Escort Girl

I just stumbled into this grindhouse-type feature from the early '40s on the Internet Archive. This is a short melodramatic story of a female head of an escort service who has a big worry on her mind when her daughter-who's never known about her mother's profession since she's been to out-of-town schools growing up-visits her with her fiancée who's investigating to close down these adult places. It's just as well the print I saw had several splices and was just under an hour since the whole thing was mostly laughably cheesy especially whenever that daughter gets angry or sad and gets saddled with the worst lines to boot! There are some intentionally amusing moments though like when Arthur Housman does his usual drunk routine (I remember him from some Laurel & Hardy shorts) or when that receptionist talks and does some facial reactions. I think she's played by Gay Seabrook who's best known as Spanky's mother in a couple of Our Gang shorts. And, yes, there's a somewhat sexy striptease dance of one lady who shows her breasts though her nipples are covered by pasties. So on that note, Escort Girl is worth a look for what I just sighted and no more.

This film is hilariously bad, with silent star Betty Compson, in her mid-40s (but looking like mid-60s) as an "escort," even though we never get to see her do her thing. Her daughter eventually finds out about her mother, leading to the riveting climax. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say somebody gets shot and someone gets tossed out a window. Ms. Compson isn't in the film enough to make this interesting, even as a curio. The film is made even worse by the condition of the print. The skips cause the dialogue to be chopped to smithereens, characters jump from one position to another, and a gun magically appears in Ms. Compson's hand. At one point, the sound was so bad that Ms. Compson sounded like Porky Pig. The sound disappeared completely for a minute due to the required monthly test by our cable company (I just love when that happens). Arthur Housman has a bit as a drunk, which was an acting stretch for him.

Escort Girl (1941)

** (out of 4)

Ruth (Betty Compson) and her partner Gregory (Wheeler Oakman) run an escort service in Hollywood but Ruth's life is turned upside down when her daughter (Margaret Marquis) comes to visit. The daughter doesn't know mommy's real profession and it doesn't help when her boyfriend turns out to be working with the D.A. to bring down escort services. Fans of campy or bad cinema will certainly want to check this thing out but others should stay far away even though the film does feature an Oscar nominated actress in Compson. The actress was a big player in the silent era and acted in some well remembered films in the 30's but I guess you can tell how far she had fallen when she was seen in something like this. The exploitation factor is off the charts as we get all sorts of "naughty" moments including some brief nudity with a striptease (although the nipples are covered). The storyline is rather dirty but this wasn't the only film to deal with escorts as I'm sure the original producer's tried to pass this off as a "warning" or "message" film. The film is pretty straight forward for the first forty-minutes but the final twenty is where things really go crazy. When the daughter finds out the truth behind mommy's business I couldn't help but laugh at her breakdown. Also hilarious is her scenes where she's drunk because this ranks as some of the worst acting I've seen. Compson turns in a pretty good performance as does Oakman who would go onto appear in several Bela Lugosi films including The Ape Man and Ghosts on the Loose. In the end this film isn't going to appeal to very many except for fans of camp and those wanting a few unintentional laughs would be wise to check out this quickie.

Okay, no Oscar bait here. The only question is whether this exploitation flick is bad enough to be good. In my book, there're not enough campy moments to qualify for Ed Wood territory. The trouble is middle-age actors Compson and Oakman are simply too accomplished and get too much screen time to bring down the material to subterranean levels. The young couple qualify with some truly sappy moments and bad acting, but unfortunately those are overcome by their two elders. For the voyeur crowd, which includes myself, the girls' underwear conflabs are more like sorority get-togethers than a bunch of hookers exchanging tricks of the trade. Too bad. Ahh…nevertheless, there is that one brief shining moment when this really shapely little number comes out of nowhere to peel down to pasties and fringed g-string that makes the whole 70 minutes worthwhile. I love the bad lighting that made the scene look like an out-take from a stag film. I suppose the producers figured they needed to deliver more than chatty escorts and naughty innuendo to the balcony crowd. Anyway, I'm sorry to say that this cheapie just isn't distinguished enough to enter that rarefied circle of demonic druggies, promiscuous teens, and wayward women, otherwise known as 30's camp classics.

This is a thoroughly dreadful film and the fact that the print is so incredibly choppy doesn't help matters! In fact, it's one of the choppiest prints I have ever seen--and it must have lopped at least five minutes off the film! The movie is about an escort service--in other words, a prostitution ring. A lady is the madame of this agency and has managed to hide this from her daughter--who she has sent away to exclusive schools in order to hide the mother's dirty life. But, when the now grown daughter unexpectedly shows up with her boyfriend (who just happens to be the son of the District Attorney who is investigating this racket!!), things get interesting...or so it should have been had the film been written better. Instead, the film limps along--punctuated with a very risqué striptease scene that really has nothing to do with the film--it's just a chance to see a nearly nude woman. In fact, because of this, the film would not have been allowed to have been shown in many, if not most, municipalities. But, considering how dumb and boring the whole things is, this is no great loss. While it's bad all around, perhaps Margaret Marquis' acting (as the daughter) is the worst in the film---it was THAT bad! Dumb from start to finish.