Caged (1950) was probably the first women in prison movie and it actually tried to be a message picture rather than the trashy mess that women in prison movies later became.
Eleanor Parker portrays a young woman who gets caught in the middle of a robbery with her husband. He gets killed and she lands in prison at the mercy of the system and those who will manipulate that system.
Chief among them is prison matron Evelyn Harper chillingly portrayed by Hope Emerson as the above scene shows. The lesbian connotations in this movie are many. Emerson plays her to the hilt. Also there is Lee Patrick as vice queen Elvira Powell and Kitty Starke, portrayed by Betty Garde. Garde gives an interesting speech in the movie about "getting out of the habit of thinking about men."
Caged is not exploitation nor is it made for laughs. It pulls no punches and gives no happy endings. It was also very successful, garnering three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Actress for Parker and another for Best Supporting Actress for Emerson. It also received a nomination for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.
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The Jeffersons and the transgender community
Very interesting! I've never seen that film. It was interesting to see Eleanor Parker in that role, knowing she was later in 1963 to play the Baroness in The Sound of Music.
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