GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

mark.waltz Leading young actress wannabees on the road to ruin is the name of the game in this expose of white slavery in the sex trade, going on around the world even back in the 1940's (and way before that), and police captain H.B. Warner is determined to prevent the vice trade from expanding anymore and prevent any more innocent young girls from having their lives ruined. Philip Van Zandt is the head of this racket, given the obvious criminal name of King Peterson, head of a nightclub who treats the accusations made against him like a total joke, laughing at the law, knowing that they just don't have the evidence on him for being the scum of the earth that he is. He's secret partners with wealthy Boyd Irwin and slimy Herb Vigran (a veteran of many T.V. episodes and especially remembered for commercials), and he threatens them with the fact that if he goes down, he's taking them as well.Astrid Allwyn is Irwin's daughter, an ace reporter who is unaware of her father's protectives and is determined to expose the racket for what it is, even if it means sneaking in as one of the possible girls they utilize for their nefarious intentions. John Archer plays a young assistant D.A. whom Allwyn harasses to get information, and he steps right into the middle of the investigation by answering the phone call from one of Van Zandt's molls who promises to give him the information that he's been searching for. Of course, it's a trap, and all that happens in his attempts to question her is the discovery of a dead body and evidence which will ultimately bring the bad guys down. This of course results in a cowardly act of one of the villains to save their own neck, but the only thing that ends up being saved is the noose to go around it. The end for this nefariously evil character will obviously be in the electric chair! Somewhat shady and exploitive in its pursuit of one of the most low-life of big city rackets, this is cheaply made and sometimes pretty tacky in the way it laughs at the law through the villains. Warner's character, in particular, is so decent and moralistic that this comes off more as a warning for the young girls who have yet to have left their homes and head to big entertainment metropolises like New York or Los Angeles. Patricia Knox, playing the moll, seems to be an unknown variation of similar actresses playing characters which Marian Martin, Veda Ann Borg, Barbara Pepper and Adele Jergens were experts in. This has some enjoyable moments that are pretty heated, but overall, the film just seems to be major exploitation with a few familiar names involved in, amongst them a very young Gale Storm.

a_baron What a load of rubbish. Girls are not missing from this non-thriller, but everything else is. No real action until two thirds and more of the way through, and then only if you use a liberal definition of action. Leading lady Astrid Allwyn is no ingénue but you kind of wish she was, even women reporters were never meant to be this brazen. There is no real plot to this either, there is no scenery, it could have been made in one building, and probably was. Did people really shell out good money to watch celluloid trash like this even in the 1940s? Another reviewer has suggested it has hidden depths, that the missing girls were involved in a white slavery racket or some such. It does give that impression towards the end, but if ever subtlety was not needed, it was not needed here.

MartinHafer "City of Missing Girls" is a B movie that strongly implies but never really says what it's talking about--enabling it to sneak into theaters despite the Production Code. That's because the film is about prostitution--but it's not explicitly stated and might be interpreted differently.The film begins with the discovery of a dead girl. It seems that the trail leads to an acting academy...which is a front for prostitution. When the police dig, they also discover that several missing girls also attended this school and so their suspicions are justly piqued.At the same time, an inquisitive reporter infiltrates the school to learn the truth. Oddly, however, she doesn't realize that her own father is deeply involved in the conspiracy--leading to a really DUMB finale. That's because after she is caught by the ringleader, her father learns about this. Now what do you think you should NOT do if you are him? I'm sure that announcing to the big evil boss "I'm gonna call the police and tell them all about the operation" is perhaps the biggest NOT TO DO thing--and that's EXACTLY what he does. Take a wild guess what happens next!! Yep, you've no doubt guessed! Overall, despite a suck-tastic ending, not a bad film and it's interesting to see because of its adult plot and decent acting. An interesting low-budget curio to say the least.

kidboots For lovers of B movies this film is a cornucopia of stars - silent stars - Walter Long, stars on the way down - Astrid Allwyn, H. B. Warner, stars on the way up - Gale Storm and stars that never were - Kathryn Crawford. In 1930 Crawford was getting the star treatment. She was thought a good bet by Paramount - enough to snare Buddy Rogers away from the more beautiful Carole Lombard and Virginia Bruce in "Safety in Numbers" (1930) - even though she was the drabbest of all the chorus girls in the movie. The next year she had the lead in "Flying High" which boasted Busby Berkeley choreography. Then musicals went out and so did Miss Crawford. She hung around until 1933 and then no more - until this movie - 8 years later, when she was billed as Katherine Crawford and played, what else, a jaded chorus girl.A philosophizing D.A. (H. B. Warner) is on a crusade to find out the fate of a group of missing girls, all of whom have attended a local dramatic school. A sleazy night club manager King Peterson (Philip Van Zandt), uses it as a feeder for his nightclub, which could also be a front for a prostitution racket - or that's what the D.A. wants to find out. Nora (Astrid Allwyn) is a newspaper reporter, whose father is a theatrical booking agent. She goes to him for information about the girls and while he pleads ignorance, he knows far more than he lets on. One of the missing girls turns up, showering gifts on her mother but being vague about her new job. It seems that one of the nightclub girls has been recruiting young girls for the drama school and Pauline , along with her pretty friend Mary (Gale Storm) are signed up. Pauline, however knows too much and is talking so she ends up dead in an alley. Nora's father runs the drama school but when he entered into association with Peterson, he didn't realise what was involved - and now he wants out.This is an OK movie. H.B. Warner had an astounding career - there didn't seem to be a role he wouldn't tackle. In this one he was so debonair - I kept expecting him to be unmasked as the villain. Astrid Allwyn, must have discovered the secret of eternal youth as she always looked young and beautiful.Recommended.