Caged (1950)

We follow Marie, a 19-year-old widow, as she serves out her prison sentence for being an unwitting accomplice to the attempted robbery during which her husband was killed. Her naive innocence is almost too much at times -- we get it, she's a poor sweet kid who's getting a raw deal -- but it's still pretty effective (especially when you consider the era in which this was made).

The inmates are a tad too tame and protective of each other, but there's a massive sadist of a matron (Oscar-nominated Hope Emerson) on hand to keep things from being a walk in the park. She takes pleasure in humiliation and gets away with it thanks to her friends in high places.

The progression from soft sweetie to hard floozy is predictable but fairly well-handled...I bought it as the "right" outcome. The acting's good and the look is fantastic.

B