Street Of Forgotten Women, The

1429. THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN WOMEN (1927-usa). In the early 1920s, Hollywood was rocked by scandal, There was the murder of director William Desmond Taylor; the death of young starlet Virginia Rappe after a wild party in a hotel room occupied by star comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle; and the death of matinee idol Wallace Reid, caused by heavy drinking and addiction to morphine. As a result, pressure was put upon the film community to censor itself, to make amends by promoting honest, clean lifestyles and a strict sense of morality. This manifested itself in the production of a number of films that warned the American public of the sins of loose livÂing. Occasionally, though, a film (made, of course, way outside the mainstream) that purported to be an expose managed to at the same time shamelessly exploit its subject matter. This is an ultra-low budget potboiler that claims to “honestly and fearlessly” reveal how innocent young things are suckered into lives of prostitution. A lengthy prologue explains that the “producers felt that they are doing a great social service” by offering the film. It is narrated by a young girl, and the scenario tells of this unfortunate soul, whose callous father is a wealthy slumlord, is seduced by a scheming theatric… agent, a “brutal despoiler of women.” After many close-ups of showgirls in various stages of undress, and scenes of our heroine stripped to her undies and brutalized by her tormentor, she finds herself on the tide avenue…The Street Of Forgotten Women. “Silent* film with original organ score, correct proÂjection speed. 55 minutes. ÒSilentÓ Exploitation