Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

kidboots It promises gritty, hard hitting pre-code earthiness and it almost delivers. Supposedly based on the story "Dance of the Millions" but, really, it is a re-working of Bayard Veiller's popular play "Within the Law". It had already been given the 4 star treatment at MGM as "Paid" (1930) with Joan Crawford. The link between the two movies is sweet Marie Prevost, who played a similar character in both - a ditsy cell mate who teams up with Mae/Joan when they are paroled. Poor Marie spent almost as much time behind bars as Sylvia Sidney. "Everything I do is on the level" to which Mae replies "Well, since you've been in prison - blackmail, larceny and extortion are now crimes"!!!It is interesting, when you view Mae Clarke's performances, she has sincerity and honesty in every part she plays but she just couldn't make the leap to the A grade. Her films were excellent "Waterloo Bridge" and "Night World" etc but by 1933 her bid for stardom was over and "Parole Girl" was described as "bottom of the barrel". It certainly wasn't that!!! While it wasn't in the same league as MGM's "Paid" - it was a perfect vehicle for Mae.Sylvia Day (Mae Clarke) is accused of picking a gentleman's pocket in a department store. She is dragged, humiliated in front of customers, to the manager's office, but it is all a misunderstanding. Then Sylvia goes into her award winning performance - she cries, she sobs and she walks out with a cheque for $500. But it is all a scam - she and the "gentleman", Tony (Hale Hamilton) are working together and while Sylvia is determined to go straight she is persuaded to do one last job. Of course they are caught and she comes up against a stony store manager, Joe Smith(Ralph Bellamy) who is not softened by her pleas for leniency. She is sent to prison for a year and after her release her only thought is to make Smith pay - and pay he does!!! After renewing his acquaintance (he doesn't know her), she gets him "cockeyed" and he wakes up next morning - married!!! Of course it is all bogus as Tony has performed the ceremony.From now on a lot of the grittiness goes and is replaced by pre- code fun as Sylvia glides around in assorted negligees. Mae Clarke does sport an unattractive "butch" hairstyle and I am glad this seems to be the only film that she chose to wear it. There are a couple of glitches to their happiness. Tony is upset that Sylvia has thrown him over and plans to get even with her by slipping a counterfeit bill in her purse but Joe, unexpectedly, comes to her rescue and they really start to fall in love. Then Joe's wife appears - yes, he is already married and to none other than Jeannie (Marie Prevost) Sylvia's little pal from the big house. But everything is smoothed out and all under 70 minutes. After all this was in 1933 when they really knew how to make movies.Highly Recommended.

MartinHafer This film is very entertaining but simply never makes any sense--like the studio hired monkeys to write much of the film. The story begins with Mae Clark and her accomplice conning some department stores out of money. However, when Clark is eventually caught (and rightfully so--she is after all a thief), she vows to destroy a man who worked for a department store that insisted she be prosecuted (Ralph Bellamy). So, as she sits in jail she spends all her energy thinking about how to hurt this one particular man--which makes no sense since they never even met in the film. Why she should hate this particular man and not the judge or prosecuting attorney or her accomplice (who pushed her into a life of crime)? And, what makes even less sense is that her plot is then so complicated! This just didn't make sense and made me a bit annoyed. After all, there were some good story elements and good actors but the plot just seemed 100% contrived.Here is the crazy plot. Once Clark gets out of jail, she meets Bellamy and gets him drunk. Then, she produces a fake marriage certificate the next morning--which complicates his life, as he already is married--to a lady that Clark met while in prison!!! Wow, the odds of this are 68 bazillion to one! So, to avoid being arrested for bigamy, he agrees to let her lead him around by the nose and make him 100% miserable. Why didn't he immediately go to the police and report the blackmail? This is especially true since being drunk is a legitimate reason to nullify the wedding--at which point they would have found out that the new wedding was a hoax. I just hate films where people do things that no logical or reasonable person would have done. Again and again, both Clark and Bellamy react in the least logical manner imaginable. The worst is a bit later when Clark is caught committing another crime and Bellamy could have just let the police take her away--yet he vouches for her and prevents her arrest!! And, sadly, although she is evil, you KNOW that by the end of the film everything will work out perfectly--making it predictable and very formulaic. How such a cretin like Clark could become a good and decent lady by the end of the film makes no sense--especially since she worked so long and so hard to destroy Bellamy!! This all is a shame. As I said, the actors were good and with a Pre-Code title like "Parole Girl" you'd expect a lot more pizazz and fireworks--not a contrived and limp story like this one.Despite disliking much of the film, I did like the character played by Bellamy's boss. He was a great character--well acted and fascinatingly different. He was a wonderful addition to the film and perhaps this represents a portion of the film NOT written by the monkeys!!

howdymax Parole Girl. I love that title. This is a forgotten little gem from Columbia, but really was a perfect fit for Warner's. Surprisingly directed by Eddie Cline, who was best known for his association (and patience) with WC Fields. He created some of the most memorable comedies on screen, but managed to put together an interesting and sympathetic effort in this movie.It stars Mae Clarke, best known for getting a grapefruit in her mush by Jimmy Cagney in Public Enemy. Other than that her movies were mostly forgettable as far as I can tell. But she did a great job in this one. She plays a young girl lured into a series of schemes by an old family friend played to the hilt by Hale Hamilton. I have to admit, I wasn't familiar with his work, but he certainly performed here. When Mae is caught by a department store dick in an extortion scam, she is sent up the river for a year. She blames the department store manager, played by Ralph Bellamy, for the pinch and promises revenge. After her release she meets up with him, and through a complicated series of maneuvers,convinces him they married. Since he was already married, she threatens to ruin his life if he doesn't play ball. Her plan is to take him for everything he's got, but of course, it all backfires on her. I bet you will never guess what happens.This was pre-code and there are a number of examples of that naughty dialog that we all loved so much. This is a B movie well worth watching. The entire cast does a credible job with a really stand out performance by Mae Clarke. She was appealing and sympathetic without being annoying. That is sometimes a fine line to walk, but she did it.

classicsoncall Despite the high degree improbability of it all, this turned out to be a fairly entertaining picture. Hopefully with today's offering on Turner Classics, this film might put together the requisite number of votes to get a rating on this board. It has some of the appeal found in the exploitation flicks of the same era, but with writing and direction that places it a notch above.The story involves a young woman who gets tangled up with a smarmy con man (Hale Hamilton) doing a pickpocket grift that leads to a shakedown at targeted retail stores. When Sylvia (Mae Clarke) gets busted and sent to prison for a year long stretch, she plots her revenge against the insurance adjuster who wouldn't bend the rules to let her off easy in the first place. That angle might have played out a lot more believably if one of Sylvia's prison buddies (Marie Prevost) hadn't been involved with the same guy (Ralph Bellamy) a couple of years earlier. In one of the wildest stretches of imagination, both ex-cons duped the gullible Joe Smith (seriously, not an alias) into a phony marriage. Obviously, a whole lot of thought wasn't put into this story, but that's what they came up with.Naturally, this one plays out with Smith and Sylvia hooking up together for real once they discover they have feelings for each other following a series of events that bring out their better natures. Not entirely unexpected, but again, it takes a bit of a stretch to get there.Veteran character actor Ralph Bellamy eventually went on to become a well regarded and respected performer, even though he never made it as a major headliner. Mae Clark is probably best known for taking a grapefruit in the kisser from Jimmy Cagney in 1931's "The Public Enemy". Their hook-up here doesn't involve too much chemistry, but considering the circumstances, that's to be expected. The thing that I kept wondering about was how a couple of ex-jailbird floozies like Sylvia and Jeanie always walked around in such fashionable clothes.Addendum dated 10/17/09: Forty eight hours ago, this film didn't have the minimum five votes needed to insure an IMDb rating, nor did it have a single review. As I write this, the film has twenty two votes and four comments. I read that as a testament to the dedication serious cinema fans apply to their entertainment, particularly as it applies to films offered on Turner Classics. I have seen a similar pattern for prior TCM offerings, and would like to thank and encourage those viewers for going the extra mile in pursuit of their passion and interest.