''Prison Without Bars'' is a 1938 British

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

crime film directed by

Brian Desmond Hurst Brian Desmond Hurst (12 February 1895 – 26 September 1986) was an Irish people, Irish film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst was hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director by BBC film critic Mike Catto.Scree ...

and starring Corinne Luchaire,

Edna Best Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress. Early life Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at ...

and Barry K. Barnes. It is set in a girl's reform school, and was based on a play by Gina Kaus, previously filmed in France as '' Prison sans Barreaux'' (1938). Corinne Luchaire starred in both versions.

Synopsis

A young progressive thinking woman becomes superintendent at a French girl's reformatory dominated by the harsh previous head. A young girl is blackmailed by her acquaintance over her love for the superintendent's fiancé, but is released to join him in the end, when all is revealed.

Cast

*Suzanne Duplat - Corinne Luchaire *Yvonne Chanel -

*Dr George Marechal - Barry K. Barnes *Renee -

Mary Morris Mary Lilian Agnes Morris (13 December 1915 – 14 October 1988) was a Fijian-born British actress. Life and career Morris was the daughter of Australian-born Herbert Stanley Morris, a botanist, and his wife, Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She ...

*Alice - Lorraine Clewes *Julie Picard - Sally Wisher *Mme Appel -

Martita Hunt Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 190013 June 1969) was an Argentine-born British theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide range of powerful characters. She is best remembered for her performance as Miss Havis ...

*Mlle Arthemise - Margaret Yarde *Mme Remy - Elsie Shelton *Nina -

Glynis Johns Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024) was a British actress. In a career exceeding seven decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She received various accolades throughout her ca ...

*Mlle Renard - Enid Lindsey *Mlle Pauline - Phyllis Morris *Mlle Dupont - Nancy Roberts

Critical reception

In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Frank S. Nugent dismissed the film as "another prison picture, and while we would not want to pass too harsh a sentence upon it, neither can we fairly pretend that it is innocent": whereas, in December 1938, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' selected it as one of their ten best films of the year.

References

External links

''Prison Without Bars''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* * at the website dedicated to

1938 films 1938 crime drama films 1938 romantic drama films British prison drama films British romantic drama films British black-and-white films Films produced by Alexander Korda Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst British multilingual films 1938 multilingual films 1930s prison films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films Films scored by John D. H. Greenwood English-language crime drama films English-language romantic drama films Romantic crime films {{1930s-romantic-drama-film-stub