The Wages of Sin (1938 film)
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Constance Worth as Marjorie Benton in the final courtroom scene of The Wages of Sin.
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| Directed by | Herman E. Webber |
| Produced by | Willis Kent |
| Screenplay by | Willis Kent |
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| Cinematography | Harvey Gould |
| Edited by | Robert Jahns |
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77 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Wages of Sin is a 1938 drama produced by Willis Kent and directed by Herman Webber. Cheaply made, with poor production values, it is an exploitation film made outside the Hollywood production code, dealing with topics of white slavery, prostitution and murder.
The film begins with a long subtitled introduction, stating 90,000 women in the US go missing annually and suggesting many are forced by circumstances to join the “Sisterhood of Sorrow”.
Marjorie Benton, who is “just a kid,” dreams of an office job, but works at the Pacific Laundry and is the only breadwinner for a family of coarsely-spoken strikers and loafers. She finally goes on a night out with Florence, one of the other laundry workers, to a seedy nightclub. At the nightclub they watch some impromptu acts and Marjorie drinks alcohol and tries marijuana, which Florence does not approve of. The girls catch the eye of Tony Kilonis who insists on driving them back to Florence’s. Tony warns Florence not to say anything about his reputation to Marjorie.
Having been thrown out of home by her family for staying out, and Tony having secretly arranged for Marjorie to be sacked, Tony charms Marjorie and lures her into living with him in a stylish apartment, with promises of marriage and lavish lifestyle. After a few months, he tells her he wants her to entertain a gentleman at a hotel "for money". Marjorie is initially shocked. In an unusual close up shot on Tony’s face, straight to camera, he threatens her and she complies. Marjorie works as a regular call girl at a hotel until exposed when she steals from a customer.
Tony then offers her a "long vacation" up the coast. This turns out to be at a brothel, run by madam Pearl. When Marjorie refuses to work, she is locked in her room. Tearfully, she explains to another prostitute, Roxy, that she is pregnant. If only she could tell Tony. Roxy helps her to escape. Making her way back to the city, she returns to Tony’s apartment but discovers him seducing another woman with exactly the same lines he once used on her. In despair, Marjorie shoots them both. A final courtroom and jury scene completes the film - however the question of Marjorie’s guilt is left unresolved. A title offers cinema goers cash prizes for the best written verdict sent in.
In the lengthy nightclub scene, comedienne Jan Duggan sings "The Seashell Song", which she first sang in the 1934 W. C. Fields film The Old Fashioned Way. Burlesque dancer Rose La Rose performs a partial striptease, until interrupted by an angry boyfriend who covers her with a table cloth. (She appears in the same clothes and in front of an identical bar room set up in "Rose la Rose, Tops in Any League", a short stag film).
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