I feel that the 1962 film "House of Women" is really the last of the classic women's prison movies. It's the last one to have a strong story with great performances, with everything else since then basically soft pornography. There had been a lot of cheap films on that subject, and they are basically just trashy remnants of what Hollywood used to produce with films like "Caged" and "Women's Prison". I doubt that Turner Classic Movies would do a themed night and include many of the films made after "House of Women", outside of one or two of those featuring Pam Grier.
Like the classic women's prison films of the thirties on up to "House of Women", this deals with a newbie at the institution (Judy Brown),this one set in the Philippines as work farm. Evil matron Christiane Schmidtmer and head guard Kathryn Loder torture those they have sexual fantasies over, with some of those resulting in death. When the prisoners have had enough, they decide to make an escape attempt, and the matron is taken hostage along with doctor Jack Davis and Sid Haig and Jerry Franks, two local delivery men who trade goods for sex with the prisoners.
A poor man's Barbara Steele, Kathryn Loder is a campy hoot, delightfully bad. Leading lady Brown and the other prisoners are totally outshined by Grier who would go on to be leading in these exploitation films, including two more women's prison films. The film is very violent with hints of sadistic lesbian practices, mainly out of obsession with power rather than romantic feelings from women to women. In fact, those who then and mentally decline lesbian overtones are treated as outcasts in this, and often subjected to torturous rituals, with Loder utilizing cobras as part of her fun and games.
The few men in the film are presented as weak and easy to manipulate, and the male doctor seems effete in his dealings with the prisoners. One of the female prisoners has Haig rape another woman against both their wills at gunpoint. Not so much campy as just shocking, and even though it's not realistic, it's not bad. It's just not one that I usually recommend or watch more than once.
The Big Doll House
1971
Action / Drama / Thriller
The Big Doll House
1971
Action / Drama / Thriller
Keywords: exploitationwomen's prison
Plot summary
Thrown into a remote Philippine prison somewhere in the untamed jungles of Manila, Collier enters the all-female jail after her horrible crime. There, sharing the same squalid cell with the equally unfortunate inmates--the tough-as-nails lesbian leader, Grear; the cynical Alcott; the heroin-addict Harrad, and the rebellious cellmates Ferina and Bodine--beautiful Collier will immediately catch the eye of the brutal guard, Lucian. But, life behind bars is hard, and amid daily humiliation, cat-fights, free sex, and torture, the desperate women concoct a daring escape plan. Will the lethal sextet of prisoners escape from the cage?
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No Ken's around these Barbie's.
A Trained Cat?
It's a Women In Prison movie set in an unnamed tropical country where Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Pam Grier and Brooke Mills are up for 99 years at hard labor, for crimes against the state. The prison personnel all have vaguely Mitteleuropean accents, people get stabbed without reacting, Pam Grier has not yet learned to act, and there's a kitty-cat which runs errands.
There are mini-skirts for prisoner's clothes, topless scenes, some rather desultory torture, and you get to see Sid Haig in his skivvies. This was the sort of movie teen-aged boys snuck out of the house, lied about their ages, and were mildly disappointed in back in the day. Then they would lie to their friends about how cool it was. While they might have seen Judy Brown's breasts (twice!),they'd know that any movie in which a cat is trained to fetch and carry is nonsense.
women in cages
Collier (Judith Brown) is a new inmate in a foreign tropical prison. Alcott and Grear (Pam Grier) are two of her cellmates. This is a Roger Corman women-in-prison B-movie filmed in the Philippines. It delivers what it delivers. It is certainly not a good movie. It has women in literal hanging cages. It's boobs. It's a lot groping. It's prison lesbians and sadistic guards. It's generally a mess but I don't think it matters to its intended audience.