Traffic in Souls

One of the most notorious melodramas of it's time, director George Loane Tucker's Traffic in Souls seemed to confirm everyone's worst fears about "white slavery". Social reformers leaped into action, while audiences quickly rushed to the theaters to see it. A tremendous box-office success, the film is credited with starting a trend of increasingly sexy films, or at least films that promised sex, since they discovered sex sells. This controversial film which was banned in many cities throughout America, nevertheless grossed half a million dollars.

It is both a pseudo-documentary that reveals how "50,000 Girls disappear yearly" into "white slavery," a criminal organization abducts poor and immigrant women, forcing them into prostitution. The chief crook is a seemingly respectable businessman (William Welsh) who handles the money while his underlings do the dirty work. When a young woman (Ethel Grandin) is drugged and kidnapped, her sister (Jane Gail) teams up with her policeman boyfriend (Matt Moore) to rescue her.

Today, Traffic in Souls has at least two claims to fame. First, its sensational subject matter linked it and number of other more or less contemporaneous films with a moral panic that eventually resulted in the inclusion of the "white slave trade" (the entrapment of young women into prostitution) in the list of topics explicitly barred under the Hays Office's Production Code. Second, and more important for this study, it is a relatively early American-produced feature-length film, apparently, in fact, the first released on Broadway not based on a famous novel or play. It is also the first film of more than three reels produced by the Independent Motion Picture Company, whose president Carl Laemmle was at this time, and for some time to come, publicly committed against the feature film.

Though contrived, it still holds-up to modern scrutiny of what we might think a good film should be like, and its nevertheless a milestone in film-making. It paved the way for the kind of action films Hollywood would soon become noted for making. And to comment on Tucker's great talent, in a period when most films were still overly theatrical, Tucker displays a relatively naturalistic, low-key style. For the most part, the actors behave like real people instead of mugging for the camera, and the expert cross-cutting shows that D.W. Griffith wasn't the only director in Hollywood who could edit with vigor. Though most of his work completely forgotten or lost today, with the work of Traffic in Souls, The Prisoner of Zenda, and the highly acclaimed lost film The Miracle Man, Tucker should easily be credited as one of the finest pioneers of film making.

Traffic in Souls (1913)

** (out of 4)

White slavery was a big issue especially in big cities like New York City where immigrants were coming and often found themselves employed as prostitutes or even worse they were kidnapped into the business. The story is pretty simple as a pair of sisters are torn apart when one is forced into prostitution by an evil ring of men who often just take women as they step off the boats to America. The woman's boyfriend and sister begin a search for her, which leads to the crackdown on the illegal activities. In 1913 this was a pretty controversial movie but it was also the first feature that Universal would release and needless to say it would end up making a killing at the box office. Today the film is sold as being the first exploitation movie but I think that's an unfair label because in 1913 this was meant to be a serious film tackling a serious topic. Those coming to it expecting some sort of sleaze are probably going to be disappointed because what we've basically got is a "message" film not too much unlike the countless films made by D.W. Griffith from 1910-13. The only real difference is that the subject matter here is certainly a tad bit darker than the happy-go-lucky films of Griffith. With that said, overall I think this film is quite boring and in all honesty not much of anything happens throughout the running time. I think the best moments in the movie are some of the action pieces with the highlight being a sequence at the half-way mark where the good cop gets suspicious and enters the "Swedish Employment" building and soon has the fight the pimps and try to save the women. Another good sequence happens as a couple Swedish sisters step off a boat and we're treated to a scene where a cop fixes the arrest of their brother so that they can be kidnapped. The rest of the film contains pretty much slow moving action that really just stales out the running time. At 84-minutes this here was one of the longest running movies from this era but I think a good ten or fifteen-minutes of edited footage probably would have helped the film move a lot better. The performances leave a lot to be desired and there's really no drama to speak of. I think the majority of people going into this thing are going to be disappointed so in the end it's basically just for those film buffs who might be interested in this era or sub-genre. TRAFFIC IN SOULS isn't a masterpiece and it's not even a good film but it deserves its place in history but like so many of these movies the final result isn't all that impressive.

The movie that put little Universal Studios on the movie-making map thanks to its lurid storyline of nice girls who work in sweet shops being abducted off the streets and forced into prostitution. Director George Loane Tucker keeps it moving at a cracking pace, and shows some sophistication in the editing of its opening stages as various girls fall into the hands of the unscrupulous white traders. The plot wanders off into the realms of fantasy at times, and the writing is lazy - the father of an abducted girl just happens to have invented a listening device that is key to foiling the villains, for example. But, despite being trashy and exploitative, Traffic in Souls is a fun watch that holds an important place in film history.

Traffic in Souls is a groundbreaking silent film that delves into the dark world of human trafficking. This socially conscious drama explores the exploitation of young women, highlighting the harsh realities of the era. With its compelling narrative and strong performances, the film sheds light on the moral dilemmas faced by the victims and the efforts made to combat this heinous crime. While the cinematography and storytelling techniques may appear dated by today's standards, Traffic in Souls remains an important cinematic milestone, raising awareness about a grave issue and serving as a catalyst for future films addressing social injustices.

This may be the earliest American feature film that can be shown today without embarrassment; the technique is primitive, but it still holds your interest. Coincidence plays a huge role in the plot, but there's a genuine sense of danger, and the hypocrisy of the villain is a nice touch that should appeal to modern viewers. The camera doesn't move (the camera rarely did in 1913), but brisk editing helps keep the film lively, and Tucker directs with imagination. If you have any interest at all in silent movies, this one is worth a look.