other women in charge are just going through the motions, while Sally Brophy thinks they have to do something to save these young women. Meanwhile, we watch the young women in a script that pitches itself halfway between MADCHEN IN UNIFORM and LADY IN A CAGE, but without any sexuality or overt violence.
The script by Dalton Trumbo and Sally Stubblefield (who had worked in a reform school) makes the point that the inmates are still essentially children, even if they are hiding and caring for one of their babies. There's something unengaged about the performances, that distance the real issues. That may be deliberate, intended to reflect that the young women do not view the reform school as more than a waiting time, and they will re-enter the world with no change. If so, that makes this a tragedy, but it also means that there is no change, and hence no story.
