Escort Girl

Movie about a sweet young girl named June (Margaret Marquis) who doesn't realize her mom helps run an escort agency with sleazy Gregory Stone (Wheeler Oakman). The problem is she's madly in love with tall handsome Drake (Bob Kellard) who's investigating the escort agencies and Stone will do anything to stop him...

The acting is pretty bad all around (although Isabel La Mal as Snuggles is amusing), the story pretty unbelievable and the print I saw on TCM was in VERY poor shape (there were so many jumps in it I almost gave up watching a few times). Still even a pristine print can't really make this a good film. It's not bad but it's hardly good. For what it is (an exploitation film) it's not bad. There's a few scenes of the escort girls lounging around in their underwear and there's a quick and (for 1941) pretty explicit striptease. Only her top comes off but that was pretty risqué back then. It's watchable and somewhat amusingly dated--the rate for an escort girl back then was only $10.00! They don't have sex though unless you pay $20.00!!! An OK exploitation film for its day.

Escort Girl (1941)

** (out of 4)

Ruth (Betty Compson) and her partner Gregory (Wheeler Oakman) run an escort service in Hollywood but Ruth's life is turned upside down when her daughter (Margaret Marquis) comes to visit. The daughter doesn't know mommy's real profession and it doesn't help when her boyfriend turns out to be working with the D.A. to bring down escort services. Fans of campy or bad cinema will certainly want to check this thing out but others should stay far away even though the film does feature an Oscar nominated actress in Compson. The actress was a big player in the silent era and acted in some well remembered films in the 30's but I guess you can tell how far she had fallen when she was seen in something like this. The exploitation factor is off the charts as we get all sorts of "naughty" moments including some brief nudity with a striptease (although the nipples are covered). The storyline is rather dirty but this wasn't the only film to deal with escorts as I'm sure the original producer's tried to pass this off as a "warning" or "message" film. The film is pretty straight forward for the first forty-minutes but the final twenty is where things really go crazy. When the daughter finds out the truth behind mommy's business I couldn't help but laugh at her breakdown. Also hilarious is her scenes where she's drunk because this ranks as some of the worst acting I've seen. Compson turns in a pretty good performance as does Oakman who would go onto appear in several Bela Lugosi films including The Ape Man and Ghosts on the Loose. In the end this film isn't going to appeal to very many except for fans of camp and those wanting a few unintentional laughs would be wise to check out this quickie.

As proprietor of a Hollywood "Escort Bureau", Betty Compson (as Ruth Ashley) procures young men and women for paying customers. The kind-hearted madam has kept her business a secret from fetching young daughter Margaret Marquis (as June Ashley), who spends her time in finishing school. But, things get complicated when innocent Ms. Marquis goes home to live with Mother Compson.

Marquis' good-looking fiancé Robert Kellard (as Drake Hamilton) also arrives. Soon, authorities move in on the racket run by Ms. Compson and partner Wheeler Oakman (as Gregory Stone). Fiancé Kellard goes undercover as a male escort, to investigate the area's illegal trade. Guy Kingsford (as Breeze Nolan) is the ringleader.

"Escort Girl" is a chance to see former silent screen great Betty Compson in a later years role. And, a generous scene features women in various stages of undress. Sporting a figure you won't forget, the dancer in pasties is a titillating highlight. Handsome gigolos Kellard and Rick Vallin are kept fully dressed.

**** Escort Girl (1941) Eddie Kaye ~ Betty Compson, Robert Kellard, Margaret Marquis

This is a thoroughly dreadful film and the fact that the print is so incredibly choppy doesn't help matters! In fact, it's one of the choppiest prints I have ever seen--and it must have lopped at least five minutes off the film! The movie is about an escort service--in other words, a prostitution ring. A lady is the madame of this agency and has managed to hide this from her daughter--who she has sent away to exclusive schools in order to hide the mother's dirty life. But, when the now grown daughter unexpectedly shows up with her boyfriend (who just happens to be the son of the District Attorney who is investigating this racket!!), things get interesting...or so it should have been had the film been written better. Instead, the film limps along--punctuated with a very risqué striptease scene that really has nothing to do with the film--it's just a chance to see a nearly nude woman. In fact, because of this, the film would not have been allowed to have been shown in many, if not most, municipalities. But, considering how dumb and boring the whole things is, this is no great loss. While it's bad all around, perhaps Margaret Marquis' acting (as the daughter) is the worst in the film---it was THAT bad! Dumb from start to finish.

This film is hilariously bad, with silent star Betty Compson, in her mid-40s (but looking like mid-60s) as an "escort," even though we never get to see her do her thing. Her daughter eventually finds out about her mother, leading to the riveting climax. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say somebody gets shot and someone gets tossed out a window. Ms. Compson isn't in the film enough to make this interesting, even as a curio. The film is made even worse by the condition of the print. The skips cause the dialogue to be chopped to smithereens, characters jump from one position to another, and a gun magically appears in Ms. Compson's hand. At one point, the sound was so bad that Ms. Compson sounded like Porky Pig. The sound disappeared completely for a minute due to the required monthly test by our cable company (I just love when that happens). Arthur Housman has a bit as a drunk, which was an acting stretch for him.