In the social drama film, it's usually the woman who redeems the man. In tonight's film, convention is reversed: Barbara Stanwyck plays, in her tough, no-nonsense style, a bankrobber who has been sent up to the women's ward of San Quentin by her reformer friend and priest (Preston Foster). In breaking away from the formula, the story broke into some implausible pieces; however, they're held together by snappy dialogue, good direction and colorful supporting performances. The film's best scenes take place in prison, where the "ladies they talk about" talk amongst themselves, in cells made homey with a "woman's touch". Although prison life is given a Hollywood whitewash, it's clear that crime doesn't pay (at least if you're caught), and just as clear why in the Depression-bound U.S., women turned to crime as a solution to their economic problems. Dealing with a social problem in a realistic context was Warner Brothers' trademark in the early thirties. Also typical was the reliance on a personal, rather than a social solution--such are the strengths and limitations of Warner Brothers' radicalism. In entertainment-wise Hollywood, Lady Stanwyck's rehabilitation comes--not from prison--but from a man's love.