CAGED

 Perhaps this women's prison picture wasn't what you might have expected from John Cromwell but remember Cromwell was a studio director and basically did what he was told to do and did it very well. Cromwell was, in fact, one of Hollywood's finest directors and one who has never really been given his critical dues. Still, "Caged", with its almost exclusively female cast, was different from other Cromwell pictures.

This was a tougher, darker film with a fine screenplay by Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld and excellent performances from an outstanding cast, (Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson, Lee Patrick, Jan Sterling and others). Both Powell and Emerson were Oscar-nominated as was the screenplay and it's beautifully shot in black and white by Carl E. Guthrie. Indeed, this is a 'woman's picture' much closer in tone to something that might have come out of Europe rather than Hollywood, (Bergman could have made this), and while it was a hit in its day it is now largely forgotten. It's certainly worth reviving and it stands amongst Cromwell's very finest work.