"Women in Chains" is a film you can only enjoy if you turn off your brain and don't think too hard about what is happening. After all, the film is filled with huge plot holes...holes that SHOULD have been taken care of before they filmed this.
When the film begins, a sadistic prison matron, Claire (Ida Lupino) beats an inmate to death. It's all chalked up as an accident but a parole officer, Sandra (Lois Nettleton), decides to investigate by posing as a prisoner. So, she pretends to be a parole violator and has her friend, another parole officer, lock up 'Sally' so she can investigate. Once there, the sadism and despair of the place begins to take its toll on Sally and her only way out disappears.
Big dumb plot problem #1 is that any parole officer would be recognized by many of the inmates of any prison. After all, a parole officer routinely sends folks back to prison for violating parole. Evidently the writer of this film had no idea WHAT a parole officer does. Big dumb plot problem #2 is that Sandra goes into prison and NO ONE OTHER THAN HER FRIEND KNOWS THIS. So, if anything happens to her friend, Sandra/Sally is totally screwed...so you KNOW what's coming next!! All in all, a brainless little film that could have been so much better. Fun...but mindless fun. The only thing (other than better writing) that might have made this better was to make it more sensationalistic and sleazy...at least then it wouldn't have mattered how bad the writing was!
When the film begins, a sadistic prison matron, Claire (Ida Lupino) beats an inmate to death. It's all chalked up as an accident but a parole officer, Sandra (Lois Nettleton), decides to investigate by posing as a prisoner. So, she pretends to be a parole violator and has her friend, another parole officer, lock up 'Sally' so she can investigate. Once there, the sadism and despair of the place begins to take its toll on Sally and her only way out disappears.
Big dumb plot problem #1 is that any parole officer would be recognized by many of the inmates of any prison. After all, a parole officer routinely sends folks back to prison for violating parole. Evidently the writer of this film had no idea WHAT a parole officer does. Big dumb plot problem #2 is that Sandra goes into prison and NO ONE OTHER THAN HER FRIEND KNOWS THIS. So, if anything happens to her friend, Sandra/Sally is totally screwed...so you KNOW what's coming next!! All in all, a brainless little film that could have been so much better. Fun...but mindless fun. The only thing (other than better writing) that might have made this better was to make it more sensationalistic and sleazy...at least then it wouldn't have mattered how bad the writing was!