The Inside of the White Slave Traffic (1913) User Reviews

Interesting Short

[jjturley · 7/10 · 9 April 2014]

This narrates the story of a young woman, Annie, who gets caught up in the "White Slave Trade." It is all an accident, or so she thinks, that an unforeseen scandal forces her to leave her parent's home and marry some man, George, who will provide for her. Little does Annie know that this was all part of a big plan to turn her into a prostitute!

They move to New Orleans and soon Annie has to start "working" at the job which was intended for her from the start. She tries to escape, but the Sex Traffickers have a network throughout the USA and send coded telegrams to each other. There is really no place to go.

Even though this movie is technically "incomplete" since some reels are now lost, there is still a full story here. This movie also contains a strong message about how innocent women can be forced into working in the sex industry. And since they are women, the corrupt system is unfair towards them. The customers do not receive the harsh penalties that the prostitutes get.

I was impressed with this movie. Although it was a different era (horses and wagons are often visible along the city streets) the message could still apply today.

Both affecting and historically interesting

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 2 October 2020]

Though incomplete, this short tells a complete story: an innocent young woman is lured into a human trafficking ring after being seduced by a man who got her drunk and then thrown out by her scandalized parents. Left with nowhere else to turn, she marries her seducer, who then sells her to a pimp in New Orleans. Despite her attempts to break free, she is trapped by poverty and an elaborate criminal network across the United States, and ultimately dies an outcast.

While it will strike moderns as didactic and even naïve, THE INSIDE OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE is an interesting capsule from a time we erroneously consider "more innocent." I was most astonished by the compassion for the victim: one title card even urges parents not to throw their daughters out should they find themselves in a similar position-- very different from the rather unforgiving attitudes toward rape victims during the period (the idea that a woman who went out that late with a strange man was just "asking for it").

Saddest of all is that human trafficking is still very much with us.