Women’s Prison

Nothing says ‘studio-era repression’ like a sadistic warden and a riot in heels. It’s camp, it’s cruel, and it cracks open a space for the queer and feminist subtext I live for.

Cheryl Dunye
featuring

Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter,

Lewis Seiler’s genre-defining B movie Women’s Prison has a familiar cast of characters—the irrepressible, brazen blonde; the wide-eyed ingenue; the ham; the sympathetic, spiritual-singing Black inmate; and more—but the writing and performances buoy the proceedings, especially Ida Lupino as the well-dressed but brutal warden determined to maintain control by any means necessary. When she finally goes too far, the inmates get organized. 

Kate MacKay
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Crane Wilbur
  • Jack DeWitt
Cinematographer
  • Lester H. White
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 80 mins
Source
  • Sony Pictures

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