Lady Gangster (1942)
Helmed by French-born director Robert Florey (operating under the pseudonym “Florian Roberts”) and released on April 18, 1942, Lady Gangster is a lean, fast-paced women-in-prison crime melodrama produced and distributed by Warner Bros.. Clocking in at a breathless 62 minutes, this B-unit programmer stars Faye Emerson, Julie Bishop, Julie Ring, and a young Jackie Gleason, serving as a prime example of Warner’s legendary WWII-era B-picture mill at peak efficiency.
Plot Overview
Dot Burton (Faye Emerson), an aspiring actress down on her luck, gets dragged into the underworld when she agrees to act as the getaway driver for a ruthless gang of bank robbers. The heist nets forty thousand dollars, but Dot is apprehended by the authorities while her accomplices manage to flee with the cash. Despite relentless interrogation by crusading District Attorney Kenneth Phillips (Julie Bishop)—who turns out to be her former childhood sweetheart—Dot refuses to rat out the gang, holding onto the secret location where the stolen loot is buried.
Sentenced to a harsh women’s penitentiary, Dot finds herself navigating the dangerous social hierarchy behind bars while fending off intimidation from both corrupt guards and incarcerated informants. When her former gang members realize Dot intends to keep the money for herself upon release, they stage a break-out plot to force the location out of her. Caught between relentless mobsters, hardened inmates, and her lingering feelings for the DA, Dot must pull off a daring counter-scheme to clear her conscience and survive the crossfire.
Cast
- Faye Emerson as Dot Burton
- Julie Bishop as Kenneth Phillips
- Frank Wilcox as Kenneth Phillips (DA)
- Roland Drew as Carey Wells
- Jackie Gleason as Wilson
- Ruth Ford as Lucy Phillips
- Virginia Brissac as Mrs. Swayne
- Dorothy Adams as Deaf Susie
Production Notes & Trivia
- Remake of a Pre-Code Landmark: Lady Gangster was adapted directly from the play Gangway by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles. Warner Bros. had previously filmed the story a decade earlier as the seminal pre-Code prison drama Ladies They Talk About (1933), starring Barbara Stanwyck.
- Director Robert Florey’s Pseudonym: Acclaimed auteur Robert Florey (Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Beast with Five Fingers) was dissatisfied with the ultra-tight budget and rushed shooting schedule handed down by the studio, leading him to hide behind the director’s pseudonym “Florian Roberts.”
- Early Jackie Gleason Screen Role: Long before becoming “The Great One” and creating television history with The Honeymooners, a twenty-something Jackie Gleason appears here under contract at Warner Bros. as Wilson, a gruff gang member.
