There's a lot of great actresses in "City Without Men", one of those "B" Columbia films about women in peril. But unfortunately, what they forgot about was getting a screenplay with a story, not touches of a plot here and there, surrounding the wife of a wrongly accused man who moves in with other prison wives to be near her husband. The men, of course, plot an escape, and there's enough cat-fights, card cheating and tragedy to go around. Sara Allgood gets acting honors as the sort of den mother to the girls, whose own husband has a life sentence.
That fabulous "wicked witch" (Margaret Hamilton) seems to have fun every time she throws out a wisecrack or kicks a cheating wife in the butt. Unfortunately, she (like the majority of the others) isn't at all likable. Throw in Uncle Joe from "Petticoat Junction" (Edgar Buchannan) adding the same type of sympathy and wisdom he used in "Penny Senenade". This seems to take the plots of "The Big House", "The Women" and "Tender Comrade", throw them all together, and try to come up with something of quality. Unfortunately, they miss by a long shot.
In reference to the DVD, I agree with other reviewers that this is not a high-quality transfer and much of the dialogue is difficult to decipher. Please keep this in mind when watching the movie which is hard to resist with that cast. (I must confess, I've watched it three times, hoping to find something worthwhile.)
That fabulous "wicked witch" (Margaret Hamilton) seems to have fun every time she throws out a wisecrack or kicks a cheating wife in the butt. Unfortunately, she (like the majority of the others) isn't at all likable. Throw in Uncle Joe from "Petticoat Junction" (Edgar Buchannan) adding the same type of sympathy and wisdom he used in "Penny Senenade". This seems to take the plots of "The Big House", "The Women" and "Tender Comrade", throw them all together, and try to come up with something of quality. Unfortunately, they miss by a long shot.
In reference to the DVD, I agree with other reviewers that this is not a high-quality transfer and much of the dialogue is difficult to decipher. Please keep this in mind when watching the movie which is hard to resist with that cast. (I must confess, I've watched it three times, hoping to find something worthwhile.)