Parole Girl is a 1933 film directed by Edward Cline.
Sylvia (Mae Clarke, in a rare film where she played the lead) is playing in a scam with an acquaintance of hers named Tony. It seems that at some point in the past Tony helped out with medical bills for Sylvia's father, and Sylvia feels obligated. In any case, Tony and Sylvia run a con in which he accuses her of picking his pocket in a department store, she gets detained by security, he "finds" his wallet in his pocket after all, and she gets a nice cash settlement from the store manager.
The first time, the scam works perfectly. But the second time, in a different store, word has gotten out about Sylvia and Tony and Sylvia gets arrested. Sylvia begs for mercy, but store manager Joe Smith (Ralph Bellamy, in a rare film where he doesn't play a Romantic False Lead) says rules are rules and Sylvia has to go to jail.
Sylvia goes to prison. She meets a convict named Jeanie, who says that years ago, she was married to the same Joe Smith. Sylvia hits on a scheme for revenge. She finagles a parole, goes back to the city, and looks up Joe Smith. She finds him in a nightclub, and they go out for a night of drinking. Joe wakes up the next morning, is surprised to find Sylvia in his apartment, and is even more surprised to find out they got married the night before.
Tropes:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: In her "Dear John" Letter! As she's leaving with Jeanine, Sylvia leaves Joe a letter saying that his wife showed up, and Sylvia had to get her out of town to stop her from blackmailing Joe. She writes goodbye forever, then ends the letter with "I love you."
- The Con: Sylvia pretends to pick Tony's pocket. Tony screams that he was robbed. After Sylvia is grabbed by security, Tony finds his wallet in the depths of his pocket after all. An indignant Sylvia then gets a chunk of cash from the department store to shut her up—the one time it works, they get $500 in 1933 money.
- Contrived Coincidence: Who does Sylvia meet, when she goes to prison? The estranged wife of the man who sent her to prison, of course.
- Counterfeit Cash: Tony gets pissed off when Sylvia refuses to go to Florida with him for Tony's next con. He slips a counterfeit $20 into her wallet. Sylvia is caught with it, and she is about to get arrested and sent back to jail when Joe pretends that actually the phony $20 in question was a fake bill that he was given at the department store.
- Divorce in Reno: Or divorce in Mexico. As they're riding the train to Florida, Jeanine offhandedly says to Sylvia that actually, she isn't married to Joe anymore. Years ago, she got a "Mexican divorce." Sylvia gets off at the next stop after she hears this and goes back to New York and Joe.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Tony reacts indignantly to Sylvia's suggestion that they are thieves.Tony: We don't hold people up, we've got a racket. That's different.
- Lingerie Scene: Sylvia changes into a slip after Joe comes home, mainly to show the audience how good Mae Clarke looked in a slip.
- Marriage Before Romance: Or rather, a Sham Wedding before romance. Sylvia tricks Joe into thinking they're married, for the express purpose of screwing with him and bleeding him of cash. Naturally, she falls in love.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: In prison Sylvie meets Jeanine, who did this at least once."(...) I once worked with a girl who went for my guy. Aw gee, that's a shame what happened to her."
"What happened to her?"
"Well, a milk bottle fell on her from the second story, and a St. Louis cop tried to try to say my fingerprints were on the bottle. Can you imagine that? "Why that dumb cop, my fingerprints weren't on that bottle."
(Beat)
"I wore gloves." - One Last Job: Actually it really isn't the last job, as events later show that Tony has a completely different racket that he wants Sylvia to join. But still, he says "This'll be the last time" as he coaxes Sylvia into another con. She's arrested.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Sylvia is wearing such a dress, with seduction on her mind, when she first approaches Joe in the nightclub.
- Sham Wedding: The offscreen What Did I Do Last Night? wedding between Joe and Sylvia wasn't real. Sylvia had Tony pretend to be a justice of the peace, and got a fake wedding certificate, all to get leverage over Joe.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Joe is surprised to wake up and find a woman's high-heeled shoe in his bed, and more surprised to find Sylvia in his kitchen eating breakfast. She tells him about all the drunken carousing they did the night before, and then reveals that they got married in Connecticut.
