Imprisoned as an accomplice to armed robbery, a wide-eyed pregnant teen is gradually hardened by the system in this seminal prison movie starring Eleanor Parker. Disowned by her stepfather and with her husband killed in the robbery, Parker plays a character very alone in the world and while her transformation may be predictable, she absolutely nails it. There is a great moment when the ostensibly toughened Parker shows her inmates how to successfully perform a swindle and the camera lingers on her afterwards as she stares at her hands and wonders what she has become. Parker's most powerful scene though involves an innocent kitten caught up the madness of the prison bureaucracy. Such corruption and cruelty is in fact at the forefront of the film -- something that does not quite work as well as it sounds. Agnes Moorehead is a talented actress, but the film seems to come to a stand-still whenever her head warden is in focus. Moorehead's futile attempts to clean up the prison system and get rid of sadistic guards smacks of self-righteousness, and while it makes sense to "treat prisoners as human beings" as she professes, Moorehead drones on to the point that the message is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Her final scene with Parker is admittedly great though and allows the film to end on a potent note. The best element of all here though is the sound design; whether it be the typewriter keys drowning out Parker's words at the start of the movie, the intrusive ringing bells or the cries of the mentally ill inmates at night, the movie's audio design always enhances the story.