City of Missing Girls

Dull but well acted story of young women that have turned up missing that have one thing in common - they have been attending the Crescent School of the Arts in pursuit of getting into show biz. I enjoyed watching a young John Archer, pretty Astrid Allwyn, crusty HB Warner, and devious Phil Van Zandt give their all in what had to be a pretty inexpensively made film. Also look for Herb Vigran, who amazingly was unaccredited, as one of Phil Van Zandt's henchmen. This an okay time waster but don't seek it out.

"A string of mysterious deaths and disappearances of young women have all been traced to a drama school, where all the girls were students. The district attorney suspects the school may be a front for a prostitution ring and sets out to investigate it. After the D.A. is blackmailed into dropping the investigation, a female reporter decides to go undercover to learn the truth," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Writer/director Elmer Clifton manages to squeeze a few drops of blood from this stone. A scene between villain Philip Van Zandt (as King Peterson) asking "Do you mind if I smoke?" and hero John Archer (as Jimmy Horton) replying "I don't care if you burn" piques interest. Mr. Clifton and H.B. Warner (as "Mac" McVeigh) were bigger names during the silent film era (look for Walter Long, also).

Mr. Archer was a fine actor, who did not get the parts he deserved; and it shows, in this film. Teenage Gale Storm (as Mary Phillips), who unexpectedly became a 1950s TV and rock 'n' roll era recording star, is irresistibly cute; she, and brief pair of vivacious dancing girls, give the film some much-needed oomph. In spite of some strengths, "City of Missing Girls" remains oblique and recumbent.

**** City of Missing Girls (3/27/41) Elmer Clifton ~ John Archer, H.B. Warner, Gale Storm

City of Missing Girls is an interesting post-Hays Code mystery film. It verges on exploitation subject matter but seeing as it was made after the stringent Code censorship rules you could be forgiven for not even noticing. The story is basically about an unscrupulous club-owner who sends show-girls off to lives of prostitution. Pretty racy stuff for the times but the vice material is only ever really alluded to. This was seriously taboo material in the 40's hence this enforced approach.

The film itself is an efficient enough, if unremarkable, example of genre film-making of the time. The focus is strictly on the mystery side of the story, with thrills and suspense almost completely absent. Still it's worth checking out as something of a curiosity piece, seeing as it was quite unusual in the 40's for such a standard mystery film to incorporate any exploitation material at all. So at the very least this movie has this one unusual angle to differentiate it from most of its peers.

This is the story of a crime boss who has a front for either white slavery or prostitution. The words are never spoken. This would have been pretty hot stuff for the time. It involves an assistant district attorney, a female reporter, and a cop who just can't retire. All in all, the chemistry is pretty good. The reporter isn't as tiresome as they usually are. She seems to have some soul and some merit. The bad guy is also pretty well conceived and presents a formidable presence. It is pretty formulaic but keeps our attention throughout. The blackmail thing is believable for the most part and the elements of the crime story are nicely balanced. The one thing that troubles me is the aftermath, dealing with the reporter's father. I won't give anything away, so see what you think of the ending scene.

This is a very low budget B picture which is saved from being a waste of time by surprisingly good acting. The film is 98% shot in a studio with the most basic possible sets. The film did provide an opportunity for Gale Storm, aged 19, to appear in her third feature film (she started in movies only the year before). She would later become famous in America and become something of a 'national treasure' in the hit television series MY LITTLE MARGIE (1952-1955), in which she played Little Margie. Since the series ran to 126 episodes, there was no one in America who had not seen her and taken her to their hearts by the time that was over. And from 1956 to 1960 she continued to ride on her wave of national popularity with her own series, THE GALE STORM SHOW. This film featured H. B. Warner, a well-known and solid performer of the old school, as a police captain, and an extremely lively and cheerful Astrid Allwyn, who does a very good job at holding the film together and keeping us interested. She plays very well against John Archer, as there is chemistry in their jokey romance. The film is a mystery, in that several young girls from the city have disappeared, and no one can trace them. Two have been found dead, so that there is obviously something sinister going on. Whodunnit and who is doing it? That's what everyone wants to know. But it is not easy to find out. A rainy afternoon film.