Slaves

SLAVES IN BONDAGE-1937-Jim Murray (Wheeler Oakman from ESCORT GIRL) and Belle Harris (Florence Dudley) are running whore houses using kidnapped girls. A reporter named Phil (Donald Reed) tries to crack the ring with the help of his girlfriend manicurist Donna Lee (Lona Andre). For some reason two guys do a weird acrobatic dance for Phil, who's unimpressed. It turns out the manicure parlor is actually a front for it's real business: prostitution! 

A thug named Good Looking Freddy is shot and his dead body dumped on the street. An Asian woman does a fan dance. Meanwhile two of Murray's stooges Nick (John Merton) and Dutch (Richard Cramer) plot to take over. Jim (who's sweet on Donna) frames Phil with some marked money while Belle tries to "recruit" Donna. Nick and Dutch try their takeover and a big fight ensues. The police finally get wise and arrest everyone and Phil rescues Donna from Jim's evil clutches. This badly directed and edited exploitation film is full of comic drunks, cliched dialogue, a cat fight and 2 woman spanking each other.

Lead actress Lona Andre was in OUR RELATIONS with Laurel & Hardy and lost out on the role of "the panther woman" in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS to Kathleen Burke.

Producer J.D. Kendis also produced ESCORT GIRL. Director Elmer Clifton started his career in silent films (his most famous was DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS) but made mostly low budget dramas in the sound era. One of his last projects was the serial CAPTAIN AMERICA.

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Korea

HOWLING-2012-After a drug addict is burned to death by a bomb planted in his belt, a male detective (Kang-ho Song from THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) and his female partner (Na-yeong Lee) investigate. Naturally he's a jaded chauvinist. When he finds out it's a homicide he wants to solve it all by himself and get all the credit. Later a man is attacked and killed by a wolf (the first victim had a wolf bite on his leg). Both victims seem to have ties to drugs, prostitution and porn. When he gets in trouble for withholding info the two learn to work together...sort of. After several screw-ups (most of the other detectives are assholes) the investigation leads to illegal dog fighting, a hybrid wolf-dog and a former police K-9 dog trainer seeking revenge.

There's an exciting but ultimately sad finale in this Korean production directed by Ha Yoo (A DIRTY CARNIVAL).

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The Crazy '50's

THE WILD AND THE WICKED (aka FLESH MERCHANT)-1956-In this badly acted and directed morality play, innocent dope Nancy Sheridan (Joy Reynolds) comes to Hollywood to live with her older sister Paula (Lisa Rack). Nancy wants to be a model like her big sis but Paula wants her to go back home. Instead of leaving Nancy goes to model at an "art school", modeling nude for the sleazy pair of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Sogel (Guy Manford). Sogel sends her to "the colony", run by sleazy Vito Pirelli  (Mark Perri) and his comic sidekick Joker. She strikes up a friendship with her roommate Easy. Everything goes along fine until some middle-age guy puts the moves on her. She tries to leave but Vito won't let her. She becomes a whore real fast. After a party where one of the girls does a weird dance, Vito beats up Easy and sends her to "skid row". Easy helps the cops and Vito is killed in a shootout. Ironically, Nancy gets a big surprise when Easy's replacement turns out to be sister Paula! At another party Paula freaks out and shouts "You're all drunks and lechers! You're scum! Buyers of sin!". Just before Rogell and Joker can harm the sisters the cops show up.

Director W. Merle Connell also made TEST TUBE BABIES.

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Exploitation Movie For A Christmas Night

ESCORT GIRL-1941-A sleazy guy named Breezy Nolan (Guy Kingsford) runs an escort service but the real owners are Greg (Wheeler Oakman) and Ruth (Betty Compson) who oversee the operation while running a respectable cafe'. Ruth's daughter June (Margaret Marquis) pays a surprise visit with her fiance' Drake (Robert Kellard) who's going to work for the DA in bringing down the escort service. Of course June has no idea of her mother covert actions. Drake manages to get a job with the service (undercover). Through a big mix up Drake winds up thinking June is working as an escort. She wants to expose Greg as the leader of the illegal activities but when he reveals who his partner is June relents. Greg gets her drunk (she's pretty funny boozed up!) and Ruth freaks out when she finds them together. When Drake and Greg fight it out Ruth is shot and Greg falls out a window. Ruth confesses the truth and the couple live happily ever after.

The direction and acting are sub-par but the fights are entertainingly bad and the print I saw was choppy. It's the only director credit for Edward E. Kaye.

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30's Drug Culture

COCAINE FIENDS-1935-In this crude low budget drug exploitation film Nick (Noel Madison) pushes drugs, sometimes at a drive-in diner where Fanny and Eddie work. When Fanny (Sheila Bromley) wants to "make woopie" at a nightclub Eddie (Dean Benton) says he's too tired so Fanny gives him some cocaine to wake him up. It works and they go to "The Dead Rat Cafe" to watch a famous actress dance. Nick is there with his wife who is Eddie's sister but she pretends not to know him. Fanny and Eddie wind up moving in together but Eddie becomes a hopeless addict (the landlady calls him a "hophead").  "I need a shot!" he implores Fanny who becomes a prostitute to help feed his habit. Fanny eventually becomes an addict too and gets pregnant to boot. Another character the well to do Dorothy (Lois Lindsey) frequents the drive-in, Her boyfriend Dan is an undercover cop. Eddie says a lot of hateful things to Franny who commits suicide. Nick winds up kidnapping Dorothy but his wife shoots and kills him. The police arrive just in time to arrest the big boss: Dorothy's prominent father! The Eddie character is totally forgotten about.

COCAINE FIENDS is filled with preachy dialogue without much action. Characters say "swell" a lot and there are some terrible musical numbers that take up time. Also known as THE PACE THAT KILLS, the print I saw was terrible. Director William A. O'Connor was an assistant director on many low budget westerns. I couldn't find a date for his death but if he is still alive he's be 113!!!

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Worth It!

DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE-1980-In this psycho-slasher horror flick the underrated Nicolas Worth plays Kirk Smith a deranged Vietnam vet/photographer who strangles women then takes pictures of them. He even calls a radio psychiatrist (Flo Gerrish) and talks with a Hispanic accent. Later he later convinces a prostitute to call the station and while she's talking to the doctor he kills her. James Westmoreland and Ben Frank play two wise ass detectives trying to solve the murders. I think they were trying to imitate Starskyand Hutch but they are more like Dumb and Dumber.

Worth (who died in 2007 at age 69) gives a tour de force performance, crying, laughing and talking to himself in a mirror. In a stand-out scene he talks to his "father" about how he beat up a pimp. The rest of the acting (made up mostly of TV actors and actresses) isn't as interesting and the story is quite sick (most of the victims die topless) and drags when Worth's not around but his performance makes it worth seeing. (No pun intended)

This was the only movie made by director Robert Hammer. The worst part is that while Smith is a crazed vicious killer the two cops act like jerks and aren't very likable.

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Silent Traffic

TRAFFIC IN SOULS-1913-This very early silent film is a social drama about prostitution. A candy shop worker named Mary (Jane Gail) attempts to expose a prostitution ring when her younger sister (Lorna Barton) is "recruited". Mary gets help from her policeman-boyfriend (Matt Moore). Although most of the characters have names they are usually referred to by a title like "The Go-Between" and "A Country Girl".
It's an interesting artifact and has it's moments but it's a little too long at 84 mins. (considered very long in 1913!). Some consider this the first exploitation film. 

Director George Loane Tucker made many silent era films but died in 1921 at the age of 49. One of his last films was THE MIRACLE MAN with Lon Chaney. This was a big hit for producer Carl Laemmle and it enabled him to start Universal Pictures.

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