The Wages of Sin. 1938. USA. Directed by Herman E. Webber. With Constance Worth, Willy Castello, Blanche Mehaffey, Clara Kimball Young. New York premiere. 76 min.
A rare surviving example of Depression-era exploitation cinema produced outside the constraints of the Production Code, Herman E. Webber’s stark melodrama follows Marjorie Benton, a struggling working woman coerced into prostitution. Like Dwain Esper’s Narcotic (1933) and Sex Madness (1938), the film traveled the exploitation circuit under the pretense of public health education, complete with a live lecturer and sensationalistic lobby displays warning of “moral decay.” Shot in a raw, unvarnished style typical of “vice films” of the period, The Wages of Sin exemplifies how independent producers addressed taboo social issues while skirting censorship through strategic marketing of their films as educational ventures. While ostensibly serving as a cautionary tale, it provides an unexpectedly sympathetic portrait of women’s economic vulnerability during the Depression, sharing thematic concerns with more prestigious social-problem films like William Wyler’s Dead End (1937).
Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by David Stenn.