Republic Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Robert Mitchum, Robert Young, Gloria Grahame, Sam Levene, and Robert Ryan in Crossfire (1947)

William Gargan, Ann Sothern, and Lewis Stone in Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President (1939)

Alan Arkin and Peter Falk in The In-Laws (1979)

Tom Keene and Lynne Roberts in Girls of the Big House (1945)

Jeanne, do you know what it's like in a women's prison? Don't let the flower beds and lace curtains fool you. It's not a boarding school. It's grim and lonesome. The monotony of the four walls will turn your insides out.

Lynne Roberts and Erskine Sanford in Girls of the Big House (1945)

Hella Petri in Girls of the Big House (1945)

Lynne Roberts

Virginia Christine

Marion Martin

Houston Branch

A college professor&apos;s well-bred daughter assumes the name of Jeanne Crail to date Earl Williams, a slick con artist who frames her for robbery. Rather than have her father find out about her plight, Jeanne confesses to the crime. ...

George Archainbaud

Girls of the Big House

What A Lovely Prison!

Lynne Roberts is accused of stealing Dick Elliott&apos;s wallet. She denies it, then suddenly admits it. So it&apos;s off to women&apos;s prison for her. She doesn&apos;t do well, escaping to visit her parents -- her mother bakes cookies for her -- getting recaptured, getting into a fight with Virginia Christine when Steve Barclay comes to visit her instead of Miss Christine, and so forth. But lawyer Tom Keene, having just discovered she&apos;s in prison, tries to get her out.

It&apos;s one of those movies that depend more on acting ability than a script that makes sense, and there are some good players here, including Marion Martin, Tala Birell, and others. But there are enough disconcerting moments, like being able to wander off at the train station while she&apos;s being taken to prison, that I wasn&apos;t able to fully engage with this movie. Watch out for Barbara Bedford in her last movie role.

Lynne Roberts is accused of stealing Dick Elliott's wallet. She denies it, then suddenly admits it. So it's off to women's prison for her. She doesn't do well, escaping to visit her parents -- her mother bakes cookies for her -- getting recaptured, getting into a fight with Virginia Christine when Steve Barclay comes to visit her instead of Miss Christine, and so forth. But lawyer Tom Keene, having just discovered she's in prison, tries to get her out.

It's one of those movies that depend more on acting ability than a script that makes sense, and there are some good players here, including Marion Martin, Tala Birell, and others. But there are enough disconcerting moments, like being able to wander off at the train station while she's being taken to prison, that I wasn't able to fully engage with this movie. Watch out for Barbara Bedford in her last movie role.

A college professor's well-bred daughter assumes the name of Jeanne Crail to date Earl Williams, a slick con artist who frames her for robbery. Rather than have her father find out about her plight, Jeanne confesses to the crime. Believing she is covering for a known criminal, the district attorney has Jeanne sent to a tough women's prison, where she comes to know fellow inmates Bernice, who pines for Smiley, her boyfriend on the outside; and Alma Vlasek, who awaits her execution for mistakenly killing a detective while lying in wait for her husband and his girlfriend. Jeanne tries to mail a letter to her father through the prison doctor, Gale Warren, but Warren refuses to go against regulations. Desperate, Jeanne breaks out of jail to be present at her father's induction ceremony as college president. Jeanne spends two days with her father and her attorney boyfriend Barton Sturgis before secretly returning to prison. Before she goes back, however, she manages to arrange to have letters sent to her father at regular intervals from a post office outside the prison. Upon her return to prison, Jeanne is punished for her escape, rousing the sympathy of Bernice, who finds out Bart's name and sends him a letter asking him to help Jeanne. Bart, who has been suspicious of Jeanne's abrupt disappearance, is confused by the letter, as he does not know who "Jeanne" is. Nevertheless he investigates and comes to the prison. In the meantime, when Smiley visits the prison and pays unwanted attention to Jeanne, Bernice is overcome with jealousy. She attacks Jeanne with a knife, which is later hidden from the matron, and Jeanne is accused of starting the altercation. Placed in solitary confinement, Jeanne is grilled about the whereabouts of the knife, while Bart meets with Dr. Warren to plead for help. Alma then discovers that Bernice is her husband's girl friend and kills her with the knife. Alma clears Jeanne of any involvement in the earlier knife fight, and with Bart's help, Jeanne is ultimately vindicated and freed.

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