On the trail of the once stolen and now missing "Nardo Diamonds", police woman Lee Hamilton (Carole Mathews) infiltrates the female members of said gang behind prison walls. Planning a jail break, she accompanies Beverly Garland, Marie Windsor and Jil Jarmyn into the swamps of Louisiana's bayou country where the gems are hidden. Along the way, the quartet runs into Mike Connors and his little bayou baby Marie (Susan Cummings) by way of the Mardi Gras. Marie earns her status as a gold digging, whiny opportunist, so that by the time she's attacked by an alligator, you wind up rooting for the reptile.
"Swamp Women" doesn't appear to be much more than an opportunity for director Roger Corman to put shapely women in cut off shorts on display in a lush tropical setting. It doesn't take long for the jailbirds to ditch their prison garb and land some eye candy duds for their swamp journey. You know it's only a matter of time before the obligatory cat fights and wet blouse tussles take center stage. Eventually, redhead Vera (Windsor) with visions of the entire fortune to call her own turns renegade. She ditches the group and attempts to escape with the gems, so why she climbs a tree instead of taking the boat is a mystery.
Mike Connors is credited in the cast as "Touch" Connors, and doesn't have much more to do in the film other than ogle the ladies. I'm not sure, but I bet when he auditioned for the part he said he could do it with his hands tied behind his back.
This is another mid 1950's film utilizing a color film process known as Pathe. My copy was heavy on the reds and browns including the swamp scenes, making it all look a bit unnatural. The entire business was filmed in and around New Orleans and Lacombe County. What's surprising is how many name actors wound up in this effort, with one on the way up (Connors), one on the way down (Windsor) and one still going strong (Garland). After watching the movie, there's only one thing that I'm still left wondering about - what prison cell in the country has a window?