Line #30 Film/LadiesTheyTalkAbout


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c555336b_c9a1_4411_b95d_a36d22702df5.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Nan and Linda in the big house.]]
3	''Ladies They Talk About'' (1933) is a [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-code]] Creator/WarnerBrothers film about lawbreaking Nan Taylor (Creator/BarbaraStanwyck) who goes to an all women jail for a failed bank heist.
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5	Nan's childhood friend, a reformed evangelical, David Slade (Preston Foster), almost helps her out of the conviction until she privately confesses to the crime. Even though he's in love with her, he turns her in.
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7	In prison, Nan must learn the ropes of the jail hierarchy with the help of Linda (Lilian Roth) and battle out turf rules with tough girl, Susie (Dorothy Burgess). Susie happens to love Slade's sermons; she hears them over the radio and is insistent on following him as soon as she’s free.
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9	Meanwhile, Nan’s male friends from the botched bank robbery want her help to escape prison. Nan uses Slade yet again to get a letter out of town, but the letter is intercepted, giving up the escape plan. Nan gets caught, her friends are killed, and she gets another year added to her sentence.
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11	A year later, Nan is out and swears revenge on Slade; she's ready to kill.
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13	The movie was remade in 1942 as ''Lady Gangster''.
14	----
15	!!Tropes:
16	* AlphaBitch: Susie. Nan puts her in her place very quickly.
17	* BankRobbery: Doesn’t work out for Nan at all.
18	* ButchLesbian: It’s heavily coded, but Linda gives the tour of the jail to Nan and says to watch out for the one woman because she “likes to wrestle.” She is always seen smoking a cigar and wearing masculine clothing.
19	* DarkActionGirl: Nan isn’t scared to throw a punch at anyone who pisses her off.
20	* DeathGlare: Don’t anger Nan.
21	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Nan’s heist friends get caught and killed.
22	* GrandeDame: There's Mrs. Arlington who still thinks she can pull her high society card whenever something doesn't go her way. Even when she killed a woman by putting glass in her food.
23	* GreatEscape: Nan helps her male counterparts, much to her detriment.
24	* GirlsBehindBars: The film panders a bit with the scantily clad girls, but the prison still doesn’t look like too much fun. It’s more like a tough reform school.
25	* HaveAGayOldTime: "For a dumb dick you have a memory like an elephant." (A "dick" being a detective, of course.)
26	* LuxuryPrisonSuite: The prisoners get private cells with drawers, comfortable beds, their own record players and tables.
27	* MisplacedRetribution: Nan thinks that Slade betrayed her and her friends, but her letter was intercepted by the police without Slade's help.
28	* ParrotPetPosition: The matron always has her pet parrot on her shoulder.
29	* PrettyInMink: Nan sports one during the heist and when she’s finally out of the big house.
30	* TheRemake: Remade as a 1940s b-movie with the same plot, starring Faye Emerson.
31	* RevengeBeforeReason: Nan goes to kill Slade at one of his sermons. There’s a huge crowd and a policeman even recognizes her before she goes in the building. [[spoiler: Susie was there, too, and witnessed the attempted murder!]]
32	* SkeletonKey: Nan gets the pass key, and imprints it on a bar of soap to get it to the guys on the other side, so they can escape.
33	* StalkerShrine: Susie has newspaper clippings and photos of David all over her cell walls.
34	* TheStoolPigeon:
35	** Slade tells on Nan when she confesses to helping the bank heist.
36	** Nan also thinks Slade stabbed her in the back and blabbed about the escape. [[spoiler: He didn't.]]

Context Film / LadiesTheyTalkAbout