That was an excellent one.

Absolutely brilliant

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Bad girl Mae Clarke is too involved in a racket that results in payment over being wrongfully accused of being a pick-pocket. Along with shady partner Hale Hamilton, Clarke goes from department store to department store, using the phony accusation of stealing Hamilton's wallet as a way of extorting money from the department store management. She doesn't count on an insurance company catching onto her racket, ending up in jail for her petty crime yet paroled for trying to put out a fire she deliberately started simply so she could be paroled. Recognizing drunken department store insurance manager Ralph Bellamy who had refused to help her escape a prison sentence, Clarke sets up a phony marriage (with Hamilton as the justice of the peace) and sets up house with him. When con-artist fellow prisoner Marie Prevost shows up at her door, Clarke is too tempted to join in on other rackets, but will her growing feelings for Bellamy, the sap of all saps, keep her from going through with abandoning him? A clever, if somewhat preposterous plotline, helps make this pre-code drama about bad girls turning good work, along with the great performances of Clarke (aka "the grapefruit girl" from "The Public Enemy"), Bellamy, Hamilton, Ferdinand Gottschalk (as Bellamy's boss) and especially Prevost. The script by Norman Krasna is filled with clever innuendos and plot developments, and the direction by Edward F. Cline is fast moving and tight. Every set-up of each plot development is exceptionally clever, and as a result, this ends up being one of the great sleepers of the pre-code drama that just a year later would be too scandalous to be made into a film. Clarke is extremely unique as a leading lady and gives one of her best performances. Gottschalk is adorable as the lovable old coot who loves to cook and enjoys watching Bellamy and Clarke be affectionate as they dine on his delectables, even if their marriage unbeknownst to him is a sham. Prevost, in her last major role, is an absolute delight, stealing every moment she is on screen, making me wonder why she would soon be reduced to bit parts that lead to an early death just a few years later.

Mae Clarke, she of the grapefruit in the face, and Ralph Bellamy star in "Parole Girl," a 1933 film.Clarke plays Sylvia, who works a department store con with a male partner. He accuses her of stealing his wallet and yells "stop, thief," they both go to the manager's office, he finds his wallet, she sobs, and the store pays her off. Unfortunately the police alert the store to the con artists as she's sitting in the office. Terrified of going to prison, she begs the manager to let her go. He wants to, but when he checks with the man above him, Joe Smith (Bellamy) he says he has no power to do that. She begs and sobs, but it's no go.Sylvia winds up in prison, serving for a year, but she manages to not only start a fire, but work to put it out, and then faint - all part of her plan. She is released due to her heroics. She's not interested in returning to con work. She wants to destroy the life of Joe Smith.Sylvia approaches Joe while he's smashed and stages a fake marriage, knowing full well he has a wife from whom he's separated. She then blackmails him with his bigamy. They have to act as a married couple until Sylvia's parole is over. Guess what happens.This could have been an ordinary movie but it isn't, thanks to the nice work of the two stars. Clarke is an underrated actress - she was excellent in the 1930 Waterloo Bridge, which is much grittier than the Taylor-Leigh version. She was a very honest actress, not at all over the top, even though it was the style of the day.Bellamy, of course, is super. This film was just after the beginning of his awesome 60-year career.Entertaining.

This film is very entertaining but simply never makes any sense--like the studio hired monkeys to write much of the film. The story begins with Mae Clark and her accomplice conning some department stores out of money. However, when Clark is eventually caught (and rightfully so--she is after all a thief), she vows to destroy a man who worked for a department store that insisted she be prosecuted (Ralph Bellamy). So, as she sits in jail she spends all her energy thinking about how to hurt this one particular man--which makes no sense since they never even met in the film. Why she should hate this particular man and not the judge or prosecuting attorney or her accomplice (who pushed her into a life of crime)? And, what makes even less sense is that her plot is then so complicated! This just didn't make sense and made me a bit annoyed. After all, there were some good story elements and good actors but the plot just seemed 100% contrived.Here is the crazy plot. Once Clark gets out of jail, she meets Bellamy and gets him drunk. Then, she produces a fake marriage certificate the next morning--which complicates his life, as he already is married--to a lady that Clark met while in prison!!! Wow, the odds of this are 68 bazillion to one! So, to avoid being arrested for bigamy, he agrees to let her lead him around by the nose and make him 100% miserable. Why didn't he immediately go to the police and report the blackmail? This is especially true since being drunk is a legitimate reason to nullify the wedding--at which point they would have found out that the new wedding was a hoax. I just hate films where people do things that no logical or reasonable person would have done. Again and again, both Clark and Bellamy react in the least logical manner imaginable. The worst is a bit later when Clark is caught committing another crime and Bellamy could have just let the police take her away--yet he vouches for her and prevents her arrest!! And, sadly, although she is evil, you KNOW that by the end of the film everything will work out perfectly--making it predictable and very formulaic. How such a cretin like Clark could become a good and decent lady by the end of the film makes no sense--especially since she worked so long and so hard to destroy Bellamy!! This all is a shame. As I said, the actors were good and with a Pre-Code title like "Parole Girl" you'd expect a lot more pizazz and fireworks--not a contrived and limp story like this one.Despite disliking much of the film, I did like the character played by Bellamy's boss. He was a great character--well acted and fascinatingly different. He was a wonderful addition to the film and perhaps this represents a portion of the film NOT written by the monkeys!!

I recorded this movie and watched it in the morning. It was well worth it, even though it was short and the plot is sometimes very contrived, but then again most movie plots are contrived. Mae Clark did a very good job playing a woman who is basically good but due to circumstances does not always follow the most moral path. I won't go into more but the movie was very entertaining. You can tell the movie is pre-code and that adds just enough of an edge to make it interesting. Ralph Bellamy did a good job of playing the forced upon husband. He was quite entertaining. Mr. Taylor played by Ferdinand Gottschalk was an interesting character it reminded me of the old days when having a wife and kids increased your chance of promotion at the company. Those days are gone, but it does give you an insight into what life was pre-1960's.