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Thursday, July 15, 2010

GAMBLING WITH SOULS


Guess they called it “White Slavery Rackets” back in the day. Today we call it “Ho-ing”.

The movie starts out with a murder. The shooter is then apprehended and begins to tell her story to the District Attorney about how she became involved in this web of sin.

Martha Chapin, the star of this picture, plays a social-climbing doctor’s wife who is never quite happy with the amount of money her husband is pulling in. A “friend” of hers brings her to a gambling den, and at first, she wins consistently. They always do. She then gets hooked on gambling and soon finds herself 10 grand in debt to the den's gambling boss.

When her markers are called in she, of course, has no money to pay. Turns out her “friend” is working with the boss and his bunch and is, in effect, the Madam (or “Social Secretary”, if you prefer) who doles out the assignments.

Our star then has to sell herself to begin to satisfy her gambling debts, all the while mourning her self-respect. The final straw is when her little sister becomes involved in the gambling den. She, too, gets into debt, and winds up dying in a hospital. In retaliation, our heroine empties the gun into this a-hole.

Didn’t quite know what to make of the ending here. She has told her story to the District Attorney, along with her understanding husband at her side. The DA then tells her that it’s up to the Judge as to whether or not it was justifiable homicide. Fade to black, roll credits.

Dismal story, only made brighter by the fact that Eddie Laughton, a well-known foil for The Three Stooges, has a small role as a foreign restaurant owner. Funny to see him in a drama when all I’m really used to is seeing Eddie get a pie in the face.

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