There's no nasty matron like Hope Emerson or scheming inmate arranging for parolees to become prostitutes. This is a straight to the bone serious look at a young woman who goes to prison and finds out how to deal with the system honestly so she can serve her sentence and then go on with her life. It's true that she was framed for Grand Larceny, and that part of the plot is not resolved with a woman who stole her valuable cigarette case and pawned it lying about it on the stand, a crime which causes Glynis Johns to be sentenced to a year. After getting transferred to a rreer prison along with Diana Dors, she nearly gets into trouble when given the opportunity to go into town one day, circumstances arise that nearly extend her sentence. In the meantime, her fiance, John Gregson, stops coming to see her oh, and she's afraid that she's lost him. When the time comes for her release, she doesn't seem to have much to look forward to on the outside.
Good performances by a respectable British cast guides this film to be probably the most serious and non unintentionally humorous films about women in the system ever made. Johns certainly gives a very sincere performance, and she's neither weak nor wicked. She is however strong enough to stand up to troublemaking women in the system, breaking up a potential fights and being a model prisoner. Dors too cakes the parts seriously, and avoids being the stereotypical blonde femme fatale. The fact that this doesn't resort to camp might bore some audiences who automatically expect that in a women's prison movie, but the film's goal is to show these women as real human beings who made a mistake and are paying for it and looking forward two going on with their life as better citizens and not repeat what they've done before. Well photographed and fast-moving, and a great opportunity to see Johns before she hired a magical nanny and sent for the clowns.
Good performances by a respectable British cast guides this film to be probably the most serious and non unintentionally humorous films about women in the system ever made. Johns certainly gives a very sincere performance, and she's neither weak nor wicked. She is however strong enough to stand up to troublemaking women in the system, breaking up a potential fights and being a model prisoner. Dors too cakes the parts seriously, and avoids being the stereotypical blonde femme fatale. The fact that this doesn't resort to camp might bore some audiences who automatically expect that in a women's prison movie, but the film's goal is to show these women as real human beings who made a mistake and are paying for it and looking forward two going on with their life as better citizens and not repeat what they've done before. Well photographed and fast-moving, and a great opportunity to see Johns before she hired a magical nanny and sent for the clowns.