Paroled from the Big House

Rating applies to the "Main Street Girl" exploitation release of this film, which is quite different from the cut "Big House" version. The latter is missing the several undressing and striptease scenes that made the film a gem in adults-only theaters throughout the 1940s. As a teenager, I repeatedly bluffed my way into L.A. skid row theaters that screened this movie (most often the Art Theater at 6th & Main St). It had more appealing nudity than other films of that era and was far more scintillating (to me) than the hardcore stuff that arrived a few years later.

Too bad this version now seems lost, possibly destroyed by Kendis' heirs after his death (according to a vaguely recalled 1957 news story). David Friedman (in the "Sex and Buttered Popcorn" documentary) claims to have bankrolled some of the Kendis films. If he has a print of this one, Something Weird Video should release it.