The Olga movies have a place in exploitation cinema history as being some of the first successful 'roughie' films and they gave us one of the first demented female icons of the grindhouse era. I decided to start out with this flick as it is the first of the series and I have to say that I was underwhelmed. Maybe it is because I have already seen the Ilsa flicks (which were obviously inspired by the Olga series) as they were way more offensive and explicit thereby making White Slaves of Chinatown quite tame in comparison. This resulted in a tedious movie that consisted of narration over various scenes of women becoming addicted to drugs and being tortured for not submitting to Olga's demands. I'm sure that these scenes were offensive back in 1964 and would probably still offend many today (especially in an abortion scene) but I guess I have become quite desensitized to this kind of material. There is an extremely annoying score that consists of an endless loop of Chinese music, some hero-like jazz, and rendition of "Night on Bald Mountain" that kept making me think of Fantasia and took me right out of the picture. This movie hasn't aged well and reminded me more of Reefer Madness than the sexploitation classic it claims to be.
7 Reviews
Interesting as a first attempt at the "abused women" genre
yakikorosu15 December 2007
Basically, Olga's a bad person who likes to turn girls into drug-addicted prostitutes, which involves a lot of torturing them into submission. In 1964 I'm sure the torture scenes and all-but-shown lesbianism would have been shocking, but today it won't even raise an eyebrow. Acting is extremely poor--the vast majority of the girls supposedly being horribly tortured look more put out and bored rather than in pain, and the plot is nonexistent. There is no dialog, just voice-over narration, with a few comments from Olga but mostly by an upright male who is incensed at her methods. The musical score is extremely annoying, especially when it consists of "Chinese" music that the filmmakers must have only had about two minutes of, forcing them to loop it over and over. Oh and speaking of Chinese, this movie is pretty overtly racist, underhandedly blaming the Chinese for a lot of society's woes, even though there is a grand total of one Asian character (a nameless henchman who is in maybe two scenes) in the entire film.
It was interesting to see where the genre came from, but I'm only giving it as high as a four for unintentional hilarity and some wonderfully ridiculous overacting by Olga.
It was interesting to see where the genre came from, but I'm only giving it as high as a four for unintentional hilarity and some wonderfully ridiculous overacting by Olga.
Sleazy exploitation masquerading as a serious warning to society
Leofwine_draca4 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently the first in a series of films to star the character of the sadistic and scheming Olga, as played by Audrey Campbell, WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN is a sometimes astonishing, sometimes boring exploitation quickie made on a shoestring budget and with a total lack of taste on the part of all involved. The plot less story is an excuse for all manner of sadism and perversity to be carried out in front of the camera, although endless shots of girls writhing around in their drug-addicted hell soon become tiring.
Olga's girls are tortured by having their hands crushed in vices when they refuse to cooperate or are simply strung up in a dank cellar until they change their minds. To appeal to the dirty mac brigade, there's plenty of topless nudity from the attractive female actors including Campbell herself. Olga can be seen as a kind of tamer, natural predecessor of the perverse Nazi character of Ilsa, as played by Dyanne Thorne, who would turn up in even more extreme '70s exploitation 'classics' such as ILSA, SHE WOLF OF SS. Campbell goes over-the-top playing the part of the cold-hearted lesbian, all eyeball rolling and sadistic snarls, but somehow her performance fits the style of the film.
WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN holds plenty of dated appeal for the cult film fanatic, not least in the rampant racism and distinctly politically incorrect attitude it holds towards the Chinese and women in general. One ten second piece of clichéd oriental-sounding music is repeated over and over again throughout the movie to a grating effect. Later we get a classic piece which is repeated over and over. The film is tame regards gore and screen violence, but it still packs a distasteful punch with just off-screen abortions and a woman having her breast burnt with a cigarette. To skimp on costs, the film was made without sound and instead of being dubbed post-production, a male voice-over narrates all of the action instead. A novel approach which is not entirely successful in recreating the documentary-style realism that this movie strives for, and is amusingly hypocritical in its attempts to be a serious warning to society when all the film promotes is sleazy exploitation. A sleazy skin flick, sometimes termed a "roughie", from a long-gone era.
Olga's girls are tortured by having their hands crushed in vices when they refuse to cooperate or are simply strung up in a dank cellar until they change their minds. To appeal to the dirty mac brigade, there's plenty of topless nudity from the attractive female actors including Campbell herself. Olga can be seen as a kind of tamer, natural predecessor of the perverse Nazi character of Ilsa, as played by Dyanne Thorne, who would turn up in even more extreme '70s exploitation 'classics' such as ILSA, SHE WOLF OF SS. Campbell goes over-the-top playing the part of the cold-hearted lesbian, all eyeball rolling and sadistic snarls, but somehow her performance fits the style of the film.
WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN holds plenty of dated appeal for the cult film fanatic, not least in the rampant racism and distinctly politically incorrect attitude it holds towards the Chinese and women in general. One ten second piece of clichéd oriental-sounding music is repeated over and over again throughout the movie to a grating effect. Later we get a classic piece which is repeated over and over. The film is tame regards gore and screen violence, but it still packs a distasteful punch with just off-screen abortions and a woman having her breast burnt with a cigarette. To skimp on costs, the film was made without sound and instead of being dubbed post-production, a male voice-over narrates all of the action instead. A novel approach which is not entirely successful in recreating the documentary-style realism that this movie strives for, and is amusingly hypocritical in its attempts to be a serious warning to society when all the film promotes is sleazy exploitation. A sleazy skin flick, sometimes termed a "roughie", from a long-gone era.
First entry in the bizarre and twisted Olga saga
Jens-2828 January 2000
Fascinating Audry Campbell leads the way in first Olga-flick. We're in the opium infested Chinatown where Olga's crime syndicate turns innocent girls into hookers and/or junkies. Hey, she's just trying to make a buck! Unique early S&M sleaze epic with racist voice-over instead of dialogue and annoyin' "chinese" music that get played over and over. Take the pain with the pleasure. High culture that will change your life (the Ilsa character of the 70's seems to be inspired by Olga). RECOMMENDED! Check out the other mad Olga flicks, daddy-o!
YES!
BandSAboutMovies22 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Olga (Audrey Campbell) is the meanest and the best at her job, which is turning out women like Frenchie (Gigi Darlene), plying them with marijuana and if that doesn't work, just beating them into submission, all so that they turn tricks for her and the syndicate. The syndicate! You will hear their names so many times.
A film made with all voiceovers, White Slaves of Chinatown was directed and written by Joseph P. Mawra, who directed Fireball Jungle and may or may not have directed Shanty Tramp and Savages from Hell. Probably not.
There's opium everywhere and this feels like those black and white detective magazines you used to see on the newstand that seem way more perverted than any porn magazine, always with women being threatened on the cover and in every story.
Olga would return for four more movies: Olga's House of Shame and Olga's Girls with Campbell and Mme. Olga's Massage Parlor with no Olga showing up and Olga's Dance Hall Girls with Lucy Eldredge as Olga.
In 1964, this movie was probably as offensive as can be. Today, it's still pretty scuzzy but you can't help but find it adorable.
A film made with all voiceovers, White Slaves of Chinatown was directed and written by Joseph P. Mawra, who directed Fireball Jungle and may or may not have directed Shanty Tramp and Savages from Hell. Probably not.
There's opium everywhere and this feels like those black and white detective magazines you used to see on the newstand that seem way more perverted than any porn magazine, always with women being threatened on the cover and in every story.
Olga would return for four more movies: Olga's House of Shame and Olga's Girls with Campbell and Mme. Olga's Massage Parlor with no Olga showing up and Olga's Dance Hall Girls with Lucy Eldredge as Olga.
In 1964, this movie was probably as offensive as can be. Today, it's still pretty scuzzy but you can't help but find it adorable.
A nice slice of mean-spirited 60's roughie depravity
Woodyanders26 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The ruthless Olga (a formidable portrayal by ravishing long-haired brunette beauty Audrey Campbell) turns her female captives into submissive drug-addicted hookers for the prostitution ring she runs in New York's Chinatown. Writer/director Joseph P. Mawra certainly gives the audience their grubby money's worth: Done without direct sound, with neat location footage of the Big Apple in all its seedy 60's glory, an annoyingly catchy'n'cornball Oriental tune grinding away on the soundtrack, plenty of raw sadism and unflinching torture, a satisfying smattering of bare female skin, a bevy of beautiful ladies (the always enticing Gigi Darlene in particular looks super yummy as connected socialite Frenchy), a debauched pot party, a scuzzy guy shooting smack, a solemn narrator working mad overtime, stark black and white cinematography, and even that old exploitation standby the ill-advised back alley abortion, this perfectly sordid opus packs a pleasingly nasty kick.
Probably the Best of the Series
Michael_Elliott29 February 2008
White Slaves of Chinatown (1964)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Olga (Audrey Campbell) returns to Chinatown where she sets up shop to look for some prostitutes. She begins by throwing pot and opium parties to where she kidnaps the girls and forces them to do her dirty work. If they refuse to do it? The girls are then sent to the torture chamber.
WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN is a film I really hated the first time I watched it. In fact, I hated the entire Olga series but I decided to revisit them and I must say that this one here worked a little bit better on a second viewing but at the same time there's no question this is still a pretty bad movie. As was the case with a lot of low-budget movies, the film was shot silent with added voice-over narration and to me this is never a good way to do your movie.
With that said, there are some entertaining moments early on as I thought that this film has a bit more story to it than other entries in the series. I liked how we got to see the various New York City and Chinatown streets. That was certainly a major plus and we also had some great scenes dealing with the drug parties as well as the torture chamber. The film actually gets off to a very good start but around the forty-minute mark the film pretty much runs out of gas and it really becomes boring.
Campbell is a good figure for the Olga character but I'm not sure I'd say she gave a "good" performance. This film has become a cult favorite over the years and I guess I can understand that. The B&W cinematography is good and there are some good elements to this "roughie" but at the same time there are too many flaws that keep it from being better.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Olga (Audrey Campbell) returns to Chinatown where she sets up shop to look for some prostitutes. She begins by throwing pot and opium parties to where she kidnaps the girls and forces them to do her dirty work. If they refuse to do it? The girls are then sent to the torture chamber.
WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN is a film I really hated the first time I watched it. In fact, I hated the entire Olga series but I decided to revisit them and I must say that this one here worked a little bit better on a second viewing but at the same time there's no question this is still a pretty bad movie. As was the case with a lot of low-budget movies, the film was shot silent with added voice-over narration and to me this is never a good way to do your movie.
With that said, there are some entertaining moments early on as I thought that this film has a bit more story to it than other entries in the series. I liked how we got to see the various New York City and Chinatown streets. That was certainly a major plus and we also had some great scenes dealing with the drug parties as well as the torture chamber. The film actually gets off to a very good start but around the forty-minute mark the film pretty much runs out of gas and it really becomes boring.
Campbell is a good figure for the Olga character but I'm not sure I'd say she gave a "good" performance. This film has become a cult favorite over the years and I guess I can understand that. The B&W cinematography is good and there are some good elements to this "roughie" but at the same time there are too many flaws that keep it from being better.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
