Blast from the Past
Crane Wilbur directed House of Women, crime melodrama, starring Shirley Knight and mostly female cast.
Grade: B- (**1/2 out of *****)
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Walter Doniger, who was hired to direct the film, was fired and then replaced by Wilbur 10 days into shooting.
Women in prison is often the subject of lurid, exploitational movie, the B-level kind, so House of Women should be commended for largely avoiding such cliches.
The movie is inferior to the superb 1950 prison melodrama, Caged, which deservedly earned Eleanor Parker a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
The characters represent a wide variety–sort of ordinary women, some sensitive and intelligent, eagerly waiting for parole and release.
Narrative Structure
Erica Hayden (Knight), a young expectant mother wrongly implicated in a crime, is and sent to prison for 5 years.
Erica must find a guardian for her daughter, or else she will become a ward of the state.
Meanwhile, Frank Cole, the warden, becomes infatuated with Erica and effectively blocks her chances for parole.
When another inmate’s child dies, the woman becomes deranged. The cruel governance by some of the wardens leads to revolt by the prisoners, who protest, first peacefully, then escalating into a more vocal revolt.
In the (not-too-realistic) happy ending, Erica prevents a tragedy, earning the right to be freed with her daughter, and Warden Cole’s unethical methods come to light.
Even so, at a time when there were few strong roles for women, this picture offered decent turns to Constance Ford, Barbara Nichols, and others.
Shirley Knight enjoyed the best phase of her career in 1962, a year in which she appeared opposite Paul Newman in Sweet Bird of Youth, for which she earned her second, consecutive Best Supporting Actress nomination (the first was for Dark at the Top of the Stairs).
Cast
Shirley Knight as Erica Hayden
Andrew Duggan as Warden Frank Cole
Constance Ford as Sophie Brice
Barbara Nichols as Candy Kane
Margaret Hayes as Zoe Stoughton
Jeanne Cooper as Helen Jennings
Virginia Gregg as Mrs. Hunter
Patricia Huston as Doris
Jason Evers as Dr. F.M. Conrad
Jennifer Howard as Addie Gates
Caroline Richter as Clemens
Gayla Graves as Jackie
Colette Jackson as Aggie
Jacqueline Scott as Mrs. Stevens
Paul Lambert as Richard Dunn
Lyle Latell as Sam
Credits:
Directed by Walter Doniger, Crane Wilbur
Written by Crane Wilbur
Produced by Bryan Foy
Cinematography Harold E. Stine
Edited by Leo H. Shreve
Music by Howard Jackson
Production company: Bryan Foy Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros
Release date: April 11, 1962
Running time: 85 min
