Street of Forgotten Women

For those who thought "Reefer Madness" was the first exploitation movie you'll be interested to know that the genre was alive and well during the silent era. "Street of Forgotten Women" is the usual potboiler about a rich girl who is disowned by her father when she decides she wants a career in show business. After sinking her money in a stage production which immediately flops, she's forced to try and earn a living dancing in a saloon in her underwear (which sounds far more erotic in the telling of it than actually watching it on the screen). Even worse, she is forced into prostitution in a slum apartment that just happens to be owned by (have you already guessed it??) HER FATHER!!!!! And after the requisite happy ending you'll find that the biggest surprise is that the entire movie runs only about 40 minutes (!!!) Still, for fans of the exploitation genre, this is a rare chance to get a glimpse of early "grindhouse" fare.

The prologue to "Street of Forgotten Women" is unintentionally hilarious. It points out how the film was brought to the audience as a 'public service' and pretends to be a film about social progress and change. Instead, it's a sensationalistic exploitation film...the sort of movie that pretended to preach against evil...but was designed to bring in the crowds hoping to catch a few glimpses of that evil! Norton S. Parker also directed this film in addition to "Street of Forgotten Women". You can understand why he made exploitation pictures, as "Road to Ruin" cost a paltry $2500 to make and ended up grossing (a good choice of words) $2,500,000!! There are no financial figures given for this one, but most likely it grossed quite a bit!!

In "Road to Ruin" a young woman's path to perversion and death was paved by reading a romance novel. In "Street of Forgotten Women" the lady's virtue was lost and it was all due to acting!

When the story begins, Ken the social worker meets with Mr. Fleming the rich industrialist and slumlord. Apparently a lot of vice is happening in his slums and he's indifferent to Ken's pleas to close the places. A bit later, Fleming's daughter, Grace, is lured by promises from some guy named Magnus to make her a star. But her stage debut is a disaster and she is out of work....but too proud to return home. Then Magnus arranges for her to get more work...but it's in a weird sort of burlesque house where she appears on stage in her underwear and men bid on the right to give her a kiss (huh??). Later, Magnus attacks and rapes Grace and she is left stunned...wandering the streets in the slums. Eventually, she collapses in the doorway to a brothel where she is then held prisoner! Is there any hope for her? And, what about her father? Will he learn that his own beloved daughter has fallen in with such shameful scum?? Watch the film and see for yourself....if you dare!!

Unlike nearly every exploitation film I have seen, there is actually a reasonably happy ending to this one and then Grace herself explains that it was she who narrated this silent film and that it's all TRUE!!! So, the lesson apparently is twofold. First, don't be a slumlord. Second, never, ever become an actress!!!

Like most exploitation films, the story is salacious and silly...and rather entertaining. It's not nearly as much fun to watch as "Road to Ruin" but it is still unintentionally hilarious.

Street of Forgotten Women (1927)

** (out of 4)

Grace is a very rich girl whose father owns several high class businesses. She decides that she wants to go on the stage as a dancer and when her father hears this he kicks her out. Now on her own, Grace tries to produce her own show but when it's a bust she's now homeless. She decides to do erotic dancing and this leads to prostitution.

STREET OF FORGOTTEN WOMEN is a film that there's not too much information out there about it. There aren't any cast or crew credits on the print and it seems that there aren't many, if any, publicity materials out there. This here is basically the fake type of morality tale where exploitation producers were trying to pass off risky material as education. The film starts off with a very long Forward about how streets are full of the rich and the poor and that everyone has a story.

The story of Grace is pretty much that she's spoiled, gets kicked out by rich daddy and soon finds herself poor and having to resort to prostitution. That's the entire plot and it fits nicely into this 52-minute movie. This thing isn't good. It's certainly not bad. There's just nothing here that makes it anything more than a decent time killer if you're a fan of the genre. If you're looking for anything naughty or dirty then you'll be disappointed as the entire story is told in a rather tame way.

While there's nothing ground-breaking here, it's still interesting to watch STREET OF FORGOTTEN WOMEN just so you can see what an exploitation picture from this era was like. As we know, once sound came into play producers were willing to be a lot more naughty with the material.