Such a frustrating disappointment

Purely Joyful Movie!

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This is a hard film to review. There is a lot to like and a few things to dislike in it. So lets break them down: The bad: 1: The parrot scene with the ugly black woman. The entire scene made me cringe. There was no benefit or reasoning behind this scene even being in the film. 2: The length of the film. It was only 69 minutes. There was a lot of story to tell and there simply was not enough time to tell it in. Stuff like the parrot scene, and not getting into depth David Slade's (Preston Foster) opposition to politicians and the newspapers was a major mistake. If you don't think the politicians and papers would have had a field day with him being involved with and spoilers ahead: Marrying a convicted felon like Nan Taylor (Barbara Stanwyck), and then you believe in Santa Claus. In addition, Stanwyck is almost always worth watching (Except "Walk On The Wild Side", a film without a single redeeming factor). So show us more about her (Like why she went from a preacher's daughter to being so rotten (Which is what they did in her next film "Baby Face")). The good: 1: Linda (Lillian Roth: She was really my favorite character, a person who was probably a lifer (Based on the fact she was in San Quentin before Nan got there and after she left), yet she never became a hater, and all she wanted was friendship from Nan. I usually detest singing in a film, but the scene (Spoilers ahead) of her singing to a photo of Dick Powell was well done. 2: Stanwyck: As usual I like her in this film, and in particular (Spoilers) when she punches out "Sister Susie" (Dorothy Burgess), for framing her over a letter. This is what you could have expected from Cagney. Also when Susie calls the cops for shooting Slade, and she makes her look pathetic by putting a "Do Not Disturb" sign over the keyhole where she was peeking, and this little exchange with Susie: Susie: Say, there isn't any punishment bad enough for you! Nan Taylor: Yeah? Well, being penned up here with a daffodil like you comes awful close. It is a strange film, because Roth & Stanwyck were so good, it could have been a classic, but the parts I disliked (Particularly the parrot scene) really were that bad, I had to deduct stars from it. 7/10.

Barbara Stanwyck as a beautiful gun moll who helps her gang commit an armed bank robbery, then gets herself arrested. A young reformer who speaks in front of an "old-fashioned revival" believes in her innocence and tries to help her as they both are from the same hometown and, well, she's not past using her looks to get what she wants. But when, for some reason that I couldn't quite figure out, she actually admits to him she was part of the hold-up, he then assists in sending her to San Quentin. Soon our gal is the "new fish" in prison, and this is a women's prison like no other - if it weren't for the appearance of some older women prisoners in the mix, this would almost look a private girl's school rather than the state Penn! Lounge rocking chairs, newspapers, card games, a "greenhouse" area, a hair stylist, manicures, the "ladies bird club", phonograph record players, and outside - "the sun yard", a regular garden spot. These women can wear their own slinky negligees at night and play records in their room - and one older inmate actually is allowed to keep her own little "lap dog" - h'm.This film is pretty good - the portrayal of the prison so far-fetched it's actually kind of a hoot to watch. I notice the male prisoners (on the other side of the prison) don't seem to have the same conditions as the women as they are shown in regular jail cells with bars. Anyway, Barbara Stanwyck, one of my favorite actresses from that era, gives her usual star performance and acts up a storm - just great as she plays the world-wise gal who'll play hard ball to get what she wants. A really fun film.

Nearly twenty years before CAGED, LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT touched the theme of women in prison with a much lighter touch. Barbara Stanwyck, this time, is at the helm as the ingénue sent to prison by her no-good boyfriend played by Preston Foster, although you wouldn't know it since this prison resembles more of a posh boarding house than the hell CAGED would present much later. Stanwyck is her usual gritty self (which is saying, she's fierce and elevates what would have been a throwaway role) as the girl who toughens up, and there is one of the earlier references info lesbianism thrown in as an oblique character who "likes to wrestle". It's probably more memorable due to the fact of being made in Hollywood's Pre-Code years, but if at all for an early Stanwyck, it's worth a shot. Look for Lillian Roth in a supporting role, one of the few she made during her short career before collapsing into almost absolute ignominy.

The hard-boiled dames locked up at San Quentin State Penitentiary are some of the LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT.Barbara Stanwyck stars in this very enjoyable pre-Code crime drama which takes a Hollywood look at women's lives behind bars. The acting is strictly of the ham variety, with a few histrionics, some heart-string tugging and a surprisingly large dollop of comedy thrown in. Some of the plot developments are absolutely ludicrous, but the viewer should never get bored.Stanwyck is terrific as the female member of a small-time gang of crooks. Prison gives her a chance to get really tough in order to deal with her situation, but the audience always knows that just a few moments with the right man will have her (rather unconvincingly) melting like butter. Whether brawling with a vicious inmate, assisting in an escape attempt, or going gunning for the guy she thinks betrayed her, Stanwyck is always right on the money for entertainment value.Three female costars give Stanwyck some great support in the prison scenes. Lillian Roth, as the lighthearted inmate who befriends Barbara, nearly steals the show with her perky personality; she gives the movie one of its brightest moments when she croons 'If I Could Be With You' to a fan photo of comic Joe E. Brown. Frowzy Maude Eburne is a hoot as a bawdy former madam who likes to reminisce about her old 'beauty parlor' from the comfort of her rocking chair. Good-natured Ruth Donnelly is a nice addition, in a small role, as an Irish matron with a big white parrot.Preston Foster, as a reform revivalist who remembers Stanwyck from their childhood together in Benicia, California, gives an earnest performance, stalwart & steady. Lyle Talbot and Harold Huber appear as members of Stanwyck's gang. Elderly Robert McWade makes the most of his performance as Los Angeles' wily District Attorney.Movie mavens will spot some fine character actors appearing unbilled: rotund DeWitt Jennings as a cagey police detective; Helen Ware as the no-nonsense prison head matron; Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Mustard, the sassy prisoner who's terrified of parrots; Robert Warwick as San Quentin's stern warden. And that's dear Mary Gordon who appears for only a few scant seconds as a laughing white-haired inmate in the Visiting Room.