THE PLOT THUS FAR
Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) joins a group of sexy, young female prisoners in their struggle against a sadistic warden in Big Doll House. This shockingly real film is perhaps one of the most influential of all women-in-prison films! Also starring Judy Brown, Roberta Collins (Death Race 2000) and Sid Haig (House Of 1,000 Corpses). Directed by Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Foxy Brown).
Innocent Carol Jeffries (Jennifer Gan, Naked Angels) is framed by her drug-dealing boyfriend and ends up in a tough prison in the Philippines jungle in Women In Cages. She must face off against the sadistic warden, Alabama (Grier), who takes great pleasure in alternately seducing and torturing her prisoners. Also starring Judy Brown and Roberta Collins.
Inside the hellish women’s prison called The Big Bird Cage, inmates like Terry (Anitra Ford, The Price Is Right) struggles to survive. They get their chance to escape when scheming revolutionary Blossom (Pam Grier) engineers a prison break . . . from the outside in. Also starring Carol Speed (Abby). Directed by Jack Hill.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Big Bird Cage” is set in an unnamed ‘banana republic’ (but shot in the Philipines), the film opens with beautiful brunette social climber Terry, a close personal ‘friend’ of the president, being abducted by revolutionary Django during a daring robbery. To avoid capture by the law, Django resorts to leaping off a bridge, leaving poor Terry to be apprehended by the police, after which she is accused of being an accomplice in the crime; this presents the authorities with a convenient opportunity to rid themselves of Terry, a potential embarrassment for the government, by shipping her to a high security camp where unruly prisoners are forced to do dangerous work in a towering, wooden sugar mill—the ‘Bird Cage’ of the title.
The Big Doll House is not as over-the-top as it might have been. In fact, a lot of what happens is fairly tame for a WIP. The torture scenes aren’t as graphic as you might expect. The fight scenes aren’t as brutal as you would hope for. And some of the acting is terrible. Pam Grier may be one of my favorite actresses of all time, but it’s easy to see that this was one of her first movies.
“Women in Cages” features naive and innocent Carol Jeffries gets framed by her dope dealer boyfriend and winds up incarcerated in a brutal female prison located in the Filipino jungle where the sadistic head matron Alabama treats the inmates with appalling cruelty and inhumanity. Director Gerry De Leon, working from an appropriately sordid script by James H. Watkins and David B. Osterhout, relates the harsh story at a constant swift pace and maintains a suitably hard and gritty tone throughout.
The Blu-Ray comes with commentary, featurettes and trailers. The DTS-HD 2.0 master audio track is probably the best audio restoration given to these films in history. However, there appears to be no earnest remastering of the transfers other than the usual bump to HD. A lot of pops and cracks are visible. While they aren’t American movie classics, they are well worth preserving. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
