Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Glynis Johns, Diana Dors, John Gregson, Jane Hylton, Sid James, AE Matthews, Athene Seyler
With UK prison reform back in the news (albeit for cynical rather than
progressive reasons - there simply isn't enough room for all the
protesters that now need to be locked up), the timing of the rerelease
of The Weak and the Wicked proves poignant. It was first released in 1954, at a time when
questions were being asked regarding the effectiveness of locking people
up for their sins, a reflection likely prompted by the still potent
aftertatse of WWII's concentration camps.
Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joan Henry, a
society figure who ended up doing porridge for a bounced cheque,
director J. Lee Thompson's film contrasts the hardship of
traditional prisons with the then experimental "open prison" format. The
Henry surrogate is Glynis Johns' Jean, who finds herself in
a women's prison when she is framed for insurance fraud by a casino
owner to whom she was unable to pay a debt. Her good behaviour sees her
later transferred to an open prison where she's even allowed to spend a
day in a nearby town.
Women in prison movies are usually of the exploitative "bare behind
bars" variety, playing up salacious notions of what goes on when women
are locked up together without men. It's a concept that was popular in
the pre-code era of the early '30s and would return in the late '50s
thanks to the likes of Roger Corman, with the sub-genre eventually
evolving into soft-porn in the '70s. The Weak and the Wicked shuns such bawdiness in favour of a somewhat misjudged mix of
kitchen sink realism and Ealing-esque comedy, with subplots and stories
that jolt from the tragic to the comic.
As Jean meets her fellow inmates, we get extended flashbacks detailing
their crimes, making The Weak and the Wicked something of a portmanteau. On the tragic side is the story of a
mother whose parental neglect resulted in the death of her infant son,
whom she left alone while she went dancing. The comedy comes from two
segments, one involving the matriarch of a notorious shoplifting
dynasty, the other featuring a pair of old dears nicknamed "Arsenic and
Old Lace" for their conspiracy to poison one of their husbands with
weedkiller. The comic vignettes are entertaining in their own right yet
feel at odds with the solemn tone of the rest of the film.
The Weak and the Wicked is strongest when observing the quotidian details of life behind
bars for women. There are grim moments that remind us of what a cruel
era this still was despite progressive efforts at reforming the prison
system. A foreign inmate experiences bullying from a guard that appears
to be racially motivated. Mothers who give birth while serving time are
forced to part with their children when they reach nine months old.
Guards make sure to separate any women "standing too close together,"
the closest the film comes to addressing the lesbianism that no doubt
helped make Henry's novel fly off bookshelves.
The heart of the film comes via Jean's friendship with Betty (Diana Dors), a naive young woman imprisoned after she took the rap for one of her
boyfriend's crimes. Previously known for comic roles and her bombshell
pin-up looks, Dors gets a chance to prove her serious acting chops with
a performance that impressed Thompson so much it won her the lead role
of his more famous incarceration drama, 1956's Yield to the Night. Shed of her usual make-up, Dors brings pathos to the role of a woman
whose only crime was being innocent enough to fall for the charm of a
manipulative scoundrel. Her beaming smile as she scoffs on cakes while
on day release with Jean is perhaps the greatest endorsement of the open
prison system. And yet when Jean ultimately departs, leaving Betty
behind, we get the feeling that while the middle class Jean will be able
to move on, Betty is trapped in this system for life. Dors' knowing
expression as Betty waves goodbye to Jean is a glum note that fails to
be enlivened by an unconvincing, shoehorned happy ending for Jean
involving a reunion with her lover (John Gregson).
The Weak and the Wicked is on
UK bluray, DVD and VOD from August 5th.