Very disappointing...

Simply A Masterpiece

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

How amazing, a few months ago I came across a Kay Francis Monogram called "Allotment Wives" (1945). In it she played the head of a marriage racket whose daughter comes home from a fancy finishing school and decides she wants to be part of the racket as well. But good old Betty Compson was in the original (with a few variations). Compson seemed to have more come backs than Dame Nellie Melba (to use a colloquial phrase) but in reality she never stopped working. This movie was from exploitation producer J.D. Kendis who used a bit more daring in his movies about the sordid side of life.Compson is joined by Wheeler Oakman whose career went right back to Mabel Normand's "Mickey" where he was the male lead. By the early 1940s he was firmly ensconced in the exploitation grind. He may have been a nice guy but he had a sleazy look about him, ideally suited to this type of movie. This one deviates slightly from "Allotment Wives" - in this one Betty Compson plays Ruth Ashley, head of a big escort agency who has finally won a place in high society. The fly in the ointment is her daughter June (Margaret Maruis) who is coming home for a visit from her posh finishing school and doesn't know her mother's real occupation!!! As if Ruth doesn't have enough to worry about, June is also bringing her fiancée, Drake, who is coming to the city on an undercover assignment to expose - you guessed it, the head of the escort racket!!!The movie hovers between laughs and drama - the gals tell "hilarious" stories of their encounters with clients, there is even a pretty salacious striptease that doesn't leave much to the imagination. The main story is strictly dramatic and both Betty Compson and Wheeler Oakman with their professionalism make sure the movie is saved from being unintentionally funny. Drake, as part of his investigation, hires an escort and Stone (Oakman) to retaliate against June, who now wants to give up the agency and be really respectable, sends June along to be his date!!! There is the usual misunderstanding and June goes back to Stone's apartment to find out the truth. Stone obliges by telling her about her mother then June hits the bottle and cheesy lines fly thick and fast - "Hey, it looks like you're sobering up, have another drink" and the old standby "Sure I've been drinking - to try to forget my broken dreams" - I assure you it really is said!!!The film was pretty choppy - supposedly 68 minutes, my print was only 58 minutes. Even with 10 minutes out the story was pretty easy to follow.

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.

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.

Movie about a sweet young girl named June (Margaret Marquis) who doesn't realize her mom helps run an escort agency with sleazy Gregory Stone (Wheeler Oakman). The problem is she's madly in love with tall handsome Drake (Bob Kellard) who's investigating the escort agencies and Stone will do anything to stop him...The acting is pretty bad all around (although Isabel La Mal as Snuggles is amusing), the story pretty unbelievable and the print I saw on TCM was in VERY poor shape (there were so many jumps in it I almost gave up watching a few times). Still even a pristine print can't really make this a good film. It's not bad but it's hardly good. For what it is (an exploitation film) it's not bad. There's a few scenes of the escort girls lounging around in their underwear and there's a quick and (for 1941) pretty explicit striptease. Only her top comes off but that was pretty risqué back then. It's watchable and somewhat amusingly dated--the rate for an escort girl back then was only $10.00! They don't have sex though unless you pay $20.00!!! An OK exploitation film for its day.