Women Without Men is a 1956 British drama film directed by Elmo Williams and Herbert Glazer and starring Beverly Michaels, Joan Rice and Hermione Baddeley. The screenplay concerns a woman who is unjustly sent to prison for an act which was really one of self-defense, and who escapes from prison in order to keep a rendezvous with her would-be fiancé, who has been out of the country and unaware of her plight. For U.S. release the film was retitled Blonde Bait and substantially re-edited, with new scenes filmed by the American distributors (with additional American actors - e.g. Jim Davis replacing Paul Carpenter as Nick) and notable character and plot changes, such as turning the heroine into a gangster's moll, for whom the prison break in engineered by the police in hopes she will lead them to her much-wanted fugitive boyfriend. Other new actors were Richard Travis, Harry Lauter and Paul Cavanagh. Beverly Michaels also appeared in the film's new ending sequence. Plot Cast Beverly Michaels - Angie Booth Joan Rice - Cleo Thora Hird - Granny Avril Angers - Bessie Paul Carpenter - Nick Hermione Baddeley - Grace Bill Shine - Reveller Gordon Jackson - Percy Valerie White - Governor Eugene Deckers - Pierre April Olrich - Margueritte Ralph Michael - Julian Betty Cooper - Evans Sheila Burrell - Babs Michael Golden - Bargee Critical reception Sky Movies wrote, "Hammer Films, just before their success in the horror field, jumped on the band-wagon for women's prison films that had been rolling in Britain and America since the success of Caged in 1950. Beverly Michaels (sent to prison on the slimmest of pretexts), Joan Rice, April Olrich and Hermione Baddely are among those looking grim, while Thora Hird makes the most of one of her best film roles as the indomitable Granny." The Radio Times noted a "Second-feature British prison drama of no particular distinction, but deploying some humour and employing some interesting names - Thora Hird, Avril Angers - which up the entertainment quotient...it's good for an idle rainy afternoon or 2am insomnia." References External links 1956 films 1956 crime drama films British crime drama films Women in prison films Films shot in Berkshire Hammer Film Productions films 1950s prison films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films British black-and-white films