Slaves in Bondage

Slaves in Bondage
Slaves in Bondage
	Title card
Directed by	Elmer Clifton
Written by	Robert Dillon
Produced by	J.D. Kendis
Starring	See below
Cinematography	Edward Linden
Edited by	Earl Turner
Distributed by	Jay-Dee-Kay Productions
Release date	25 July 1937;
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Slaves in Bondage is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Elmer Clifton and starring Lona Andre, Donald Reed, and Wheeler Oakman.

Plot

Naive country girls are lured to the big city with the promise of employment only to be abducted and forced to work as prostitutes in decadent, high-class brothels.

Cast

Lona Andre as Dona Lee
Donald Reed as Phillip Miller
Wheeler Oakman as Jim Murray
Florence Dudley as Belle Harris
John Merton as Nick Costello
Richard Cramer as Dutch Hendricks
William Royle as Newspaper City Editor
Edward Peil Sr. as Detective Captain
Louise Small as Mary Lou Smith
Matty Roubert as Good-Looking Freddie
Suzanna Kim as Fan Dancer

Ed Carey, Martha Chapin, Donald Kerr, Eddie Laughton, Sam Lufkin, Murdock MacQuarrie, Carl Mathews, Fred Parker, Henry Roquemore, Lottie Smith, and Arthur Thalasso appears uncredited.

Production background

Slaves in Bondage is a low-budget, independently produced exploitation film presented as a cautionary tale about the evils of white slavery prostitution rings operating in larger cities in the United States. To avoid local censorship issues, the film's dialogue does not use the words brothel or prostitution.

The film is typical of the many exploitation film features of its time that claimed to warn the public about various kinds of shocking sin and depravity corrupting today's society. In reality, these films were cynical, profit-motivated vehicles that wallowed in lurid, taboo subjects such as drug abuse, promiscuous sex, venereal disease, polygamy, child marriages, etc.