Les dépravées

Most of these films only have camp value. This one has some, but it is basically a fairly decent B movie and well acted. A definite bonus is the appearance of Rita Moreno and Anne Francis when very young. You can see what talented beauties these two women would become.

This often forgotten movie is notable for having in the cast three actresses, very early in their careers, who became long term popular favorites. They are Anne Francis, Anne Jackson and Rita Moreno. All three gave fine performances showing the promise that they would all realize.

This film was produced in New York City and is very similar to the film "Caged" also filmed in California in the same year. In this film the girls are not in a prison but a reform school but it is ruled just like a prison and even worse. Mr. Riggs, (Cecil Clovelly) runs the institution along with Mrs. Beuhler,(Grace Coppin) who have no regard for the girls and have them working in a potato farm and in a laundry. Dr. John H. Jason,(Paul Henreid), "Casablania",'42 is a psychologist and is a new-comer and works with Ruth Levering,(Catherine McLeod) and they both decided to change things around and treat the girls differently, allowing them to wear regular clothes and having dances and no working with potato's or a laundry. Loretta Wilson,( Ann Fancis) plays the role of a young girl who was married and had a baby and was abused by men and plays a very sexy mean sort of gal and falls in love with Dr. Jason. I was surprise to see Rita Moreno,(Dolores Guererro) play a role as one of the girls in prison who is all mixed up, but she does sing a rather pretty song in this picture. Ann Francis was very young in this picture and just starting her career and gave an outstanding performance.

Tawdry girls' reformatory stuff from United Artists, this potboiler came out shortly after "Caged" and shares many traits: hidden pets (a rabbit meets a sorry end), an inmate gets her hair cut and goes crazy, repressed sexuality runs wild. Subtle it's not, and the New York area location shooting looks cheap, but I reveled in it. As the sympathetic psychiatrist trying to bring humanity to the joint, Paul Henreid doesn't look that embarrassed, and his romance with another reform-minded official, Catherine McLeod, has a nice, credible arc to it. And some of the troubled youngsters making their debuts are clearly headed for greater things: Anne Francis as the young-hot-stuff miss who abandoned her baby and is overcompensating, Rita (here Rosita) Moreno as the Latino spitfire, Anne Jackson as the feisty troublemaker. The we-don't-give-an-inch bureaucracy is memorably hateful, and it's a fun caged-dames B flick that makes the most of its limited resources.

The director, Bernard Vorhaus, had real talent, as evidenced by the undeniably powerful firehose and suicide scenes, not to mention his handling of a fascinating young cast headed by Anne Francis (who is terrific) Rita Moreno, Anne Jackson and even Mike Kellin, in a bit. Vorhaus knows how to play with light and shadow - he probably would have excelled in Noir films had he not been blacklisted - and has a knack for finding novel settings to either enhance or contrast the mood of a particular scene. (The merry-go-round scene would do Hitchcock proud.) His camera's always on the move and the editing of the film has a rhythm and a pull that keeps you involved and in suspense.

But make no mistake this is a B-film with an erratic script that falters at several critical junctures. Immediately after the sadistic worker turns the hose on the girls for setting fire to the dorm, things come to a head, with Henried and pretty Catherine McLeod angrily confronting the corrupt Head of the institution (Cecil Clovelly) and threatening to file official reports on the abuse at the school unless sweeping changes are made. Clovelly admits that if that happened there would probably be an uproar, an unfavorable investigation and he would more than likely be fired, BUT - and this is what made absolutely no sense - he gets them to back down by suggesting that if he were fired who's to say somebody even worse than him wouldn't take his place? Huh?!!! What are the odds of that? I think I'd take my chances.

Still an effective film that will hold your interest. I should also point out that the other comment about this film is inaccurate on several plot details and seems to have it confused with some other film.