Mujeres que se pierden

An assistant DA tries to track the whereabouts of missing girls, leading into a tangled web of corruption.

With that suggestive title and sleaze director Elmer Clifton, I was expecting maximum titillation. Well, there is some peek-a-boo at The Crescent School of Fine Art, where the half-clad dancers somehow manage to all be female. No doubt, if it weren't for the censors, the "school" would be called Gateway to Hookerland, but then this is a commercial product.

Not surprisingly, it is a cheap undertaking by quick-buck producers. Still, the cast is much better than the material, especially the sparkly Allwyn and the smoothly slick Van Zandt, who's especially impressive as an egotistical gangster. His sarcastic exchanges with DA Horton (Archer) may well be the film's dramatic highlight. These main players may not be exactly household names but they do lend edge to what could have been merely a listless payday. Impressive too is old-timer HB Warner who's about as relaxed before the camera as anyone I've seen. Still, it's a long way from Jesus in King of Kings (1927), a silent screen classic. I imagine he was added for marquee value. Then too, catch malt-shop Gale Storm in a small but appealing part.

Anyway, it's a rather complex plot so you may need to keep notes. Still, the large cast does about as well with the tacky material as can be expected, and is not without points of interest.

Saccharine Story of Sex-Trafficking behind a "Training" School for Show Business Female Wannabes.

Veiled with Double-Talk and Innuendo to Keep the Code-Police at Bay.

There's a Reference to even High-School Girls as Victims.

The Scantily-Clad "Girly" Scenes are Vapid, Hardly Titillating Dance Numbers with the Performers so Heavily Dressed as to be Ridiculous.

The Mystery Part isn't much of a Mystery.

It's a "Go-Through-The-Motions" Motion Picture.

With a Lead Female Reporter, Named "Page", (Astrid Allwyn) so Bright-Eyed and Giddy as to be Distracting.

Silent-Movie Star H. B. Warner Milks His Age as a Police Inspector that is the Butt of Many Barbs about Retiring.

Phillip Van Zandt is a Slimy King-Pin Named "King" and Steals His Scenes with His Dark Good Looks and Evil Persona.

Not a Bad Movie but it Lands with a Thud, sorta Like the Leading Man John Archer.

No Spark, the Film just Begs for Something, Anything to Light a Fire Under the Damp Dramatics.

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.

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.