So Young, So Bad (1950) User Reviews (20)

Early Exploitation

[abooboo-2 · 6/10 · 18 January 2004]

The director, Bernard Vorhaus, had real talent, as evidenced by the undeniably powerful firehose and suicide scenes, not to mention his handling of a fascinating young cast headed by Anne Francis (who is terrific) Rita Moreno, Anne Jackson and even Mike Kellin, in a bit. Vorhaus knows how to play with light and shadow - he probably would have excelled in Noir films had he not been blacklisted - and has a knack for finding novel settings to either enhance or contrast the mood of a particular scene. (The merry-go-round scene would do Hitchcock proud.) His camera's always on the move and the editing of the film has a rhythm and a pull that keeps you involved and in suspense.

But make no mistake this is a B-film with an erratic script that falters at several critical junctures. Immediately after the sadistic worker turns the hose on the girls for setting fire to the dorm, things come to a head, with Henried and pretty Catherine McLeod angrily confronting the corrupt Head of the institution (Cecil Clovelly) and threatening to file official reports on the abuse at the school unless sweeping changes are made. Clovelly admits that if that happened there would probably be an uproar, an unfavorable investigation and he would more than likely be fired, BUT - and this is what made absolutely no sense - he gets them to back down by suggesting that if he were fired who's to say somebody even worse than him wouldn't take his place? Huh?!!! What are the odds of that? I think I'd take my chances.

Still an effective film that will hold your interest. I should also point out that the other comment about this film is inaccurate on several plot details and seems to have it confused with some other film.

Better than you'd expect for a "girls gone wild" movie

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 6 April 2008]

In the 1950s, a ton of girl juvenile delinquent movies were made and most were pretty much trash. The main focus on most was exploitation--appealing to the lowest elements coming to theaters. While they purported to be exposés, they really were meant to appeal to patrons wanting a glimpse of sex--or at least the closest you'd find to it in the local theaters! While I noticed that one reviewer called this an exploitation film, it really isn't fair to put this in the same category you might put a Mamie Van Doren film! That is because the makers of SO YOUNG SO BAD actually tried to make a sincere film--one with a message and so occasionally sex-crazed patrons might accidentally go to see by mistake--thinking it's a "girls gone wild" film for 1950!

In general, I applaud the film because it is quite watchable and the central message of treating underage female prisoners with kindness and an eye towards rehabilitation makes sense. However, at times the message is a tiny bit heavy-handed and sometimes the nice doctor (Paul Henreid) is a bit too idealistic and "touchy feely". Still, despite these shortcomings, the film is pretty good and there are a few very exciting scenes--such as the sight of the evil matron stomping on a bunny (they don't show the actual bunny--relax) and forcibly cutting a girl's hair is something to behold! All these abuses of power and many more lead to the expected showdown that will probably leave the viewer feeling reasonably satisfied. All in all, not a bad film at all for the genre.

So Bad So Good

[marcslope · 6/10 · 16 December 2015]

Tawdry girls' reformatory stuff from United Artists, this potboiler came out shortly after "Caged" and shares many traits: hidden pets (a rabbit meets a sorry end), an inmate gets her hair cut and goes crazy, repressed sexuality runs wild. Subtle it's not, and the New York area location shooting looks cheap, but I reveled in it. As the sympathetic psychiatrist trying to bring humanity to the joint, Paul Henreid doesn't look that embarrassed, and his romance with another reform-minded official, Catherine McLeod, has a nice, credible arc to it. And some of the troubled youngsters making their debuts are clearly headed for greater things: Anne Francis as the young-hot-stuff miss who abandoned her baby and is overcompensating, Rita (here Rosita) Moreno as the Latino spitfire, Anne Jackson as the feisty troublemaker. The we-don't-give-an-inch bureaucracy is memorably hateful, and it's a fun caged-dames B flick that makes the most of its limited resources.

Imagine the Movie They Really Wanted to Make

[dougdoepke · 13 January 2008]

Despite the many rough edges, the film remains more interesting than many of its slicker Hollywood contemporaries. Stereotypes do abound: the cruel matron (Coppin), the humane reformer (Henreid), the incorrigible inmate (Francis). A notable exception is the sympathetic pairing of the lesbian couple (Pulver & Jackson), unusual and daring for its time. The film has a distinctly non-studio feel to the New York state locations and rather grainy photography, suggesting an earnest project done on a shoestring. That's not surprising since writer Rouverol and director Vorhaus were both blacklisted a short time later, as was Henreid, though his American career appears uninterrupted. No doubt they were hoping to bypass Hollywood constraints with a small independent production that would highlight a social injustice.

The movie's main problem lies with Henreid's psychiatrist-reformer-- he's simply too idealized to be believable. He comes across improbably as something of a secular saint and father-figure to the girls. Then too, actor Henreid's effort at lightening-the-mood veers at times unfortunately into the near comical. No doubt, the ending, which is much too pat and conventional resulted from trade-offs with the censors. Too bad, because it softens a final note that should have had a harder edge. What really lifts the movie is the spirited band of young performers-- especially, Anne Francis who likes boys "but only for short periods". Her little cigarette trick with the laundryman was likely put in by Henreid who rose to Hollywood stardom using a smouldering variation with Bette Davis. Too bad, Francis never rose to the stardom her talent deserved and is remembered today mainly for her sexy costume in Forbidden Planet. Nonetheless, the girls breathe real life into what otherwise could have been a plodding production.

Of course, the dramatic high-point comes with the hosing-down scene whose length and intensity do go beyond conventions of the day. I expect the producers had to go to the mat with the censors on that one. For the politically savvy, however, the high point occurs between Henreid and his uncertain colleague (Catherine Mc Leod) on the merry-go-round. There, they argue about how the inhumane system at the reformatory can be modernized. She opts for a professional approach from within. To that, Henreid argues that that hasn't worked and she has been co-opted into the system as a functionary whether she likes it or not. The only way to change the system, he argues, is from outside. On a larger societal canvas, this brief exchange mirrors the political one between reformist liberals and insurrectionary radicals. Moreover the fact that it's staged on a merry-go-round is also revealing. Unless she gets off, as the operator tells her to, things will simply go round-and- round with nothing changing. The scene slips by quickly, but tellingly.

An interesting question for a movie like this is speculating on the film the producers wanted to make versus the one that's up there on the screen after all the inevitable trade-offs. Nonethelessl, it's a worthwhile little movie, far more so than its exploitative title would suggest, with a spunkiness from the youngsters that remains compelling, even after so many years.

Girls in Reform School

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 13 June 2007]

This film was produced in New York City and is very similar to the film "Caged" also filmed in California in the same year. In this film the girls are not in a prison but a reform school but it is ruled just like a prison and even worse. Mr. Riggs, (Cecil Clovelly) runs the institution along with Mrs. Beuhler,(Grace Coppin) who have no regard for the girls and have them working in a potato farm and in a laundry. Dr. John H. Jason,(Paul Henreid), "Casablania",'42 is a psychologist and is a new-comer and works with Ruth Levering,(Catherine McLeod) and they both decided to change things around and treat the girls differently, allowing them to wear regular clothes and having dances and no working with potato's or a laundry. Loretta Wilson,( Ann Fancis) plays the role of a young girl who was married and had a baby and was abused by men and plays a very sexy mean sort of gal and falls in love with Dr. Jason. I was surprise to see Rita Moreno,(Dolores Guererro) play a role as one of the girls in prison who is all mixed up, but she does sing a rather pretty song in this picture. Ann Francis was very young in this picture and just starting her career and gave an outstanding performance.

One of the better exploitation flicks

[mls4182 · 7/10 · 11 June 2021]

Most of these films only have camp value. This one has some, but it is basically a fairly decent B movie and well acted. A definite bonus is the appearance of Rita Moreno and Anne Francis when very young. You can see what talented beauties these two women would become.

A cut above for an exploitation film of its time

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 22 January 2023]

This low-budget juvenile delinquents/women in prison flick from United Artists and director Bernard Vorhaus has Paul Henreid starring as Dr. John Jason, newly arrived at the Elmview Corrective School for Girls. Dr. Jason brings his psychiatric expertise to bear while dealing with the newest group of young female delinquents, including tough girl Loretta (Anne Francis), emotionally unstable Dolores (Rita Moreno), and thick-as-thieves duo Jackie (Anne Jackson) and Jane (Enid Rudd). However, the cruel and tradition-bound senior staff disapprove of the new doctor's techniques, which include treating the girls with respect, and a clash is inevitable.

While budgetary limitations are abundantly obvious, there are some interesting filming choices, involving close-ups, quick-cut editing, and off-kilter framing, so that the movie never gets dull. Despite what I have read about Pagan Love Song being her debut, this film was in fact Rita Moreno's first film. This was the first substantial role for Anne Francis, and she's the clear standout. This was also Anne Jackson's debut, and her character's obvious, if unstated, lesbianism is unusual for movies of the period.

Worth A Gander

[theognis-80821 · 6/10 · 11 June 2021]

Girls coping with sadistic jailers despite efforts of kindly, gentle, understanding psychiatrist Paul Henreid in a Jean Rouverol (Mrs. Hugo Butler) script. Rita Moreno is 19, Anne Francis is 20: so young! So good!

Paul Henreid's Home For Wayward Girls

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 30 April 2008]

So Young So Bad is a juvenile version of Caged with the female prisoners being of the teenage variety. In fact the it's obvious to me that this film was absolutely an attempt to cash in on the popularity and notoriety of MGM's female classic.

It's not an all female cast though. Paul Henreid plays a new prison psychologist who with Catherine McLeod is shocked at the sadistic treatment meted out by the head of the institution, Cecil Clovelly and the head guard Grace Coppin who is a slimmed down and toned down version of Hope Emerson.

The most fascinating aspect of this film is the fact that of the four girls who are the focus of the plot, three of them went on to have some pretty substantial careers. The four are Anne Francis, Rita Moreno, Anne Jackson, and Enid Pulver.

Anne Francis made her film debut in this and she's the sexpot of the group. She's an unwed mother who has her cap now set for Paul Henreid and I'm not quite sure how he was able to resist the temptation. You could tell this woman had a future in Hollywood.

But the best performance in this film is that of Rita Moreno. She plays a mentally disturbed teen who is the special object of cruelty by Coppin with tragic results.

Though So Young So Bad is a trashy film, it's interesting to see how many stars came out of it. Or in spite of it.

Girls in Trouble

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 5 February 2017]

****SPOILERS*** Trouble is brewing at the "Elmview Reform School for Troubled Girls" when three of the inmates lead by a frisky 19 year old Loretta Kelly,Anne Francis, brake out and make their way to town to escape what's been happening there. It turns out that the kind and feeling for the women inmates, especially Loretta, Dr. John Jason,Paul Henreid, is held responsible for this action in his humane treatment of the girls whom the superintendent Mr. Riggs, Cecil Clovelly, treats like concentration camp inmates. With Dr. Jason refusing to hand in his papers and resign his post Mr. Riggs uses the full force of the state to destroy him only to have it backfire on him when the truth is finally revealed.

As things turn out we find out that both Mr. Riggs and his #1 assistant Mrs. Beuhler, Grace Coppin, were so greatly mistreating the girls under their care that in one case lead to one of them Dolores Guerrero, Rita Merino, to end up hanging herself. With the girls in the reform school terrified to testify against Mr. Riggs & Mrs.Beuhler it's was up to the on the lamb Loretta and her fellow escapee Jackie Mason,Anne Jackson, to come out of hiding and spill the beans or truth on them and exonerate Dr. Jason for the crummy job in keeping order in the place that he's been framed for.

****SPOILERS**** One of the earliest troubled teenager movies of the 1950's shows how by treating teens, in this case teenage girls, like hardened criminals turns them into in many cases lifetime offenders. Dr. Jason saw that the girls under his care needed both love and understanding to set them straight which Mr. Riggs didn't offer them. It was Mr. Risggs and Mrs. Beuhler trying to get Dr. Jason to take the rap for all the horrors at the reform school that finally did them both in. That by Loretta and Jackie finally coming forward and exposing the two for the mindless and sadistic creeps that they really were! P.S There's also here in his movie debut Mike "Kill Em" Kellin as the friendly carousel operator.

The Girls Are Young, The Movie's Pretty Bad

[Handlinghandel · 5/10 · 6 January 2005]

This seems to have come out right around the same time as the infinitely better "Caged." It isn't terrible by any means but it sometimes feels like a Doris Wishman opus. Paul Henreid seems to be the star and the girls -- well, they're attractive background.

As TO the girls: Wow, the casting director picked some fine young performers to play the prison trams. Anne Francis is the one on whom the primary subplot focuses. She's very good. Then there is "Rosita" Moreno, also good, getting her hair horn by a sadistic matron, a la "Caged." And, of all people, Anne Jackson! She is also good but what a place to find her and how different from her later roles.

Some scenes are powerful. The one, not to give too much away, involving the matron and the rabbit is sickening. And the one that follows that closely, involving the matron and a firehose is powerful too.

I apologize for the cheap shot in my summary. The movie could have been better but it could have been a whole lot worse, I apologize for the cheap shot in my summary. The movie could have been better but it could have been a whole lot worse, too.

welcome to the reformatory

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 29 July 2010]

As a busload of new girls arrives at a young women's reformatory, it appears at first glance that they are going into an enlightened institution when they are met by the resident psychiatrist played by Paul Henreid who tells them that they are here to be helped. That impression is broken immediately when they are herded into the showers by the supervising matron played by Grace Coppin who, along with the other matrons, enforce the strict disciplinary policies of the institute's director played by Cecil Clovelly. From the perspective of someone watching this film, Coppin's character seems a lot more interesting to watch than does Henreid's. Her performance rivals the best of the cruel matrons that have been portrayed in women-in-prison films. A young Anne Francis plays one of the newcomers, seducing every man she meets including psychiatrist Henried. The well-known controversy about the institution's purpose of punishment or rehabilitation is fairly well-done, saved by the ending. The film has some real intensity thanks to the pace, which goes from one blatant injustice to another, but especially the photography, and much of the writing, especially for the film's smaller parts.

Lightweight by Current Standards

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 15 August 2013]

"Dr. John H. Jason" (Paul Henreid) is an idealistic psychiatrist who accepts a job at a reform school for females which has a very high rate of recidivism. After getting to know some of the girls he makes some recommendations which are completely ignored by his superiors, namely "Mr. Riggs" (Cecil Clovelly) and Miss Beuhler (Grace Coppin), who believe that a reform school should be run like a prison. Eventually, this leads to a conflict between Dr. Jason and the assistant supervisor, "Ruth Levering" (Catherine McLeod) on one side and the aforementioned Mr. Riggs and Miss Beuhler on the other. Now, rather than disclose the entire plot, I will just say that this film will probably be considered "lightweight" by current standards. There is no nudity, vulgar language or anything else that might be considered "graphic". However, it is an interesting movie all the same with a very capable cast. In that regard, I thought both Anne Francis (as "Loretta") and Catherine McLeod probably gave the best performances. On the other hand, I must also admit that there were some parts which were a bit corny at times. But that's probably to be expected with most films produced during this particular period. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this film for the most part and rate it as slightly better than average.

All These Girls Need is a Little Discipline.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 26 March 2008]

An idealistic doctor, Paul Henreid, is a counselor or something at a new prison for naughty young girls. No walls, but humane treatment -- that sort of thing. The fly in the ointment is the headmistress or foreman or whatever she is, the top sergeant, who runs the place on a day-to-day basis. And what an old-fashioned meanie she is, groomed like Mrs. Danvers or maybe the wife in "American Gothic".

This movie was one of a spate that came out in the post-war years dealing with one or another social problem, often, as here, penology. Among the others were "The Snake Pit," "Sniper," "Gentleman's Agreement," "Crossfire," others whose titles don't come to mind at the moment. This is a lesser example of the genre, but not entirely without interest.

What makes it interesting is that, though Paul Henreid, Ingrid Bergman's husband in "Casablanca" seven years earlier, was by now over the hill and reduced to B pictures, the movie is full of those naughty young girls, including the 18-year-old Rita Moreno and the 19-year-old Ann Francis. They run around in their skivvies, get into fights, talk nasty, are cynical about everything, trying to run away -- in other words, these luscious young beauties are just begging to be spanked. That's all they really need. They don't need an understanding headmaster, just a couple of whacks. Oh, not savage whacks. Not at all. Rather, deeply caring whacks, whacks of love, so to speak, not enough to hurt but just enough to warm. Why didn't Paul Henreid try that instead of this antiquated humanism? Huh? I'll bet he WANTED to turn Ann Francis over his knee, that lanky and insinuating blond vixen, and teach her a lesson. You can see it in his face. The gentle smile can't mask the lascivious grin of the maniac underneath. Come to think of it, if that didn't work, why he could just have THEM spank HIM. They'd be learning a trade too -- professional dominatrix.

Anyway, if he didn't, he must be as crazy as the rest of this unimaginative movie. Some of the shots are striking; in others the lighting alone could have been handled by an alert ten-year-old kid. But why go on?

This movie is "reformist" in the same way that Cecil B. DeMille's early movies showed a lot of nudity, just to make sure we knew how sinful nudity was; or in the same way as one of those anti-war pictures that show us the brutality of combat before we inevitably win the battle. What hypocrisy.

Of Interest

[its27 · 1 November 2002]

This often forgotten movie is notable for having in the cast three actresses, very early in their careers, who became long term popular favorites. They are Anne Francis, Anne Jackson and Rita Moreno. All three gave fine performances showing the promise that they would all realize.

"A tramp! That's what I'll be when I get outta here!"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 30 December 2014]

Optimistic new psychiatrist at a girl's reform school/work camp faces a struggle for authoritative power while trying to change the brutal conditions of the young inmates behind bars. Starkly filmed in black-and-white, this melodramatic second-biller has some surprising resonance and good performances--but also florid "tough girl" dialogue that renders it strictly a dated genre item, at times bordering on camp. Anne Francis (as the riot cell temptress who's already had a baby), Anne Jackson and Rosita (Rita) Moreno are three of the teenagers doing time; each has her share of strong scenes, however the attempt to bring the plot together with a legal interrogation in the final reel doesn't work. **1/2 from ****

Unfairly stigmatized sexploitation film

[rockymark-30974 · 7/10 · 8 July 2021]

This is quite a good film, with a superb cast, crisp editing, and fine photographic sequences marred only by its heavy didactic tone, which often slows the movie down and creates stereotypical good guys and bad guys. Otherwise the film is quite well done, with memorable sequences, including the powerful hose sequence and the merry-go-round sequence that brilliantly stages the opposed views of the Paul Henried character and Ruth, played by Catherine McLeod, who later became James Garner's love interest in the Maverick TV series.

The film is also notable for being early featured parts for Anne Francis, Anne Jackson, and Rita Moreno, billed as Rosita Moreno in the credits.

Anne Francis looks especially cherubic and even androgynous at times, almost as if she could have played the role of the young inamorata in Death in Venice. In one rather risque scene at the time she leans over to expose her breasts to tempt the Henreid character. After she leaves he's apparently so aroused that he gulps down a cup of water from the water dispenser, whose bubbles suggest his suppressed sexual arousal.

Moreno gives a first-rate performance.

It's hard to find a "B" movie with such superb direction and an almost flawless cast apart from the stereotypical acting necessary at times to comport with the stereotypical characters.

A weak film with a weak Paul Henreid but some great moments and a great idea

[secondtake · 5/10 · 14 December 2011]

So Young So Bad (1950)

Clearly a B-movie with a B-movie director and the ever-straining Paul Henreid as leading man. But a great theme, a great plot, totally stuff that a remake could take far.

Take a girl's reform school, and some bad girls who are really sweethearts deep down, and start with some really mean administrators. Bring in a reasonable, modern (in other words, liberal) schoolmaster and watch the reform of the school itself. The girls come alive, learn to be responsible and wonderful, and everything is good.

Except that it isn't. For one thing, the old guard resents this new approach (and seems to resent the success that is so obvious, thinking that bad girls need to stay bad or something). So a behind-the-scenes drama starts to unravel all the good that's been done. Throw in the growing romance between the schoolmaster and his pretty assistant. And of course, it doesn't hurt that one of the "bad" girls is hitting on him, pulling her skirt up at all the wrong times.

This final bad girl is none other than Anne Francis, who managed to get the same essential role five years later (when she was a more devastating young woman of 25) in the Glen Ford high school classic "Blackboard Jungle." Here's she's 20 playing 16, and if she is sometimes the life of the movie, she hasn't quite learned how to act. Blame the director, or even blame poor Henreid, who is the one foul spot in "Casablanca" and who always gives his all which is never enough, especially when you feel him trying so hard. He really gives Francis the look, up and down, a couple times, too, the old letch.

If you don't mind a creaky movie, you might be taken in by the girls as delinquents scenario. Not as bad as it sounds!

So Young, So Bad: A Genre in the Making

[laura-6 · 10/10 · 6 December 1998]

I have to preface this discussion by confessing a guilty pleasure: I love "women-in-prison" flicks. So Young, So Bad might be one of the first, and it might possibly be the best.

This is a good little film, and one of the first (1950) of the "women in prison" genre that had gotten quite a beating (no pun intended) from the critics at large as well as the audience. Anne Francis stars as the innocent. Rita Moreno (in her first film, I think) is the semi-hardened inmate who attempts to teach Anne the ropes.

There's some real tension in the film as the sweet Anne Francis tries to navigate an incredibly harsh prison system, protect the innocent (there's always at least one who has been mis-incarcerated), and reform the system. The girls are treated abominably by the system before help, in the form of modern sociology, arrives. Along the way, horribly demeaning punishments are meted out to the women. But it's all compensated for in the end.

I've noticed some obligatory ingredients present in "women in prison" films, which So Young, So Bad had a hand in creating: the mean female guard who beats the crap out of various inmates, both deserving and undeserving of punishment; the mean female inmate who controls everything ("You are mine, honey"); the "fire-hose turned on the inmates to control them" scene (a scene also used in "women as psychiatric patients" films as well); the incredibly sadistic warden who is killed/replaced/disgraced by the end of the movie (I recall that this one is replaced); the uprising that causes the outside world to come to the rescue of the inmates; and finally, the sorting out of those women who really need imprisonment (the rest of the cast outside of Anne Francis, Rita Moreno and the handful of second-bananas, plus the mean inmate, if she isn't shot dead or stabbed in the course of the film). So Young, So Bad is a genre-maker we all can enjoy.

So Raw So Real

[LeonLouisRicci · 10/10 · 18 July 2013]

The Decade of the Fifties was not a friendly time for Liberals or as they were sometimes called Reformers. Hollywood was at its most Conservative and everyone just wanted to Chill and reap the benefits of winning the War and anyone who criticized anything about American Life was considered a Traitor, Commie, or at the very least uncooperative or unappreciative.

This was way ahead of the upcoming JD (Juvenile Delinquent) Movies and the Genre had not yet been invented. But this was a much more Heady Film and was very serious in its attempt to shed some light on the corrupt and Evil Penal System.

It is just so much better than it should be, containing some really raw stuff both shown and implied. The Directing and Acting are as good as any Major Production and it has a sting and a resonance that belied its humble roots.

A rarely mentioned Movie this one is not to be missed and has very few flaws and dared the Censors. It pushes everything to the limit in its attempt to show how maybe a Humanistic approach, at least to Young troubled Teenage Girls, is a much better method that could attain more results than the brutal, insensitive, exploitive, and sadistic technique that was the status quo and was not very successful.

It is a realistic, uncompromising Film and should not be forgotten or ignored. It even has some beautiful young Cast Members that would find enduring Careers.