So Young, So Bad

This film was produced in New York City and is very similar to the film "Caged" also filmed in California in the same year. In this film the girls are not in a prison but a reform school but it is ruled just like a prison and even worse. Mr. Riggs, (Cecil Clovelly) runs the institution along with Mrs. Beuhler,(Grace Coppin) who have no regard for the girls and have them working in a potato farm and in a laundry. Dr. John H. Jason,(Paul Henreid), "Casablania",'42 is a psychologist and is a new-comer and works with Ruth Levering,(Catherine McLeod) and they both decided to change things around and treat the girls differently, allowing them to wear regular clothes and having dances and no working with potato's or a laundry. Loretta Wilson,( Ann Fancis) plays the role of a young girl who was married and had a baby and was abused by men and plays a very sexy mean sort of gal and falls in love with Dr. Jason. I was surprise to see Rita Moreno,(Dolores Guererro) play a role as one of the girls in prison who is all mixed up, but she does sing a rather pretty song in this picture. Ann Francis was very young in this picture and just starting her career and gave an outstanding performance.

This low-budget juvenile delinquents/women in prison flick from United Artists and director Bernard Vorhaus has Paul Henreid starring as Dr. John Jason, newly arrived at the Elmview Corrective School for Girls. Dr. Jason brings his psychiatric expertise to bear while dealing with the newest group of young female delinquents, including tough girl Loretta (Anne Francis), emotionally unstable Dolores (Rita Moreno), and thick-as-thieves duo Jackie (Anne Jackson) and Jane (Enid Rudd). However, the cruel and tradition-bound senior staff disapprove of the new doctor's techniques, which include treating the girls with respect, and a clash is inevitable.

While budgetary limitations are abundantly obvious, there are some interesting filming choices, involving close-ups, quick-cut editing, and off-kilter framing, so that the movie never gets dull. Despite what I have read about Pagan Love Song being her debut, this film was in fact Rita Moreno's first film. This was the first substantial role for Anne Francis, and she's the clear standout. This was also Anne Jackson's debut, and her character's obvious, if unstated, lesbianism is unusual for movies of the period.

Girls coping with sadistic jailers despite efforts of kindly, gentle, understanding psychiatrist Paul Henreid in a Jean Rouverol (Mrs. Hugo Butler) script. Rita Moreno is 19, Anne Francis is 20: so young! So good!

The director, Bernard Vorhaus, had real talent, as evidenced by the undeniably powerful firehose and suicide scenes, not to mention his handling of a fascinating young cast headed by Anne Francis (who is terrific) Rita Moreno, Anne Jackson and even Mike Kellin, in a bit. Vorhaus knows how to play with light and shadow - he probably would have excelled in Noir films had he not been blacklisted - and has a knack for finding novel settings to either enhance or contrast the mood of a particular scene. (The merry-go-round scene would do Hitchcock proud.) His camera's always on the move and the editing of the film has a rhythm and a pull that keeps you involved and in suspense.

But make no mistake this is a B-film with an erratic script that falters at several critical junctures. Immediately after the sadistic worker turns the hose on the girls for setting fire to the dorm, things come to a head, with Henried and pretty Catherine McLeod angrily confronting the corrupt Head of the institution (Cecil Clovelly) and threatening to file official reports on the abuse at the school unless sweeping changes are made. Clovelly admits that if that happened there would probably be an uproar, an unfavorable investigation and he would more than likely be fired, BUT - and this is what made absolutely no sense - he gets them to back down by suggesting that if he were fired who's to say somebody even worse than him wouldn't take his place? Huh?!!! What are the odds of that? I think I'd take my chances.

Still an effective film that will hold your interest. I should also point out that the other comment about this film is inaccurate on several plot details and seems to have it confused with some other film.

As a busload of new girls arrives at a young women's reformatory, it appears at first glance that they are going into an enlightened institution when they are met by the resident psychiatrist played by Paul Henreid who tells them that they are here to be helped. That impression is broken immediately when they are herded into the showers by the supervising matron played by Grace Coppin who, along with the other matrons, enforce the strict disciplinary policies of the institute's director played by Cecil Clovelly. From the perspective of someone watching this film, Coppin's character seems a lot more interesting to watch than does Henreid's. Her performance rivals the best of the cruel matrons that have been portrayed in women-in-prison films. A young Anne Francis plays one of the newcomers, seducing every man she meets including psychiatrist Henried. The well-known controversy about the institution's purpose of punishment or rehabilitation is fairly well-done, saved by the ending. The film has some real intensity thanks to the pace, which goes from one blatant injustice to another, but especially the photography, and much of the writing, especially for the film's smaller parts.