#lewis seiler

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It All Came True (1940) Lewis Seiler

July 16th 2026

[gatutor]

Dane Clark-Alexis Smith "Whiplash" 1948, de Lewis Seiler.

[artdecoandmodernist]

1936 Chorus girls on the set of Star for a Night. Costume Design by Herschel McCoy (as Herschel).

Blind Mrs. Lind comes to American to visit her three children whom she thinks are successful. 

[tvln]

whiplash (us, seiler 48)

[quotes-gr-ellhnika]

— Pittsburgh (1942)

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2019) - #135: Women’s Prison (1955) - dir. Lewis Seiler

Available on a double-feature disc with another mid-50s drama directed by Lewis Seiler, Over-Exposed, the B-movie Women’s Prison is filled to the brim with recognizable faces from that era of Hollywood. The action takes place at a women’s prison that stands adjacent to a prison that houses only men, setting up some of the conflict that will arise halfway through the film. Warden Amelia van Zandt (Ida Lupino) is a sadistic taskmaster, punishing new inmate Helene Jensen (Phyllis Thaxter) for a variety of infractions that stem from the same source: acting out hysterically because jail is frightening for someone who has never been there before.

Joan befriends the prison’s population of female convicts, including repeat offenders Brenda Martin (Jan Sterling), Joan Burton (Audrey Totter), Mae (Cleo Moore), Dottie LaRose (Vivian Marshall), Polly Jones (Juanita Moore) and Sarah Graham (Edna Holland). Most of the women pass the time by playing cards or, in Dottie’s case, doing celebrity impressions, but Joan has an ulterior motive for being incarcerated in the first place; her husband, Glen (Warren Stevens), is imprisoned in the adjoining building.

Most of the workers in the women’s prison are apathetic to the collective plight of the inmates - Matron Saunders (Mae Clarke) doesn’t seem to hold an opinion either way, while Chief Matron Sturgess (Gertrude Michael) feels some guilt at the warden’s treatment of the women yet is reluctant to stand up to her boss - but at least there is sympathy to be found in Dr. Crane (Howard Duff), the lone medical professional on staff. When a potentially dangerous situation emerges that involves occupants of both prisons, neither Van Zandt nor Warden Brock (Barry Kelley) knows the right manner in which to resolve the problems, so it is up to Crane to help the afflicted parties. It’s pretty enjoyable seeing Ida Lupino and Howard Duff, who were married at the time (and would remain so for the next thirty years), as avowed enemies.

Like a lot of films produced by Columbia Pictures, Women’s Prison is a low-budget affair that shows its seams by featuring a minimum of cheap-looking interior/exterior sets for a narrative that is too easy to figure out. Still, the abundance of first-rate actors and a well-paced plot are enough to warrant checking the film out, even if only once.

[prendsgardeatoi]

La Fièvre de l'or noir/Pittsburgh (Lewis Seiler, 1942)

[gatutor]

Alan Dinehart-Claire Trevor "Star for a night" 1936, de Lewis Seiler.