Girls in Prison
Encyclopedia
Girls in Prison is a 1956
drama
/sexploitation
women in prison film about a young woman who is convicted of being an accomplice to a bank robbery and is sent to an all-female prison. The film was directed by Edward L. Cahn, and stars Richard Denning
, Joan Taylor
, and Mae Marsh
. American International Pictures
released the film as a double feature
with Hot Rod Girl
.
On arrival in prison, Anne meets the outwardly tough matron
in charge (Jane Darwell) and the prison chaplain
Rev Fulton (Richard Denning
) who feels Anne may have had a mistrial and does not belong in prison. Anne's cellmates are Jenny (Adele Jergens
) who seems to run the inmates, Melanee (Helen Gilbert) who makes a play for Anne and Dorothy (Phyllis Coates
) a woman who has murdered her own husband and child when he ran away with another woman who is still alive. The unhinged Dorothy believes her child is still alive and every new girl in prison is her husband's lover, Lois. Jenny and Melanee team up in the "Good cop/bad cop" routine to get Anne to tell them where the money is with Melanee telling Dorothy that Anne is really Lois.
On the outside Paul is using blackmail and threats on Anne's ex-criminal father Pop Carson (Raymond Hatton
) to find the money as well as offering to split it with him 50/50.
Anne faces an assassination attempt from Dorothy, threats on her life from two other inmates seeking the money, and fights Melanee in a mudfight. When a large earthquake hits the area and demolishes the installation, Jenny (who has acquired a pistol from her outside contacts and the outwardly harmless trustee
Grandma (Mae Marsh
) and Melanee use the opportunity to escape with Anne to take her home to locate the money.
The downed telephone and power lines give the three girls time to escape unpursued but Rev Fulton heads off Anne at her home where Pop is still held under gunpoint by Paul.
also starring Joan Taylor.
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
/sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
women in prison film about a young woman who is convicted of being an accomplice to a bank robbery and is sent to an all-female prison. The film was directed by Edward L. Cahn, and stars Richard Denning
Richard Denning
Richard Denning , was an American actor who starred in such movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon and An Affair to Remember , and on radio with Lucille Ball as her husband George Cooper in My Favorite Husband , the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy, for which Denning was replaced by Ball's...
, Joan Taylor
Joan Taylor (actor)
Joan Taylor is a retired American film actress.-Early life:She was born in Geneva, Illinois. Her father Joseph Emma was from Sicily and became a movie manager and a Hollywood prop man...
, and Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
. American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
released the film as a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
with Hot Rod Girl
Hot Rod Girl
Hot Rod Girl is a 1956 action film directed by Leslie H. Martinson and released by American International Pictures. It stars Lori Nelson and Chuck Connors.-Cast:*Lori Nelson as Lisa Vernon*Chuck Connors as Det. Ben Merrill*John Smith as Jeff Northrup...
.
Plot
Anne Carson (Joan Taylor) is sent to a women's prison for allegedly participating in a bank robbery with two others, one, Paul Anderson (Lance Fuller) who is still at large. The money was never recovered and all eyes are on Anne who denies knowing about the money.On arrival in prison, Anne meets the outwardly tough matron
Matron
Matron is the job title of a very senior nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, its former colonies, including the Republic of Ireland, although the title Clinical Nurse Manager has become acceptable as an alternative.-History:...
in charge (Jane Darwell) and the prison chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
Rev Fulton (Richard Denning
Richard Denning
Richard Denning , was an American actor who starred in such movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon and An Affair to Remember , and on radio with Lucille Ball as her husband George Cooper in My Favorite Husband , the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy, for which Denning was replaced by Ball's...
) who feels Anne may have had a mistrial and does not belong in prison. Anne's cellmates are Jenny (Adele Jergens
Adele Jergens
Adele Jergens was an American actress.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jergen's birth date is sometimes listed as 1922. Jergens first rose to prominence in the late 1930s, when she was named "Miss World's Fairest" at the 1939 New York World's Fair...
) who seems to run the inmates, Melanee (Helen Gilbert) who makes a play for Anne and Dorothy (Phyllis Coates
Phyllis Coates
Phyllis Coates is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men, and during the first season of the Adventures of Superman television series.-Early life and career:After graduating from high...
) a woman who has murdered her own husband and child when he ran away with another woman who is still alive. The unhinged Dorothy believes her child is still alive and every new girl in prison is her husband's lover, Lois. Jenny and Melanee team up in the "Good cop/bad cop" routine to get Anne to tell them where the money is with Melanee telling Dorothy that Anne is really Lois.
On the outside Paul is using blackmail and threats on Anne's ex-criminal father Pop Carson (Raymond Hatton
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton was an American movie actor who appeared in almost five hundred movies, including a stint of being paired in 1920s comedies with Wallace Beery....
) to find the money as well as offering to split it with him 50/50.
Anne faces an assassination attempt from Dorothy, threats on her life from two other inmates seeking the money, and fights Melanee in a mudfight. When a large earthquake hits the area and demolishes the installation, Jenny (who has acquired a pistol from her outside contacts and the outwardly harmless trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
Grandma (Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
) and Melanee use the opportunity to escape with Anne to take her home to locate the money.
The downed telephone and power lines give the three girls time to escape unpursued but Rev Fulton heads off Anne at her home where Pop is still held under gunpoint by Paul.
Production
This was the first of many films that Edward L. Cahn did for AIP with producer Alex Gordon. A Production Code administrator warned Gordon that any hint of lesbianism whether in speech or manners had to be eliminated from the script, but Gordon filmed them regardless. Gordon's film company Golden State Productions made the first film released by AIP, Apache WomanApache Woman
-Copyright:Copyright in and to this motion picture is currently held by Susan Nicholson Hofheinz ....
also starring Joan Taylor.