Prison Without Bars (1938)
Directors

Prison Without Bars
Overview
Suzanne, Renee, Nina and Marta all hate being in prison, being slapped and treated badly, and so all the girls are trying to escape. Madame Appel just causes chaos all the time, with her harsh manners. When Yvonne with her free-thinking ways is put in charge of the school for misbehaving girls, and asks them to tell her their complaints, they don't believe her at first. Yvonne is in love and about to marry the establishment's doctor, and it does not help that one teenage girl falls for him - and is corresponded. It's a hard life for the girls, and for the new female warden.
Prison Without Bars Film Details
Overview: Suzanne, Renee, Nina and Marta all hate being in prison, being slapped and treated badly, and so all the girls are trying to escape. Madame Appel just causes chaos all the time, with her …
Tagline: Women Without Men! – eager for life and love – turned into snarling animals – crying for revenge against a society that called them “bad”!
Review: With Alexander Korda you expect to see an action adventure or costume drama.this film is completely unlike any other of his that i have seen.Indeed it more resembles one of the Warner Brothers 30s films such as 20000years in Sing Sing or Ladies Who Talk.It follows their plots immaculately.Women’s prison being run by a cruel warden.Edna Best is brought in to rectify the situation.Initially meets skepticism from the prisoners and hostility from the guards.She puts her trust in one of the inmates to go out shopping unescorted.She is late in returning.However she returns in the nick of time.However the inmate falls in lover with the prison doctor,who is engaged to Best.Mary Morris blackmails her for fags and booze and this ends up in a prison riot.However Best wins out in the end but sacrifices her personal life.All very familiar stuff.Apparently this was filmed in 3 versions and that the lesbianism referred to in the book was removed.It is interesting as it is an unusual film from Korda but it doesn’t compare well to the snappy Warner films.
Country: UK
Language: English
Duration: 72 min
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Also known as: Mulheres Sem Homens,Prison Without Bars