An enjoyably daft prison drama in which Barbara Stanwyck plays a career criminal who takes the fall for a bank robbery and ends up in San Quentin. Of course, all she needs is the love of a good moral crusader to keep her on the straight and narrow... It would be an understatement to say that the plot could have been
worked out on the back of a cigarette packet; quite frankly, I'd be amazed if anybody troubled to write it down. It's also tempting to groan at the hoary old clichés till you realise that some of them were probably being minted here for the very first time. My favourite of several moments of unintentional hilarity is the one where two of Babs' associates attempt to tunnel through to her cell from the neighbouring men's prison and she disguises the racket they are making by playing loud music in the middle of the night. "How did such a criminal mastermind ever end up behind bars?" I hear you cry. Minor Stanwyck but her performance is as committed as ever.
March 6, 2011
