Main Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston S. Foster, Lyle Talbot, Dorothy Burgess, Lillian Roth
Release Year: 1933
Country: US
Run Time: 69 minutes
Plot
One of the earliest girls-in-prison yarns, Ladies They Talk About has everything but Ida Lupino as the warden--and had she been in Hollywood at the time, she would probably be here as well. Gun moll Barbara Stanwyck is thrown into San Quentin (which looks more like a summer resort than a house of detention), thanks to her involvement in a bank robbery and the machinations of D.A./preacher David Slade (Preston Foster). It isn't political ambition that motivates Slade: he's in love with Stanwyck, and hopes that her incarceration will rehabilitate her. Instead, Stanwyck becomes a hard-bitten prison-block leader, spearheading a jailbreak. When things go awry, she holds Slade responsible. Upon her release, she goes gunning for Slade, and doesn't realize that she's really in love with him until she nearly puts him six feet under. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, Ben Silvey - First Assistant Director, Howard P. Bretherton - Director, William Keighley - Director, Basil Wrangell - Editor, Leo F. Forbstein - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Esdras Hartley - Production Designer, John F. Seitz - Cinematographer, Raymond Griffith - Producer, Brown Holmes - Screenwriter, Sid Sutherland - Screenwriter, William McGrath - Screenwriter, Dorothy Mackaye - Play Author, Carlton Miles - Play Author
Nan Taylor (Stanwyck) is accused of helping her friends rob a bank. Reform-minded David Slade (Foster) falls in love with her and gets her released. However, when she confesses that she is guilty, he has her imprisoned. Inside, she meets fellow inmates Linda (Roth), 'Sister' Susie (Dorothy Burgess) and Aunt Maggie (Maude Eburne), and prison matron Noonan (Ruth Donnelly). Taylor gets involved in a prison escape, has a year added to her sentence, and goes gunning for revenge when she is released.
