House of Women (1962)

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Shirley Knight plays Erica, a young pregnant woman who is being incarcerated in state prison. The rules of the prison are that women can keep their children up to age three...and Erica hopes that she can get paroled before her child is over this age limit...otherwise, the child will be put up for adoption!! So, to present herself as good as possible, Erica is a model inmate. She's so good that she's chosen to work as a maid in the Warden's house. But the Warden (Andrew Duggan) is a total misfit...a screwed up man who is much more interested in making Erica his plaything instead of helping her with parole. With this and a very, very hard hand with the women, anger, resentment and rage is building up in the inmates.In many ways, this is a very good film. The women are not lesbian caricatures like they often would be in later prison movies and the film actually does a good job of portraying the women rather realistically. However, the film also occasionally lapses into dumbness...like they needed to re-write a few things but never got around to it. In particular, the scene where the child dies is utterly ridiculous and otherwise mars a decent film. The scene just makes no sense whatsoever...who would put a nursery on an upper floor and why leave the door wide open so a child could crawl out to their death?!?! Pretty dumb. It's also a bit hard to believe a Warden as screwy as this one and with his family background would exist...see the film and see what I mean.Overall, the film is worth seeing...even with a few lapses in the writing. As it is, it's very good...but could have been better...easily. Plus, it sort of conveys an interesting message...sometimes violence IS the answer!!

Much more uplifting is this remake of Eleanor Parker's 1950 hit "Caged." Shirley Knight, a victim of the justice system, goes in kind and emerges the same way at film's end. On the other hand, prison life led Parker from being sweet and innocent to hard-boiled. Of course, the circumstances are different from the two films.Constance Ford steals the show as an embittered prisoner who loses her child in a tragic accident in the jail. She goes berserk and takes hostages to gain her demands.The idea that young children up to the age of 3 could stay with their imprisoned mothers was a bit too much to fathom. There is an interesting performance by Andrew Duggan as the warden, who goes from viciousness as his counterpart Hope Emerson did in "Caged," to nice guy, thanks for his love for inmate Knight, only to be influential in having her paroled turned down as she was planning to go back east. This plus the Ford tragedy sets the motion for the crisis in the prison.Note how these films always depict the inmates of being abused by prison officials.

HOUSE OF WOMEN is an ultra-rarity in its own sub-genre, the Women's Prison Picture. It's not on the high artistic level of CAGED (1950), nor does it have the dramatic conviction of WOMEN'S PRISON (1955). Yet this film is more than worth seeing for its dynamic cast and several scenes of high, over-the-top melodrama. The great Shirley Knight was near the start of her career and she is sympathetic enough to involve viewers with her story. The rest of the cast features several nearly forgotten, but very talented actresses: Virginia Gregg, Jeanne Cooper, Barbara Nichols and another great, Constance Ford. Ford resists most opportunities to chew scenery, but she delivers a strongly entertaining performance. Also look for the still-acting-today Jacqueline Scott in a small role. On the male side, Andrew Duggan and Jason Evers do as well as could be expected in this female-dominated environment. Is HOUSE OF WOMEN camp? Well, maybe a tiny bit. But it's a must-see for fans of this sub-genre.

Young and pregnant, innocent Shirley Knight has been sent to a women's prison for being the driver of a car in a robbery committed by her boyfriend. Giving birth to her baby in prison, Knight hopes to get parole so she can raise it in a proper atmosphere. She befriends various prisoners, including fellow mother Constance Ford whose young son is loved by all the women inmates. (It seems in this prison system, female prisoners are allowed to have their children with them until their third birthday.) Things get tough when seemingly by the books warden Andrew Duggan falls in love with her and doesn't want her to get paroled. Then, a tragic incident ensues, sending the prisoners into rebellion and bringing on major media attention.Women's prison films have been a frequent source of subject matter ever since "Ladies of the Big House" in 1932. There have "Ladies They Talk About"; "Condemned Women", the Oscar nominated "Caged" (of which this is apparently a remake of but really doesn't much in common with other than its setting and studio) and "Women's Prison" with an overly dramatic Ida Lupino. Later entries were not nearly as well made, produced on lower budgets with a definite element of sleaze. Just watch 1969's "99 Women" (with an outrageously bad Mercedes McCambridge) and 1983's "Chained Heat" (with a horribly bad Linda Blair). They have a huge camp element, filled with butch wardens or matrons (such as Esther Dale and Hope Emerson), over-the-top dialogue (several of them actually refer to the female inmates as "fish"), and plenty of cat fights. In "House of Women", we get to see Constance Ford ("Another World's" matriarch Ada Hobson) duke it out with matron Jeanne Cooper (matriarch Kay Chancellor of "The Young and the Restless"). There are also two inmates that are obviously tough lesbian characters whom several of the others have nicknamed "Butch".While the butch presence of a Hope Emerson type matron is missing (Cooper is too feminine to be considered butch), there is still enough sexual tension between these women to drop all sorts of innuendos. Shirley Knight, then at the height of her career (thanks to "Sweet Bird of Youth" the same year) is equally innocent and tough as she adapts to her surroundings. Andrew Duggan does a good job as the warden. Ford gets the most scenes to steal as she goes from strong-but-kind to vengeful when she faces a difficult tragedy. Those who remember her as Sandra Dee's nasty mother in "A Summer Place" and as Rachel's supportive but blunt mother on "Another World" will be riveted every time she is on screen. It is sad her film career never took her further than the types of roles Warner Brothers gave her (even on loan to United Artists, she was very typecast as mental institution nurse Joan Crawford's "right hand man".) Ford is very worthy of the types of roles given at the time to Angela Lansbury. (Look for Ford as a flirtatious millionaire's wife opposite Warren Beatty in "All Fall Down"; Her one scene is unforgettable!)In summary, "House of Women" is an enjoyable over-the-top drama which allows several actors to really chew up the scenery. While the references to it being a remake of "Caged" are somewhat exaggerated (they only really share an innocent heroine put behind bars in addition to my other comparisons above), it stands on its own as an entertaining camp drama. The script comes off as a bit trite and some of the dialog does not at all seem real, but overall, the film truly is entertaining and a cut above many lesser films of the same theme.