Ladies They Talk About

Sometimes, I get tired of reading or hearing about "the real meaning behind the movie" and "this film explores themes of". I'm sorry, but if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a commentary on Vietnam and the meat industry at the same time, it's doing a crap job at both. I like a good, deep, philosophical movie as much as the next person, but sometimes, I want something that doesn't require thought. That's Ladies They Talk About. A gun moll gets sent to prison for being the set-up/distraction for a bank robbery, while the rest of the gang goes free. She has adventures in prison, then gets out. It is a cinematic dime-store pulp novel, and it has no intentions to the contrary. Barbara Stanwyck is a classic sassy broad, all piss and vinegar and brassy defiance, coming right into prison and refusing to kowtow to the long-term prisoners there. It's played perfectly straight, but she chews the scenery nonetheless, in the best possible way. The trade-off for a movie this simplistic, though, is that there is no depth whatsoever to the story. 80% of the movie is "life in prison", which more resembles an overcrowded sorority house than a prison. The through line of Ladies is "watch this woman be a sass-master until the Hollywood ending redeems her", because yes, there is a tacked-on moral lesson at the end. It's definitely dated, but you can't expect something progressive and meeting modern standards from a 92 year old movie, even if this is a pre-Code movie. Ladies is a movie that hits a certain mood. It's not a complicated movie (or long, at barely 70 minutes), but it isn't trying to be either. This is just some old-fashioned, pulpy fun, with a lead that absolutely owns every frame she's in. You watch it for that and that alone, and you'll be fine.