Just what I expected

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

**SPOILERS**** Gangster Johnny Moon,Allan Byron, is seen in the beginning of the movie getting away with murder when he's found innocent by a jury despite all the evidence against him. It turns out that his sister in law Helen Martin played the very married,eight times, Arline Judge who lost her job as a teacher because of her connection to Johnny who later ends up putting an end to his criminal career. By pulling strings Helen get a job as an assistant supervisor at a womens'a correctional lock-up run by one of Johnny's stooges Marcus, Clancy Cooper, who runs the place like a Nazi concentration camp.It's after one of the inmates dies due to not getting any medical help that Helen goes over Marcus's head and reports him to the state governor. This has Helen put on Marcus's sh*t list who's in bed with the corrupt city Mayor McCarthy who is in fact controlled by Johnny Moon. It's when Johhny's girlfriend Rita Randall, Robin Raymond, is sent to the women's reformatory after being arrest for drunk & disorderly, as well as shoplifting, that she 's soon put under the wing of Helen who shows her that being a law abiding citizen is much better then being Johnny's gun-moll. That has Johnny who suspects, and is right, that Rita is going to turn against him and expose his crimes has her released from prison and bumped off by his driver and #1 hit-man Pinkhead played by Sid Melton who has the uncanny ability to remove and put back on his hat in a flash without anybody noticing it!****SPOILERS*** Johnny's luck runs out when he tries to have Pinkhead knock off the drunk as a skunk Lionel Cleeter, Emmett Lynn,who witnessed him killing Rita and was ready, when he sobered up, to go to the police and D.A's office with the damning information. With Cleeter somehow surviving the hit it was all over for Johnny and his partner Pinkhead with the police closing in on them. Helen who in fact started the ball rolling ended up being supervisor of the girls reformatory, after Marcus was put behind bars, and taught the girls there to respect the law as well as themselves which not only turned their lives around but made them able to face the outside world.P.S I noticed that some of the L.A street scenes filmed at night were later inserted as well as colorized in the 1975 Robert Mitchum film noir classic "Fearwell my Lovely".

"Helen Martin" (Arline Judge) is an honest woman who continues to have problems keeping a steady job because her sister "Jean Moon" (Patricia Knox) is married to a well-known gangster named "Johnny Moon" (Addison Randall). That being the case she reluctantly accepts a job as a teacher at a female correctional facility which just happens to be run by a man who is almost as corrupt as her brother-in-law. Yet even though he likes things just the way they are she continues to try to improve the lives of the young women she comes into contact with. This results in a conflict which poses great risks for all involved. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this low-budget B-movie was produced during the height of World War II and it's possible some allowances might be necessary. But even so there were some parts which were definitely in need of improvement. For example, the scenes involving the alcoholic by the name of "Lionel Cleeter" (Emmett Lynn) were especially repetitive and boring. All things considered I suppose I can give this movie 4 stars (out of 10) but even then that might be stretching it a bit.

Girls in Chains (1943) 1/2 (out of 4) Incredibly bad drama from PRC has a school teacher (Arline Judge) being fired from her job because her sister is dating a gangster. The teacher then gets a job in a home for delinquent girls where she tries to clean up the abuse, which might lead back to the gangster. This is an incredibly bad film that really goes beyond badness on all levels. Orgy of the Dead still gets my vote for the worst film ever made but this one here takes the honor for the worst performances I've ever seen. I really never thought acting could get as bad as it does here but the only reason I don't give this thing a BOMB is because of the bad acting, which leads to several laughs throughout the film. I've never really understood all the praise thrown at Ulmer, although I'm a big fan of a couple of his films. His direction here is decent at best but why in the hell didn't he try and get better actors? Yes, this is an ultra-low-budget flick but I've never seen acting this bad. The editing is also quite terrible but that's to be expected. If you're a fan of really bad movies then you might get a few laughs out of this thing but others should stay far away.

Those who were looking to this film to be a female I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG are going to be disappointed. Nary a Bilboe, HandCuff, Pillory, Shackle or Stocks are in sight. No corporal punishment either, though there is a mean laundry and a few cells that were a poor excuse for solitary confinement. Would have expected more from Edgar Ulmer, Atlantis and PRC, after all this is an exploitation film.Starting with Arline Judge and ending with Betty Blythe the cast is full of has-beens and want to be's. Reading their histories is a good lesson on how not to handle your career. They should have all been saving their money when the going was good so they would not have to be doing work like this.One (1) of the other commentators was right regarding the womens hair styles. We kept expecting Condors or Eagles to start nesting in them.