Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Caged! Blu-ray Movie Review

Death behind bars.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 6, 2023

John Cromwell's Caged! is far from the first "women in prison" film, but it may just be the first to set its entire story inside the walls of a correctional facility. One thing's for sure: that dubious sub-genre carries an awful lot of baggage, almost all of it stemming from decades of exploitative productions that often leaned heavily on sex appeal and sadism. Even Cromwell's film debuted on DVD under WB's Cult Camp Classics umbrella and, later, as part of their "Women in Peril" Collection, which also included the laughably abysmal Trog starring Joan Crawford. That's terribly misleading company for this harrowing, emotionally effective drama co-written by the great Virginia Kellogg (White Heat, Mary Stevens, M.D.), who infiltrated four different prisons as an "inmate" while developing her screenplay.

Warner Archive's new Blu-ray, which succeeds their own DVD-R released nearly a decade ago, separates Caged! from the pack to give this noir-tinted drama the stand-alone respect it deserves. The film's story concerns itself fully with the sad, sorrowful fate of one Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker), a naïve 19 year-old inmate who's facing a stiff sentence for her involvement in a $40 theft that left her husband Tom dead. It's soon revealed that Marie's pregnant to boot, meaning that'll she'll have the unfortunate task of delivering (and potentially having to abandon) her child before her first chance at parole in ten months. But in the here and now, Marie's also in trouble: she's not fitting into prison life at all, thanks to a chilly reception from fellow inmates unofficially led by "Kitty" Stark (Betty Garde), who's in for murder, as well as the harsh treatment of a sadistic warden, Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson). Aside from her eventual first steps toward acceptance from fellow inmates, Marie's only hope might be prison superintendent Agnes Moorehead (Ruth Benton), who has a progressive attitude towards reform... but her hands are tied to the political machine.

My cynical side believes that Caged! has aged surprisingly well during the past 70+ years because it's oppressively downbeat, unafraid to show some of the harsh realities of life behind bars that have potentially only gotten worse due to America's devotion to the prison-industrial complex. There are sparks of hope during the film's surprisingly brisk 96-minute runtime, which follows Marie's painful path from sheltered teenager to a hardened shell of her former self, sure. But while they're mostly overwhelmed by darkness and there's not even much light at the end of this tunnel -- which sharply contrasts the warmer tones of something like The Shawshank Redemption, a prison movie that my optimistic side incidentally loves -- the sting of its repeated punches is what make Caged! so enduringly potent.

That, and the uniformly outstanding performances of its two leads, Eleanor Parker and the ironically-named Hope Emerson. The former does a fantastic job with her character's slow transition, the other is a towering, ruthless villain, and both have a formidable screen presence for entirely different reasons. And while Caged! relies on a few narrative shortcuts and goes all-in on now painfully dated slang (to the point where new viewers may have to take a few short translation breaks), Cromwell's film still packs a well-crafted wallop that likely shocked the hell out of unsuspecting audiences conditioned by nearly two decades of stifling Hays Code restrictions. This one's ripe for (re)discovery on Warner Archive's Blu-ray, which is headlined by the studio's typically great attention to restorative detail.

Caged! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I've long since worn out my ability to create unique paragraphs praising Warner Archive's consistently great Blu-ray restorations, with adjectives like "outstanding", "top-tier", and "dazzling" running on fumes after analyzing hundreds of their discs. Not surprisingly, this new 1080p transfer of Caged! carries that torch faithfully: sourced from a new 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative and treated to a round of careful manual cleanup, the ugly but beautiful Caged! absolutely bursts at the seams with fine detail, texture, and well-defined contrast levels that greatly showcase its noir-influenced cinematography. Film grain is readily apparent, and the boutique label's typically careful encoding lets the show run at a consistently high bit rate while displaying no signs of banding, artifacts, or macro blocking. A few stray oddities were spied along the way, some probably tied to the source material (an early close-up establishing shot with frozen grain) and other bits of damage that possibly couldn't be polished to perfection (a dark scene right around the 30-minute mark with obvious flickering and fading), but absolutely nothing of great concern. Quite simply, it should impress newcomers and exceed the expectations of die-hard fans hoping to retire their old DVDs.

Caged! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix for Caged! was likely in need of some work and, while it's undoubtedly been buffed to a semi-smooth shine, there's a pervasive gauziness to certain stretches of dialogue that sounds especially harsh at higher levels. It's not too distracting and actually kind of fitting given the film's tone, but in any case isn't overwhelming from start to finish. Remaining traces of age-related wear and tear, as well as other source-related limitations, are less apparent and leave the bulk of this split mono track in more respectably crisp territory. Overall, a solid presentation under the circumstances and certainly more consistent in quality than its lossy DVD counterpart.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature only, not the extras.

Caged! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with vintage poster-themed artwork and no inserts of any kind. The bonus features are all worth a look and seem to be fully ported over from both previous DVD editions.

• Radio Broadcast (59:42) - This August 2, 1951 installment of NBC's long-running anthology series Screen Directors Playhouse is an abridged audio adaptation of the main feature; it features direction by John Cromwell and stars Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson reprising their key roles.

• Big House Bunny (7:10) - On a lighter note is this terrific 1950 Looney Tunes short, directed by Friz Freleng. Featuring Bugs Bunny as an accidental prisoner at "Sing-Song Prison" and Yosemite Sam as -- yep, you guessed it -- a ruthless warden, the classic Big House Bunny was released theatrically only a month before Caged! and I can't think of a more fitting companion piece under the circumstances.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:05) - This appropriately menacing promotional piece can also be seen here.

Caged! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Cromwell's rough and relentless Caged! was nominated for three Academy Awards -- Best Story and Screenplay (Virginia Kellogg), Best Actress (Eleanor Parker), and Best Supporting Actress (Hope Emerson) -- and all of them were well-deserved. This prototypical "women in prison" movie ticks all the necessary boxes as an engrossing, noir-infused drama and, while not for all audiences, it toes the line carefully while feeling genuine in its approach to storytelling and character development. Supported by terrific performances from top to bottom and strong technical merits, Caged! remains a fierce and often uncompromising watch that newcomers won't soon forget. Warner Archive's welcome Blu-ray, led by an outstanding new restoration, comes Highly Recommended to fans and first-timers alike.