Ed Wood does pulp crime noir in his second feature film as director, producer and writer (co-writer with Alex Gordon, a future American-International producer). Like all Wood films, it ain’t bad while it’s totally bad at the same time. Wood’s ability to direct actors hasn’t improved since Glen or Glenda and neither has his ability to put together a story that makes sense, but this survives the years as fast-paced wackjob entertainment that’s just clever enough that I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot for those who haven’t seen it. What I can say is that 
it’s mostly about the aftermath of a robbery gone wrong. One of the two robbers is a hardened crook (greasy Timothy Farrell) and the other (Clancy Malone in his only film) is the wayward son of a famous plastic surgeon. A nightwatchmen gets killed and a woman gets shot and survives. From there, the two ne’er-do-wells hide out from the law and sometimes take drastic measures to do so.
In today’s terms, the title Jail Bait suggests an underage girl, but in this film “jail bait” is merely a gun. It’s a thing that’s just gonna get you into trouble. The film’s original title was Hidden Face.
This is the first film appearance of Steve “Hercules” Reeves. He’s a police detective who mostly hangs off to the side while main detective Lyle Talbot takes most of the good lines. Reeves does get a gratuitous shirtless scene, though.
Also, legend has it that Bela Lugosi was originally intended to play the fatherly plastic surgeon here, but Bela was busy so the role went to veteran character-actor Herbert Rawlinson, who died of lung cancer the very day after he finished shooting this.