Flagellations

An old, blind judge, his crazy wife who once was a wardeness of a prison but dismissed for her complicity in a girl's death, two guards from said prison as retainers of some type, and a son with a "CLOSE" love for his mother who goes out in public as Mark E. Dessard(something like that)round out the antagonists in this interesting, exploitative, misogynistic treatment by British director Peter Walker. The protagonists are, of course, scantily clad girls being flogged, humiliated, and hanged in an old run-down prison in the English countryside. The girls are brought there by the son who finds girls of an indecent nature(flashing in public and the like)where they are then sentenced and mistreated. Boy, would there really be prison over-crowding today! The film has a very dark edge to it without any humanity. The brutality used toward the women is cold and has a decidedly anti-women flair to it. What I did like about it was its obvious atmosphere. Walker has some skill as a director to be sure. His tense scenes in the prison with the veiled lighting and austere setting propel this feature from just another female prison movie to something quite different. Whether that is good or not is for you to decide. I am really not sure how I feel. The acting also helps as everyone involved is at the very least adequate. Ms. Irving, as the French girl, is quite fetching and does a credible job in the lead. The girl playing her roommate is an even brighter highlight(very lovely!). Barbara Markham makes as cold a wardeness as I have ever seen. For me the acting highlight belongs to Shelia Keith as the primary guard. She is able somehow to add a relaxedness to her role while even a touch(admittedly a rather small touch) of sympathy(the scene where she goes to get some lotion for the wounds she inflicted).