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Women Without Men
Women Without Men
	U.S. poster
Directed by	Elmo Williams; Herbert Glazer
Screenplay by	Val Guest; Richard Landau
Based on	a story by Richard Landau
Produced by	Anthony Hinds
Starring	Beverly Michaels; Joan Rice; Thora Hird
Cinematography	Walter J. Harvey
Edited by	James Needs
Music by	Leonard Salzedo; John Hollingsworth
Production; company	Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by	Exclusive Films (U.K.); Associated Film Releasing Corporation (U.S.)
Release date	2 April 1956;
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Women Without Men is a 1956 British second feature^[1] drama film directed by Elmo Williams and Herbert Glazer and starring Beverly Michaels, Joan Rice, Thora Hird and Hermione Baddeley.^[2] A woman escapes from prison to keep a date with her boyfriend.

For U.S. release the film was retitled Blonde Bait and substantially re-edited, with new scenes filmed by the American distributors (with additional American actors, with Jim Davis replacing Paul Carpenter as Nick, and notable character and plot changes, such as turning the heroine into a gangster's moll, for whom the prison break is engineered by the police in hopes she will lead them to her much-wanted fugitive boyfriend.^[3] Other new actors were Richard Travis, Harry Lauter and Paul Cavanagh. Beverly Michaels also appeared in the film's new ending sequence.

Plot

Angie Booth is imprisoned following an assault committed in self-defence, and escapes along with two other prisoners, Granny and Marguerite, to keep a date with her would-be fiancé Nick, who has been out of the country and unaware of her plight. In order to make the meeting, Nick discharges himself from hospital. Meanwhile Marguerite struggles to prevent her baby being sent to an orphange.

Cast

Beverly Michaels as Angie Booth
Joan Rice as Cleo
Thora Hird as Granny
Avril Angers as Bessie
Paul Carpenter as Nick
Hermione Baddeley as Grace
Bill Shine as Reveller
Gordon Jackson as Percy
Valerie White as Governor
Eugene Deckers as Pierre
April Olrich as Marguerite
Ralph Michael as Julian
Betty Cooper as Evans
Sheila Burrell as Babs
Michael Golden as bargee
John Welsh as Chaplain
Maurice Kaufmann as Daniels
David Lodge as Prison Officer (Patrick)

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "A stereotyped women's prison drama, following a predictable course in incident and characterisation. The actual escape seems somewhat arbitrarily contrived, relying more on the stupidity of the guards and police than the ingenuity of the participants, but on its modest level, the plot maintains an agreeable balance between thrills and humour. The players assume their familiar roles with ease, and there is a tireless performance by Thora Hird."^[4]

Sky Movies wrote, "Hammer Films, just before their success in the horror field, jumped on the band-wagon for women's prison films that had been rolling in Britain and America since the success of Caged in 1950. Beverly Michaels (sent to prison on the slimmest of pretexts), Joan Rice, April Olrich and Hermione Baddely are among those looking grim, while Thora Hird makes the most of one of her best film roles as the indomitable Granny."^[5]

The Radio Times noted a "Second-feature British prison drama of no particular distinction, but deploying some humour and employing some interesting names – Thora Hird, Avril Angers – which up the entertainment quotient ... it's good for an idle rainy afternoon or 2am insomnia."^[6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Women's prison drama with welcome vein of humour; silly plot, lively performances."^[7]