HOUSE OF WOMEN

Jason Evers, Margaret Hayes, Andrew  Duggan, Jeanne Cooper

HOUSE OF WOMEN (1962). Director: Walter Doniger.

Obviously having had a very bad lawyer, Erica Hayden (Shirley Knight) winds up in a women's penitentiary even though she was unaware that her boyfriend was going to commit a robbery as she simply waited in the car. Now she's pregnant, and learns that she'll have to give the child up for adoption if she doesn't get paroled in a certain amount of time. Her fellow inmates include Sophie (Constance Ford), who has a little boy -- children are allowed to stay with their mothers in the prison! -- dizzy former stripper Candy (Barbara Nichols); Addie (Jennifer Howard), a stereotypical lesbian; among others, and the staff consists of new warden Frank Cole (Andrew Duggan); tippling Doctor Conrad (Jason Evers); administrator Zoe (Margaret Hayes); and stern guard Helen (Jeanne Cooper). Other characters include Mrs. Hunter (Virginia Gregg), who serves on the parole board; and Mrs. Stevens (Jacqueline Scott), who is a social worker. Complications develop when Cole falls in love with Erica and he cruelly takes revenge upon her, but the real breaking point comes when the stupid Mrs. Stevens takes away Erica's little girl to foster care a day early -- and just before the child's now-canceled birthday party no less! The situations are awfully contrived in this nonetheless entertaining movie that is basically an imitation of Caged. Duggan, Evers [The Brain that Wouldn't Die], Hayes, Gregg, and others are fine, but Knight [The Couch] underplays terribly; Ford is surprisingly perfunctory during some difficult sequences; and Nichols doesn't quite deliver the goods in her big scene when she makes a speech to the parole board. The movie does boast a suspenseful climax when Ford and the others take over the prison! Walter Doniger also directed The Steel Jungle.

Verdict: If nothing else it's fun -- with some good sequences. ***.

THE STEEL JUNGLE

Perry Lopez and Kenneth Tobey

THE STEEL JUNGLE (1956). Director: Walter Doniger.

Ed Novak (Perry Lopez) is a cocky hothead and bookie who, after being arrested, is told if he tells all he knows about the operations of Steve Madden (Ted de Corsia) he''ll get a greatly reduced sentence. Loyal to the undeserving Madden, he refuses, much to the heartbreak of his wife, Frances (Beverly Garland), who doesn't care about the fur coats he gives her and hopes he'll get an honest job after serving his time. Madden is also in jail and Ed tries to ingratiate himself with the mob boss, who comes to like him. Ed witnesses the murder of a guard which Madden was responsible for and still refuses to talk, leading to serious complications and an unexpected kidnapping ... Lopez gives a good lead performance in this, which also boasts fine work from Garland, Walter Abel [Mirage] as the no-nonsense warden, and Kenneth Tobey as a sympathetic if somewhat sappy prison shrink. Allison Hayes has a small role  [playing a "Mrs. Archer" as she later would in her classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman] as a neighbor of Novak's who has some information; Joe Flynn [McHale's Navy] is a prisoner; and Malcolm Atterbury plays a chatty mailman. Gregory Walcott of Plan 9 from Outer Space plays the guard, Weaver. The Steel Jungle is an acceptable prison melodrama with some effective performances. Lopez had a long list of credits.

Verdict: Reasonably engaging potboiler. **1/2.