Who doesn’t love a good women in prison movie? Especially one co-written by a woman who did research by posing as a prisoner in an actual prison, and was nominated for three academy awards. Yeah, you heard me, a Women In Prison noir was nominated for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay. After decades of genre schlock, the mainstream acclaim now seems shocking and unbelievable. But, Caged is a fascinating entry marked by violence, violation, and corruption. Is it exploitation or social melodrama? Why not both?

19-year-old Marie Allen (Best Actress nominee Eleanor Parker) is thrown in the slammer for being an accessory to her new husband’s felonious robbery of a gas station. Her ward is dominated by the outsized matron Evelyn Harper (Supporting Actress nominee Hope Emerson) who makes things easier or harder for the girls who…treat her nicely. Among the prisoners, the joint is controlled by Kitty Stark (Betty Garde) until her old rival Elvira Harper (Lee Patrick) drops in and creates havoc.

Sure, screenwriter Virginia Kellogg works in girl fights, shaved heads, (implied) lesbianism, and other staples of the exploitation genre. The dialogue waffled between outrageous and melodramatic. Even though Caged delivers on campy promises, it seems that Virginia had a genuine need to make it an exposé on the limitations of our prison system. By exposing how corruption works in and out of the walls, she also informs how poverty increases the recidivism rate with women making parole but getting re-jailed because they didn’t have jobs outside the bars. Add in John Cromwell’s dedication to the noir genre, and this is a real firecracker of a movie and a standout of the genre.

Caged airs Saturday 9/24 at 9:30am on Turner Classic Movies