Les dépravées

As a busload of new girls arrives at a young women's reformatory, it appears at first glance that they are going into an enlightened institution when they are met by the resident psychiatrist played by Paul Henreid who tells them that they are here to be helped. That impression is broken immediately when they are herded into the showers by the supervising matron played by Grace Coppin who, along with the other matrons, enforce the strict disciplinary policies of the institute's director played by Cecil Clovelly. From the perspective of someone watching this film, Coppin's character seems a lot more interesting to watch than does Henreid's. Her performance rivals the best of the cruel matrons that have been portrayed in women-in-prison films. A young Anne Francis plays one of the newcomers, seducing every man she meets including psychiatrist Henried. The well-known controversy about the institution's purpose of punishment or rehabilitation is fairly well-done, saved by the ending. The film has some real intensity thanks to the pace, which goes from one blatant injustice to another, but especially the photography, and much of the writing, especially for the film's smaller parts.

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.

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.

Girls coping with sadistic jailers despite efforts of kindly, gentle, understanding psychiatrist Paul Henreid in a Jean Rouverol (Mrs. Hugo Butler) script. Rita Moreno is 19, Anne Francis is 20: so young! So good!