Ragazze in catena

The version shown on "Film Detectives" channel has turrible sound, picture, and editing, but it's probably taken from a copy out of copyright. The ONLY name i recognize in here is Sid Melton, who, for those old enough, remember him as the bumbling contractor Alf Monroe on Green Acres! In lieu of a good script, they keep dragging character actor Emmet Lynn in as the town drunk. he keeps wandering in and bugging everyone until they ask him to scram. The lead here is Arline Judge, who was married to director Wes Ruggles for a few years. In the story, a woman takes a job at a Reformatory, but she may or may not be on the up-and-up. meh. story is so-so. another low budget gangster film from PRC productions. no big thing. Directed by Edgar Ulmer, bigshot at PRC film Productions. Ulmer had started in the silents, and worked his way up to head of production, making both good films, and some real cheesy, low budget ones along the way. SO many better films to see. can skip this one, and go do something else. anything else.

Girls in Chains (1943)

1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly bad drama from PRC has a school teacher (Arline Judge) being fired from her job because her sister is dating a gangster. The teacher then gets a job in a home for delinquent girls where she tries to clean up the abuse, which might lead back to the gangster. This is an incredibly bad film that really goes beyond badness on all levels. Orgy of the Dead still gets my vote for the worst film ever made but this one here takes the honor for the worst performances I've ever seen. I really never thought acting could get as bad as it does here but the only reason I don't give this thing a BOMB is because of the bad acting, which leads to several laughs throughout the film. I've never really understood all the praise thrown at Ulmer, although I'm a big fan of a couple of his films. His direction here is decent at best but why in the hell didn't he try and get better actors? Yes, this is an ultra-low-budget flick but I've never seen acting this bad. The editing is also quite terrible but that's to be expected. If you're a fan of really bad movies then you might get a few laughs out of this thing but others should stay far away.

Back in the 1930s and 40s, there were quite a few so-called 'poverty row studios'. These were small outfits with very small budgets...so small that they didn't even own studio space. Instead, they usually rented space in other studios at night...filming when the big studios were sound asleep. Many of these tiny outfits made lousy films...and perhaps the most consistently lousy was PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation). Sure, occasionally they made a decent film...but they seemed to be pretty much by accident! So, when I noticed that "Girls in Chains" was from PRC, I pretty much assumed it would be crap.

The story begins with sleazy gangter Johnny Moon murdering someone. In the next scene, he's in court for some murder--perhaps that one at the beginning or some other. Regardless, the jury finds him not guilty...and the judge lectures them about what horrible folks they are and he's baffled at how they could have said the man wasn't guilty despite overwhelming evidence.

In an odd plot twist, in the next scene, Johnny Moon's sister-in-law is fired because of her association with Johnny--though she hates who he is and what he stands for. Here's the odd part--some reformers help her get a job at the local women's prison, as they like her attitude and the place is desperate need of reform. Once there, she sees that the staff are indifferent towards the fates of the inmates...and the Warden is essentially employed by Johnny Moon! Can anything be done to clean up this festering mess?? And, will the women of this prison trust their new teacher or is she just like the rest? And why would a crook like Moon WANT to see the prisoners mistreated? Wouldn't he want them treated like princesses instead?!

According to IMDB, this film was shot in only five days--so there wasn't much room for re-shoots and making it a high quality product. Yet, despite this, the movie isn't nearly as bad as I expected. Now I am NOT saying it's great...but it sure looks better than a five-day film. And, its score of 4 is practically an Oscar win for PRC!!



By the way, the tough inmate who is first befriended by the teacher is played by Barbara Pepper. Pepper is better known as the lady who played the first Mrs. Zipfel on "Green Acres". Yes, that would make her Arnold's mom! And, Johnny's right hand man is played by Sid Melton...who played Al Monroe on the same show!

"Helen Martin" (Arline Judge) is an honest woman who continues to have problems keeping a steady job because her sister "Jean Moon" (Patricia Knox) is married to a well-known gangster named "Johnny Moon" (Addison Randall). That being the case she reluctantly accepts a job as a teacher at a female correctional facility which just happens to be run by a man who is almost as corrupt as her brother-in-law. Yet even though he likes things just the way they are she continues to try to improve the lives of the young women she comes into contact with. This results in a conflict which poses great risks for all involved. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this low-budget B-movie was produced during the height of World War II and it's possible some allowances might be necessary. But even so there were some parts which were definitely in need of improvement. For example, the scenes involving the alcoholic by the name of "Lionel Cleeter" (Emmett Lynn) were especially repetitive and boring. All things considered I suppose I can give this movie 4 stars (out of 10) but even then that might be stretching it a bit.

Plot-- an idealistic mental health worker is conscripted into making changes in a girls reformatory run by a crooked combine. There the girls are being treated like nothing more than numbers. Trouble is the school's head is part of the criminal combine that has broad political influence. So, will the reformer be able to make the reforms needed for the girls rather than the combine.

Looks like legendary director Ulmer walked through this one. There's no evidence of his exotic stylings, e.g. Detour {1945}. Only the scenes in the reformatory carry any weight as the girls and matrons perform with some gusto. Otherwise, the leading men are blandly forgettable, even the ostensive criminal mastermind Moon (Jack Randall) fails to provide impact. On the other hand, Judge does her reformer-with-heart in persuasive fashion. But what really sinks this lightweight production is the comedy relief from a goofy Emmett Lynn. His drunken idiot is so over-the-top I wonder if Ulmer even cared. Then too, catch the clumsily mounted backdrops to outdoor action where even lake water remains motionless. Anyway, no need to go on. After all, it is a barrel bottom PRC production. I just hope the more capable actors like Judge were able to recover from this awkward effort. I know Ulmer did.