Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Women Behind Bars Part III: Classically Bad Dames

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies

Women Behind Bars Part III

Classically Bad Dames

Oh, to be deemed 'classically bad!' These dames all qualify - not only are they behind bars, but they are also being portrayed by some of the true queens of the silver screen. 

These classic movies deliver not only memorable graphics, but a bit of trivia/dirt as well.

So, grab your mace and your night stick... we're going in!

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Girls Behind Bars

(1949)

(A West German drama  directed by Alfred Braun, starring Petra Peters, Richard Häussler and Edelweiß Malchin.  So popular, it was remade three times: in 1965, 1982 and 2018!)

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The Story Of Molly X

(1949)

(A film noir starring June Havoc as a woman whose husband is murdered. In an effort to find his killer, she proceeds to commit a series of robberies with his old criminal gang. Landing in the slammer, she vows to reform. Havoc is the sister of Gypsy Rose Lee; the subjects of the  Jerry Herman musical, Gypsy. Havoc enjoyed a lengthy career, appearing in numerous musicals on Broadway and the silver screen. She was also a memoirist, playwright and stage director.)

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So Young, So Bad

(1950)

"What made them this way!"

(This one features the first major acting roles for Rita Moreno, Anne Francis and Anne Jackson.  Made independently, due to the political affiliations of the writers involved - both of whom would end up on the dreaded 'blacklist' by the time the film was released. Released within days of the similarly themed Caged, the critical reception for this film was deemed 'tepid,' but the box office was boffo! Paul Henreid, who agreed to appear in the film for 50% of the box office, said "the picture did well and I made more money out of it than of anything I've ever been connected with.")

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Three Came Home

(1950)

"The true story of one woman's personal experience!"

  (Set in a Japanese internment camp for women, this film was well-received, critically lauded, and was one of the most popular films in the UK during 1950. Olivia De Haviland was initially considered for the lead. Colbert, in a rare dramatic role, upon completion of principal photography, told the director, "You know I'm not given to exaggeration so I hope you believe me when I say that working with you has been the most stimulating and happiest experience of my entire career." This, despite the fact that she broke her back during the filming of one particularly grueling scene.)  

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The Weak And The Wicked

AKA: Young And Willing

(1954)

(For this one, the backstory is just as interesting as the film. More an earnest social drama than the melodrama the title suggests, this British film is based on a true story as experienced by the director's wife, a socialite with a bit of a gambling problem!  The director, J. Lee Thompson, read the bestselling book and wanted to turn it into a motion picture. Upon meeting the author, Joan Henry, the two fell in love prompting Thompson to walk-out on his wife and two children.) 

(The delectable Diana Dors was cast only a few weeks after having been convicted in real life of stealing alcohol from a friend's house.)

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Yield To The Night

AKA: Blonde Sinner

(1956)

"Would you hang this girl?"

(Two years after The Weak And The Wicked, Diana Dors once again teamed up with Joan Henry, who wrote the novel this film is based on, which was published in 1954, and director J. Lee Thompson for this women in prison epic. The critics were truly impressed with Dors performance, and the film was was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.)

"Would you hang Mary Hilton?"

( In a fascinating coincidence, the story mirrored events of a murder which took place two years after it was written. Ruth Ellis, a sex worker who had a bit part in a film with Dors called Lady Godiva Rides Again. shot her lover, race car David Blakely in cold blood. She was convicted and given the death penalty. Found guilty in June of 1955, she was hanged a month later. The real life story helped sell a lot of newspapers.)

(Despite the film's success, Dors never worked with Thompson again. Thompson was a volatile presence. Actor Michael Craig called him "a small, very intense man with a violent temper, which could be provoked by practically anything or nothing. He had a nervous habit of tearing sheets of paper into long thin strips.")

"Here she is... that eye filling, gasp provoking blonde bombshell!"

"The man-by-man story of a lost soul!"

(In the US, the film was marketed as Blonde Sinner.)

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Reform School Girl

(1957)

"A shocking true story of delinquent girls!

(This one is from American International Pictures, who produced a whole slew of exploitive films during the 1950's. They all followed pretty much the same theme - take a good girl, surround her with bad influences, and... watch that good girl go bad! This one contains the screen debut of Sally Kellerman. This film poster, depicting a pivotal scene when Vickers and Costello fight over a pair of scissors, has become a hotly sought after collectors item.)

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I Want To Live!

(1958)

"The true story of Barbara Graham - whose murder trial shocked the world!"

(Susan Hayward earned an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Barbara Graham, a prostitute and petty criminal who ended up getting the chair. The film took 'liberties' with the facts in the case, suggesting that Graham may have been innocent. However, the real life Graham was thought to have been a textbook sociopath - due to her childhood, though only a danger to herself .)

"The murder trial that shocked the world!"

"Told torrid and true! The story of Barbara Graham - the lost but never lonely sinner who got the roughest deal life ever dealt."

(Hayward later admitted in an interview that her research led her to believe that Graham was, in fact, guilty. She justified taking on the controversial role: "I just had to play her. If I hadn't thought they should make [the film], I wouldn't have played the part.")

"Barbara Graham's last scream from gas chamber.

"Just before death. Exclusive photo shows convicted murderess Barbara Graham just before gas pellets exploded in chamber." 

(The film was hugely popular, garnering six Academy Award Nominations. Robert Wise, the director was nominated, but did not win.  He'd have to wait... winning later for both The Sound Of Music and West Side Story.)

(Features an original jazz score by Johnny Mandel.)

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So Evil, So Young

(1961)

"Girls caged without their guys!"

"Bad girls... and the not-so-bad... walking a tightrope of tension in a girl's reformatory. Anything can set it off - sky-high!"

"So sensational you mustn't miss it!"

(If the title seems a bit familiar, this film is by the same producers as 1950's So Young, So Bad, which is also where most of the story elements come from, along with two other Danziger Brothers potboilers, 1959's Man Accused and 1960's Sentenced To Life. A British film, it was never released to theatres in the US.) 

(Jill Ireland would go on to marry Charles Bronson and appear opposite him in a number of films.)

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Reform School Girls

(1986)

So young, so bad... so what?

Shocking!!

(I decided to include this one because it pretty much makes a mockery of all these films. This is a black comedy from Tom DeSimone - director of such classics as 1977's Chatterbox and 1981's Hell Night,  along with a great deal of gay porn from the golden age. Featuring softcore legend Sybil Danning as the Warden plus star turns from Pat Ast of Motel Hell fame and Wendy O. Williams, lead singer of The Plasmatics.- the film, while not great, is a lot of fun.)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week...

Same time, same channel!

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Reform School Girls - Wendy O. Williams