Lady Gangster

{{short description|1942 film by Robert Florey}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Lady Gangster | image = Lady Gangster FilmPoster.jpeg | caption = | director = [[Robert Florey]] | producer = [[William Jacobs (producer)|William Jacobs]] | screenplay = [[Anthony Coldeway]] | based_on = {{based on|''Women in Prison''<br>1932 play|[[Dorothy Mackaye]]<br>[[Carlton Miles]]}} | narrator = | starring = [[Faye Emerson]]<br>[[Julie Bishop (actress)|Julie Bishop]] | music = Various | cinematography = [[Arthur L. Todd]] | editing = [[Harold McLernon]] | distributor = [[Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.]] | released = {{Film date|1942|06|06}} | runtime = 62 minutes | country = United States | language = English }}

'''''Lady Gangster''''' is a 1942 [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]] [[B picture]] [[crime film]] directed by [[Robert Florey]], credited as "Florian Roberts". It is based on the play ''Gangstress, or Women in Prison'' by [[Dorothy Mackaye]], who in 1928, as #440960, served less than ten months of a one- to three-year sentence in [[San Quentin State Prison]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 2, 1929 |title=Dorothy Mackaye Released from Prison |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7023905/dorothy_mackaye_paul_kelly/ |newspaper=Delaware County Daily Times |location=Upper Darby, Pennsylvania |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407024613/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7023905/dorothy_mackaye_paul_kelly/ |archive-date=April 7, 2019 |url-status=live }} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="Coughlin">Gene Coughlin, "Tragedies of the Stage", ''Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph'' (September 12, 1948), p. ''American Weekly'', p. 7.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Dorothy Mackaye |url=https://derangedlacrimes.com/?tag=dorothy-mackaye |website=Deranged LA Crimes |access-date=6 April 2022 |date=November 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Convict-44960">{{cite news |title=Convict No.44,960 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19280302&id=DvoaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6515,1525940 |access-date=6 April 2022 |work=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |date=March 2, 1928 |location=[[Pittsburgh, PA]] |page=3 |quote=via [[Google News Archive]]}}</ref> ''Lady Gangster'' is a remake of the [[pre-Code]] film, ''[[Ladies They Talk About]]'' (1933). [[Jackie Gleason]] plays a supporting role.

==Plot== Dorothy "Dot" Burton ([[Faye Emerson]]) is a member of a gang of bank robbers. Using her femininity and a cute dog provided her by her male cohorts, who dognapped him, she is able to enter a bank before opening time, leaving the door open and the bank guard holding her dog, thus enabling a successful robbery. When police interfere with the getaway, she faints and proclaims her innocence, but the police have strong doubts as "her" dog will not come to her and has a different name on his collar from what she calls him. After she confesses to her part in the robbery, she is sent to women's prison, where she makes an enemy of a fellow inmate who informs the governor that Burton knows where the bank's money is, thereby causing Burton to lose her parole. She is devastated by it but more trouble occurs as her old gang is going to kill her childhood sweetheart Ken Philips ([[Frank Wilcox]]), so she escapes by stealing the warden's ([[Virginia Brissac]]) clothes and getting revenge on her rival inmate ([[Ruth Ford]]) before finally rescuing Ken.

==Cast== * [[Faye Emerson]] as Dorothy Drew Burton * [[Julie Bishop (actress)|Julie Bishop]] as Myrtle Reed * [[Frank Wilcox]] as Kenneth Phillips * [[Roland Drew]] as Carey Wells * [[Jackie Gleason]] as Wilson (as Jackie C. Gleason) * [[Ruth Ford (actress)|Ruth Ford]] as Lucy Fenton * [[Virginia Brissac]] as Mrs. Stoner * [[Dorothy Vaughan (actress)|Dorothy Vaughan]] as Matron Jenkins * [[Dorothy Adams]] as Deaf Annie * [[William Hopper]] as John (as DeWitt Hopper) * [[Vera Lewis]] as Ma Silsby * [[Herbert Rawlinson]] as Lewis Sinton * [[Charles C. Wilson (actor)|Charles C. Wilson]] as Detective * [[Frank Mayo (actor)|Frank Mayo]] as Walker * [[Leah Baird]] as Matron * [[Jack Mower]] as Police Sergeant

==Soundtrack== * "Blues in the Night" (Music by [[Harold Arlen]])

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category}} * {{IMDb title|0034959}} * {{TCMDb title|3255}} * {{AFI film|27301}} * [https://archive.org/details/Lady.Gangster ''Lady Gangster'' at Internet Archive]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Gangster}} [[Category:1942 films]] [[Category:Warner Bros. films]] [[Category:1942 crime drama films]] [[Category:1942 English-language films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American crime drama films]] [[Category:American films based on plays]] [[Category:American prison drama films]] [[Category:Films directed by Robert Florey]] [[Category:Women in prison films]] [[Category:1942 American films]] [[Category:English-language crime drama films]]