Lady Gangster

It's the "Women in Cages" of the 40's starring the lean, wide-eyed, prominent cheek-boned, raven-maned beauty Faye Emerson as an aspiring actress who participates in a bank robbery, is caught and then incarcerated for her role but not before hiding the stash from her associates. Whilst in gaol she befriends fellow inmate (Bishop) and is misled in her attempts to get paroled by her jealous nemesis (Ford). Eventually she hatches a plot to escape and recover her share of the booty, but her former accomplices have other ideas.

Emerson is a magnetic personality, arguably better than the B-standard plot, though it's her genuine charm and timing that make her the perfect fit as the slightly naive southern girl, able to improvise in order to make all ends meet. Frank Wilcox co-stars as her would-be suitor whose attempts to keep her out of gaol always seem to fail. Good to see William Hopper (the future "Perry Mason" detective) in a minor role as a radio announcer, and Jackie Gleason as a sympathetic crook.

The momentum is ideal with no time wasted on long, pensive reaction shots or banal and obsolete melodrama - it's light, focused and frenetic and as a consequence, oddly compelling. Emerson, Bishop and Ford all play their roles with aplomb, turning an otherwise mediocre women's prison movie into an entertaining hour.

"Lady Gangster" is a fun and fast B movie from Warner Brothers in 1942, and stars Faye Emerson, Julie Bishop, Frank Wilcox, Jackie Gleason, and Ruth Ford (Mrs. Zachary Scott). Emerson plays Dot Burton, who was a decoy in a bank robbery. She winds up getting arrested, and an old friend from childhood (Wilcox) believes she's innocent. She isn't. Before she goes to jail, she steals the $40,000 from her cohorts and leaves it with her landlady.

This prison is like something out of Stage Door, with a common area and people knitting, dancing, and listening to the radio. Two women out to get Dot, Deaf Annie (Dorothy Adams) and her pal Lucy (Ruth Ford) have the lowdown on Dot thanks to Annie's lip-reading (total 2001: A Space Odyssey) and get her into lots of trouble.

Very entertaining.

Was the concept of a female criminal so odd at the time? What about Bonnie Parker? This is a gangster story with the sexes reversed, in any case. The criminal who goes to the slammer is a woman. The prison is nothing compared to the one in "Caged." Julie Bishop, who's very good, wears a rather glamorous uniform.

The movie trots right along, though. It has an excellent cast. Of course, it's fun to see the young Jackie Gleason as a bank robber. He looks kind of naive and cuddly.

Faye Emerson was an excellent actress. She adorned many a B-picture. She wasn't a great beauty: Maybe that's why she never became a major star of movies. She was versatile -- sweet, wisecracking, or evil. One thing that always comes across in her performances: intelligence.

I had a lot of fun watching this crime quickie from Warner Brothers studios. Lasting a rapidly paced 62 minutes, the film definitely entertains if your into the genre. Faye Emerson plays a would be actress who gets caught up with a gang of bank robbers and takes the rap for a $40,000 heist the gang pulled off. She ends up in jail and what follows is as many double crosses, prison spats, car chases and shootouts as you can possibly cram into 62 minutes. The film is directed with a nice flair for action by Robert Florey under the pseudonym of Florian Roberts. Good support for Emerson from a cast that includes Julie Bishop, Frank Wilcox, Ruth Ford(cute as a damn button) and a young Jackie Gleason. I must have really enjoyed this one as I couldn't believe how fast it flew by.

The "B" films from major studios usually look far more glossy and professional than those turned out from Poverty Row, even when the subject matter is virtually identical. This is not to say that they are necessarily more entertaining. A fair case in point is this cleaned-up version of a gritty Barbara Stanwyck melodrama. It looks slick and it runs smooth, but although competently acted, it doesn't hold a candle to the more earthy original. Mind you, there are compensations. It's always good to see Faye Emerson in a lead role, and she receives great support from Julie Bishop, Dorothy Vaughan, Virginia Brissac and Vera Lewis. But it's Dorothy Adams, in a meaty role for once, who actually steals the acting honors. By contrast, the male players contribute considerably less to the movie's fair-enough success. Roland Drew makes an attempt at the chief villain, while Frank Wilcox takes aim at the hero. Both fall short. Jackie Gleason in a straight role here as one of the gangsters might have had a chance had his role not been so disappointingly small. Ever reliable Charles Wilson gets the nod instead.