Alicia I love this movie so much

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

mark.waltz Long before such heroines as Eleanor Parker and Shirley Knight were referred to "fish" in such prison movies as "Caged" and "House of Women", none other than Barbara Stanwyck got her chance to put on prison frock and bitch-slap someone who crossed her. Her back story is explored before she enters San Quentin's women's detention center, as she is first seen after the opening credits calling the police to warn them about a man running amuck with a knife stabbing people. It's all the set-up for a clever robbery, but she's instantly recognized and put on trial. She attracts the attention of Reverend Preston Foster, an attractive former slum kid she knew years before, but when she confesses, she's sent up the river and secretly vows revenge. In prison, the women inmates look on at her with curiosity to test her, and when she tells off Dorothy Burgess (an obviously hated prisoner obsessed with Foster), she immediately wins the rest of the prisoners over. One in particular, Lillian Roth, becomes her best pal, while even the prison matrons (particularly an Irish accented Ruth Donnelly) come to like her as well.But efforts from Foster to get her to repent go unresponsive until Stanwyck sees her way to use him in order to get an early release. This results in violence concerning her ex-boyfriend Lyle Talbot (one of the bank robbers) and her desire for vengeance increases. Good behavior leads to release, and a possible violent encounter with the sniveling Burgess present as a witness, leading to a conclusion that only a few months later would have been unthinkable in Hollywood films. Stanwyck plays the leading lady with gusto, as ruthless as she was in "Baby Face", yet with that hint of vulnerability under the surface, and it is obviously roles like this that aided her in playing the nefarious roles she started over a decade later with the advent of film noir.The women in prison are a hysterical bunch, with Ms. Roth comically singing "If I Could Be With You" to a portrait of none other than fellow Warner Brothers contractee Joe E. Brown. This is followed by shots of the various women in their cells, including murderous society queen Cecil Cunningham and her Pekingese and a manly cigar smoking prisoner (listed in IMDb credits as a matron) whom Roth had previously warned Stanwyck, "She likes to wrestle". There's a very racist (but funny) moment concerning black prisoner Madame Sul-Te-Wan in a confrontation with Cunningham over "washing her drawers" and Donnelly's presence with a white cockatoo, probably the same one used in a later Warner Brothers movie as the titled character.Of the prisoners, it is Maude Eburne who steals every moment as "Aunt Maggie", an obvious former madam, delivering an innuendo in every line, and protecting Stanwyck after one particularly nasty confrontation with the religiously obsessed Burgess. "The poor girl just fell down", she tells the head matron after Stanwyck punches her lights out, and with every other prisoner laughing their heads off, it's obvious even to the matron that Burgess didn't just fall down and go boom. Down the list of minor players is none other than Mary Gordon who shows that the kindly landlady and Scottish mother of many a film (including Sherlock Holmes' Mrs. Hudson) could be more than just what audiences had seen her do so many times.

whpratt1 Barbara Stanwyck, (Nan Taylor) plays the role of a gal who came from the school of hard knocks and has joined up with some gangsters and they plan to pull off a bank robbery. Nan acts as a decoy and convinces the bank guard to open up the bank early so she can make a deposit and carries in a small dog and hands it to the guard, and right behind her the gangsters friends follow in and rob the bank. A detective notices Nan in the bank and remembers her face from previous criminal events she got herself into and arrests her. Dave Slade,(Preston Foster) plays the role as a preacher politician, and remembers Nan from their childhood days and tries to free her of all the charges against her, however, Nan tells him the truth and she winds up in prison with plenty of women who are all a bunch of wild characters. There is even a butch lesbian who likes to smoke cigars and wrestle with other gals. This is a great classic film with veteran actor Lyle Talbot, (Gangster Dan) who breaks into Nan's cell along with her gangster friends in order to bring her back to their world of crime.

Ron Oliver The hard-boiled dames locked up at San Quentin State Penitentiary are some of the LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT.Barbara Stanwyck stars in this very enjoyable pre-Code crime drama which takes a Hollywood look at women's lives behind bars. The acting is strictly of the ham variety, with a few histrionics, some heart-string tugging and a surprisingly large dollop of comedy thrown in. Some of the plot developments are absolutely ludicrous, but the viewer should never get bored.Stanwyck is terrific as the female member of a small-time gang of crooks. Prison gives her a chance to get really tough in order to deal with her situation, but the audience always knows that just a few moments with the right man will have her (rather unconvincingly) melting like butter. Whether brawling with a vicious inmate, assisting in an escape attempt, or going gunning for the guy she thinks betrayed her, Stanwyck is always right on the money for entertainment value.Three female costars give Stanwyck some great support in the prison scenes. Lillian Roth, as the lighthearted inmate who befriends Barbara, nearly steals the show with her perky personality; she gives the movie one of its brightest moments when she croons 'If I Could Be With You' to a fan photo of comic Joe E. Brown. Frowzy Maude Eburne is a hoot as a bawdy former madam who likes to reminisce about her old 'beauty parlor' from the comfort of her rocking chair. Good-natured Ruth Donnelly is a nice addition, in a small role, as an Irish matron with a big white parrot.Preston Foster, as a reform revivalist who remembers Stanwyck from their childhood together in Benicia, California, gives an earnest performance, stalwart & steady. Lyle Talbot and Harold Huber appear as members of Stanwyck's gang. Elderly Robert McWade makes the most of his performance as Los Angeles' wily District Attorney.Movie mavens will spot some fine character actors appearing unbilled: rotund DeWitt Jennings as a cagey police detective; Helen Ware as the no-nonsense prison head matron; Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Mustard, the sassy prisoner who's terrified of parrots; Robert Warwick as San Quentin's stern warden. And that's dear Mary Gordon who appears for only a few scant seconds as a laughing white-haired inmate in the Visiting Room.

preppy-3 Nan Taylor (Barbara Stanwyck) is caught trying to help three men rob a bank. She sweet talks an innocent, powerful man David Slade (Preston Foster) into defending her, but confesses at the last minute. She's sent to prison and plots her revenge. The prison has a lesbian (shown once), a black prisoner who actually has lines (very surprising for the 1930s), a bird that terrorizes the inmates (don't ask), catfights and some pretty elaborate cells for the women. It makes prison seem like a great place to be!A definite one of a kind with some pretty risque (for 1933) lines and situations. Barbara Stanwyck is just great in the title role. She tears into it and gives it her all--especially at the end. Lillian Roth also is very good as a fellow prisoner. As for Foster--he's tall and handsome...that's about it, but he fulfills his role.Tough, fun, very quick (69 minutes) pre-Code movie. Definetely worth a look.