Ridiculous exploitation film from Poverty Row's Monogram Studios is nonetheless watchable thanks to a fine cast that tries hard to make it work. Gail Patrick stars as the wife of a distinguished Nazi soldier who returns to Germany after a 10 year's absence and is immediately forced to become a "section leader", training a group of young girls to be obedient servants of the Third Reich. Patrick's soft approach gets her into constant trouble with her more rigid superiors, especially the mannish "district director" (Gertrude Michaels). One of Patrick's charges is a loyal German fraulein (Nancy Kelly), who is engaged to marry a prominent SS officer; unfortunately, Kelly fails to pass a medical exam because of near-sightedness, leading the Nazi hierarchy to deem her unfit to bear the children of such an important soldier. The heartbroken Kelly has an emotional outburst, meaning she must be sent to a concentration camp. After all, myopia combined with hysteria cannot be tolerated. When Patrick tries to protect Kelly, she places both their lives in grave danger.Despite the film's sillier aspects (the ending is pure "corn-ography" and the scene of a bruised and battered Nancy Kelly being whipped while chained to a post would be more credulous if she weren't wearing freshly applied lipstick), "Women in Bondage" is still important as a prime example of the anti-Nazi propaganda that kept Allied moviegoers motivated during the early 1940's. The film is rarely, if ever, shown on television anymore (I can't even recall it being shown on TCM during the last decade or more), and so its availability through the Warner Archive Collection is very welcome indeed. The print, though hardly pristine, is much better than I had expected, offering good contrast and decent sound, with very few breaks or other artifacts. The DVD-R offers no bonus features. Highly recommended to those interested in the films of World War II, and to fans of the large cast, which also includes veteran character actor H. B. Warner, Alan Baxter, Anne Nagel, Rita Quigley and Roland Varno.