ShangLuda Admirable film.

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

LeonLouisRicci Toned Down in its Presentation of Prison Life for Women and in its Depiction of Gangster Flourishes, the Film has some Entertaining Elements like an Escape with some Girl on Girl Wrestling and Fisticuffs.Faye Emerson Looks Anorexic and is Not a Beauty in the Traditional Sense and that may Add a bit of Realism. But the Romantic Elements are Stiff and Typical B-Movie, Family Friendly Fodder, and do not Belong in a Movie with Gangster in the Title. There is a Very Young Jackie Gleason in a Very Small Role and some of the Inmates are Darkly Interesting, but the Matron Comes Off as a Grandmother Type, Touchy and Warm. The Action Highlight is a Fistfight on a Stairwell that is Realistic and Exciting.Overall a Mediocre Misfire from the Usually Reliable Warner Brothers. This Movie Should have been in their Wheel House but Ultimately the Film is just too Comfortable for its Own Good.

MartinHafer This film, starring Faye Emerson, has inexplicably fallen into the public domain. I say inexplicably because it was made by Warner Brothers—a company that almost always was certain to renew copyrights on its work. Somehow this one slipped by and as a result it's available for viewing through a link on IMDb. This film is worth seeing if only to get a look at Jackie Gleason in one of his earliest screen roles—albeit a bit part.The film begins with Emerson working with a gang to rob a bank. She's the inside person whose job it is to get the guard to open the door after she gives him a sob story. The police suspect her but cannot prove she was with the gang—so they hold her for the time being in jail. An annoying radio personality takes on this case in order to discredit the District Attorney—and begins to whine on the air that she is being railroaded by an overzealous system. However, when she confesses to the radio man (who turns out to be an old friend of hers), he tells the D.A. and she is sent to prison. Inexplicably, he then continues talking about how this bad lady was mistreated by the system—yet HE was the one who was responsible for her going to state prison!! This is a MAJOR weakness in the film…it just didn't make much sense and you wonder how anyone smart enough to have a job as a broadcaster could be that much of an idiot. Nor does what happens next concerning her and the old friend—who is just too big a sap to be true! While this is not a terrible film, perhaps its being in the public domain may in part be because this is a weakly written film. Despite good acting, you just can't get past the dopey aspects of the plot that make this an obvious B-movie from Warner Brothers. It's entertaining and slickly produced but pretty silly…and is one of the few misfires the studio made during this otherwise golden era.By the way, if you do watch this film there are a couple things you may want to look out for in the movie. First, in a funny scene, one of the male gang members dresses in drag and visits Emerson in prison! Second, although most would not know this, the lip reading portion of the film is based on a myth. You CANNOT have a deaf person watch others at a distance and perfectly read the lips of both parties. It's truly a hit or miss proposition reading lips (also called 'speech reading' by the deaf)—and wild exaggerations like this film are common but just not possible. If only my deaf daughter could read lips this well!

trimmerb1234 What makes a "B" movie? Lack of stars and everything rather substandard? Sometimes they have their compensations. Rather as if the makers were compensating for the lack of quality ingredients they sometimes pack a lot into the short running times. And sometimes there are some interesting ideas, shots, characters which re-emerge years, decades later in far more illustrious productions when the B movie original was long forgotten.Kaye Emmerson was not a great actress but was good looking, smart and held the attention. This is a vehicle for her and one gets the impression that the makers intended it as a woman's picture - much of it is "Cell Block H" territory (but far better done) so that it would have a broader appeal than the harder and more realistic gangster movie customarily has.Much of the action takes place in a women's prison. There is a scene where a highly secret discussion takes place deliberately out of earshot. But not out of sight. Watching is an able lip-reader who thus is able to discover the biggest secret of the movie. The shot is framed so that the lip reader is out of focus in the centre of the frame and in close up is just the mouth and chin of one of the speakers to the right. I had certainly seen this before in another very very different movie only the lip reader was a TV camera and the brains behind it was a computer. The computer's name was HAL and the movie, 26 years later, was "2001".Coincidence? Who is to say?

zardoz-13 "Lady Gangster" qualifies as a lively little World War II era B-picture about crime and punishment in America. The prevalent themes in "Lady Gangster" are women versus society, women versus men, and women versus other women. "Danger Signal" director Robert Florey and "Busses Roar" scenarist Anthony Coldeway have contrived a serviceable thriller based on the Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles play "Gangstress, or Women In Prison." The attention to detail is above average. Florey stages a dandy little fistfight between the good guy and the criminals near the climax. Florey and Coldeway had to toe the line with the Production Code Administration in regard to their depiction of the heroine as an accomplice to bank robbers. Consequently, they make her somebody with whom we can sympathize. They provide her with a back story as a failed actress who turned to crime only as a last resort to survive. Moreover, they establish that she is not a career criminal."Lady Gangster" opens with Dorothy Burton (Faye Emerson of "Hotel Berlin") calling the cops and making a bogus complaint about a man with a knife. While the cops are responding to this call, Dot and three mobsters pull up to the Central Trust and Savings Bank before opening time at 10 AM. Dot emerges from the car with a small pet dog in her arms and convinces reluctant bank guard Jordan (Ken Christy of "Burma Convoy") to let her inside before regular hours. Dot lies to him that she has to make a deposit before her train leaves. While Dot sidetracks gullible Jordan, Carey (Roland Drew of "Manpower") and Stew (William Phillips of "Fort Yuma") slip inside with guns drawn and hold up the bank. Dot spots a cop outside hassling getaway car driver Wilson (Jackie C. Gleason of "Skidoo"), and she faints in Jordan's arms. Carey and Stew scramble for the getaway car and Wilson careens away. Initially, the police detain Dot as a witness. Later, Dot arouses the suspicions of a detective when she calls her dog by a name entirely different from the one on her pet's collar. She winds up in custody. Dot's arrest incites the wrath of the Commodore Broadcasting Company. CBC radio commentator Kenneth Phillips (Fred Wilcox of "Notorious") takes the advice of his second-in-command (William Hopper of TV's "Perry Mason") to editorialize against District Attorney Lewis Sinton (Herbert Rawlinson of "Framed") because he arrested Dot since she could not accurately identify her dog. Meanwhile, on the advice of his second-in-command, Sinton phones Phillips and assures him that he is "willing and anxious to cooperate in every way" with him as well as let him question the Burton girl, all this despite the unflattering portrait that Phillips painted of him on the air as a crafty politician. Phillips persuades Sinton to release Dot into his custody.On the pretext of getting her belongings, Dot visits Ma Silsby (Vera Lewis of "The Suspect") and learns that Carey refuses to give her a dime of her cut in the hold-up. Wilson doesn't think that Carey is treating Dot fairly. Ma alerts the gang that the authorities are nosing around outside. The guys stash the briefcase of dough under the front of a fireplace and lam out. Dot removes it and has Ma hide it in a safe place. She tears a dollar bill in two and tells Ma to trust only somebody with the other half of the dollar. Later, she informs Kenneth that she took advantage of his influence and she admits her part in the crime to Sinton. However, she refuses to identify her accomplices and disclose the whereabouts of the loot. Twenty-one minutes into "Lady Gangster" our heroine enters prison. The warden, Mrs. Stoner (Virginia Brissac of "Jesse James"), explains the difference between an American prison and the Nazi variety. Says Stoner, "So the quicker you realize that this neither a country club nor a concentration camp, the better. It's up to the women themselves how they're treated. If you behave yourself, we'll meet you more than halfway, but if you want to be tough, we can be tough with you. Now, is that clear?" Dot meets Myrtle (Julie Bishop of "Northern Pursuit") and they become pals. Carey dresses up in drag and poses as Dot's sister to visit her. Dot refuses unequivocally to divulge the whereabouts of the forty grand. Commenting about the luxurious prison facilities, Myrtle observes patriotically, "I'd play ball with anybody but Hitler to get out of this hole." Meanwhile, Dot runs afoul of inmates Lucy Fenton (Ruth Ford of "Wilson") and Deaf Annie (Dorothy Adams of "Ninotchka"). Deaf Annie reads lips. Dot confides in Myrtle that she has hidden the forty grand safely. Deaf Annie relays this news to Lucy. Before Phillips visits Mrs. Stoner to get her approval for Dot's parole, evil Lucy reveals to Stoner that Dot has the money stashed away. Stoner squashes the parole hearing after Lucy's revelation. Lucy turns around and lies to Dot that Ken wanted to trick her into revealing the location of the money in exchange for parole. Lucy completely fools Dot who gets a letter to Wilson about Ken and the money. Dot learns the truth from Mrs. Stoner who thanks her for giving her the reward money for the forty grand. Dot slugs Stoner, dons her apparel, and escapes from prison to save Phillips. Clocking in at 62 concise minutes, "Lady Gangster" is a neat little item that shows how democracy worked during World War II on the home front. Incidentally, "Lady Gangster" is a remake of the 1933 Barbara Stanwyck flick "Ladies They Talk About."