During the 1970s, a slew of Hollywood B-movies (indicative of shoestring budgets, cheesy scripts, and tons of violence) were produced. The reasons why range from the direction of art in film at the time to giving fans of such productions what they want and showing things they couldn’t see at home on network television. At any rate, this type of cinema became so poignant that grindhouse theaters were created that dealt exclusively in the lewd and crude. Also in this decade, the “exploitation” film came about that followed in the groove of these types of movies while playing to stereotypes (like the blaxploitation film Foxy Brown of ’74). Thus we come to cult favorite producer Roger Corman, who formed New World Pictures, which really helped make low budget efforts a viable option for risk taking actors, screenwriters, and directors. This particular collection includes three of the first New Wold releases.
The Big Bird Cage (1972) features actresses Pam Grier and Anitra Ford as very different women who wind up in the same place. Terry (Ford) is a well known American temptress among the top politicians in the Philippines, and uses her wares to live a lavish life of luxury. During a night out drinking, the bar becomes subject to a “stick up” style robbery at the hands of revolutionaries Blossom (Grier) and her partner in crime and life mate Django (Sid Haig, yes that Sid Haig). During the get away, Terry is taken as a hostage. But when she is found alone in the criminal’s vehicle, she is accused of being an accomplice. Due to the crude justice system in the country, she is literally sent up the river to an all women prison run by the no nonsense Warden Zappa (Andres Centenera), who tells the new inmates that “no fornication, with anyone, of any kind, ever” is allowed. What follows is a B-movie set in paradise that is action packed, and packed with beautiful women; the meaning of the “big bird cage” is revealed as Terry tirelessly tries to fly the coop while Blossom and company plan for the revolution.
Women in Cages (1971) sees Gerardo de Leon at the helm and includes performances from very recognizable names within the Corman lexicon. Jennifer Gan plays Carol “Jeff” Jeffries, a U.S. born women living with Filipino boyfriend Rudy (Charlie Davao) in his native country. While attending a cock fight, Rudy uses the underbelly locale to move heroine bricks in exchange for his regular profits. But when the deal goes bad, Rudy stashes some “stuff” in Jeff’s purse. When authorities arrive, Rudy allows her to take the fall. Jeff is given ten years hard labor in an institution that is overseen by the strong arm of matron Alabama (Pam Grier). She is bunked with other Americans, who are portrayed by staples of the genre, including: Judy Brown as the sassy Sandy and Roberta Collins who plays drug addict Stoke. Being reassured by Rudy that he will make things right, Jeff holds out hope that her stay will be an abbreviated one. But his fellow crooks convince him to have her killed while on the inside, and Stoke (in need of her “fix”) becomes the assassin. Also, Sandy has a deal on the table that will spring her free if Jeff will testify against Rudy and his goons. From here, a tug-of-war is played out between everyone’s own plan of “busting out” and steering clear of “guidance” from the prison staff.
Big Doll House (1971) is the founding feature of the set and has many from Corman’s reoccurring roster, like director Jack Hill and regulars Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, and Pam Grier. This one drops straight into the action, as new inmate Collier (Brown) starts a 99 years of hard labor sentence in a Philippine prison for murdering her significant other. After being cleared by kind physician Dr. Phillips (Jack Davis), she is assigned to a cell with a gaggle of other females, namely Alcott (Collins) and Grear (Grier). From the outside, things look to be on the “up and up” from the viewpoint of others like delivery truck driver Harry (Sid Haig). But the one’s behind bars live a life of torture, especially from sadistic guard Lucien (Kathryn Loder). With incredibly long sentences and a feeling of nothing to lose, Collier and her cell mates decide to develop a plan to spring free and make a run for it. But this will be no easy task under constant watch of a staff that does not want their deep, dark secrets to escape the walls of the prison.
Considering where these movies fit within their time and place in cinema, they’re not bad. Each of them feature what is expected from these types of films: beautiful women behind bars in constant compromising positions that often leads to nudity, delivering a cheesy script, and a screenplay that begins with torture by those in charge which leads to brilliant displays of gun blasting violence and gore by the escapees. What I found kind of interesting is that each movie didn’t share the same “setbacks” or missteps that plagued the others. Big Bird Cage had great cinematography and really used the Filipino backdrop to get some really nice shots. But the overall “flow” didn’t seem to quite measure up in relation to the other two. I understand the crew wanted to change things up some by having Grier break into prison instead of breaking out. But the way that vein was “wedged in” made it seem awkward. Women in Cages has the strongest story and character development out of the bunch. The attachment to characters like Jeff as well as detest for Alabama and the rest of the staff grew stronger as the movie progressed. But the delivery of the script sounded quite mechanical and the editing routinely set up odd transitions, like too much “slack” in the instances of shot-reverse shot conversations. Big Doll House was the best overall, but it took quite a while for the narrative enigma to be fully revealed. The story did eventually flesh itself out and became somewhat interesting. But with this type of movie, haste is not an expected characteristic.
In terms of presentation, it’s on par with the production value. I was surprised by how good the picture quality is when considering the format and the age of the films. Colors have nice tones and objects in frame don’t seem to muddle into one another like other “classics” on DVD have a tendency to do. And overall, all three have a certain level of unexpected crispness. The sound department, though, isn’t quite as good. A two channel stereo track is used, and the lack of surround is understandable. But the differential between the low “conversational” audio level and the squeal of the high action scenes is pretty bad.
The Special Features section on each vary in terms of amount and quality. Women in Cages just has a trailer and a TV sport. Big Bird Cage has those two plus commentary from Jack Hill. Big Doll House features the best extras section. “From Manila with Love” is a featurette with the man himself Roger Corman, who details starting his own production company in New World Pictures. The producer elaborates on the “women in prison” genre and admits he is not the originator, but felt it was a tradition worth revisiting and question of why to shoot in the Philippines is answered. Additionally, directory Jack Hill and screenwriter James Gordon White offer their thoughts on working with these movies and Judy Brown and Sid Haig discuss how they got started with Corman. “Interview with Star Judy Brown” has the actress explaining her upbringing and her want to be on the silver screen from birth. She also talks about her first films called Threesome and how that tumultuous experience led her to work for the independent studio New World. There is also commentary from Jack Hill, a trailer, as well as TV and radio spots.