''Traffic in Souls'' (also released as ''While New York Sleeps'') is a 1913 American silent

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

film focusing on forced prostitution (

white slavery White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or the Vikings' t ...

) in the United States. Directed by

George Loane Tucker George Loane Tucker (June 12, 1872 – June 20, 1921) was an American actor, silent film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Career Tucker was born George S. Loane in Chicago to George Loane and stage actress Ethel Tucker. After ...

and starring Jane Gail, Ethel Grandin, William H. Turner, and Matt Moore, ''Traffic in Souls'' is an early example of the narrative style in American films. The film consists of six reels, which was longer than most American film of the era. A copy of ''Traffic in Souls'' is preserved at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

and the Film Preservation Associates. In 2006, the film was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

for preservation in the

because it "presaged the Hollywood narrative film" and drew attention through its riveting depiction of the methods used to entrap young women into prostitution.

Plot

The storyline concerns two young Swedish women immigrants who are approached by men soliciting for

under the guise of a legitimate work offer. In the scenes filmed at

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

, after the women are transported there from

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

, real immigrants can be seen in the background. The entire film takes place over the course of three days and consists of a prologue; the main narrative in which one of the sisters is kidnapped by a pimp and the other sister and her boyfriend rush to rescue her in time and the pimp is killed; and an epilogue in which the viewer finds out the consequences from a trashed news article. The film concludes with a joke ending, an ending to a thriller that at the time was not the cliché it has become now.

Cast

* Jane Gail as Mary Barton * Ethel Grandin as Lorna Barton * William H. Turner as Issac Barton, The Invalid Inventor - Mary's Father (credited as Wm. Turner) * Matt Moore as NYPD officer Larry Burke * Walter Long as other policeman (Uncredited) * William Welsh as William Trubus *Millie Liston as Mrs. Trubus (credited as Mrs. Hudson Lyston) *Irene Wallace as Alice Trubus *William Cavanaugh as Bill Bradshaw *

Howard Crampton Howard Crampton (January 12, 1865 – June 15, 1922) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1913 and 1922. He was born in New York, New York. Partial filmography * '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' ...

as the go-between *Arthur Hunter as the procurer *William Burbidge as Mr. Smith *Laura Huntley as the emigrant girl *William Powers as the emigrant girl's brother *Jack Poulson as R.C. Cadet *Edward Boring as Swedish Cadet

Production

''Traffic in Souls'' was based on a story by the film's director George Loane Tucker. The scenario was written by Walter MacNamara who also served as producer with

Jack Cohn Jacob Cohn (October 27, 1889 – December 8, 1956) was a co-founder of Columbia Pictures Corporation. Early life Cohn was born in New York, the son of Joseph, a tailor from Germany, and Bella, from Russia. He had three brothers, Maxwell (1888� ...

. Executive producers include

King Baggot William King Baggot (November 7, 1879 – July 11, 1948) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent film era. The first individually publicized leading man in Americ ...

Herbert Brenon Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of silent films through the 1930s. Brenon was among the early film ...

William Robert Daly William Robert Daly (born William Robert Dailey; October 24, 1872 – 1935) was an actor and director of silent films in the U.S. Early life William Robert Daly was born on October 24, 1872 in Boston, Massachusetts as William Robert Dailey. ...

, and

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important o ...

. The film was shot and produced by

Universal Film Manufacturing Company Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, t ...

, where many early

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the productio ...

s in

America's first motion picture industry Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, t ...

were based at the beginning of the 20th century. Additional footage was shot on location at

and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Its subjects were working women who had immigrated to the United States, and it was released at a time when the country was undergoing a "

moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", us ...

" over the issue of prostitution. While the film was passed by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

as suggesting methods of controlling prostitution or reform of a prostitute, the film's release eventually resulted in the adding of "white slavery" to the list of topics banned under the Hays Code. Terry Ramsaye, an early film historian, wrote in his book ''A Million and One Nights'', that ''Traffic'' ''In Souls'' was made in under four weeks with a small budget of $5,000. He also claimed that all the money came from

, William Robert Daly,

, and Jack Cohn. Furthermore, he also wrote that the film had to be made in secret because

(the future head of Universal Film) tried to stop the film's production and did not want to release it when completed. While Ramsaye's account of the Silent Era is influential, many of his claims have challenged or rejected by contemporary scholars. Film historian

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inte ...

found evidence that the film's actually started with $25,000 provided by theater magnate Lee Shubert, former U.S. Representative Joseph L. Rhinock, and others. And rather than being made in secret, the film actually had a large cast and expensive shooting locations in two states, while Laemmle supported the film because the public's intense interest in

promised substantial profits. The film is notable for its pioneering use of camera movement while shooting scenes. Most films made prior to 1913 relied heavily on scenes shot head-on with a stationary camera. Some filmmakers had been moving tilting or panning their cameras to track a moving object or follow action. For example, Harold M. Shaw panned his camera during one of the final moments of '' The Land Beyond the Sunset'' (1912) while

Alice Guy-Blaché Alice Ida Antoinette Guy-Blaché (née Guy; ; 1 July 1873 – 24 March 1968) was a French pioneer filmmaker. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, s ...

mounted a camera on the back of a moving truck in '' Matrimony's Speed Limit'' (1913). What made Henry Alder Leach's cinematography so groundbreaking is how he deliberately choreographed his camera movements to convey meaning and anticipate action—a technique that predicted the future of film-making.

Release

''Traffic in Souls'' opened on November 24, 1913 at Lou Fields's Theatre at 1215 Broadway in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The film was made for $5,700, and reportedly earned $400,000 during its theatrical run, helping to make Universal a major player among movie studios.

Home media

''Traffic in Souls'' was released on VHS by Kino International accompanied by a piano score by Philip Carli in 1994. Flicker Alley released the film, along with '' The Italian'' (1915) and three shorts, as part of a two DVD set entitled ''Perils of the New Land'' in August 2008. Film historian Shelley Stamp provided expert audio commentary for the 2008 release.

Reception

Author and film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, calling it "a trashy, corny guilty pleasure."

References

External links

*''Traffic in Souls'' essa

by Marilyn Ferdinand at

*''Traffic in Souls'' essay by Daniel Eagan i

America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages *
''Traffic in Souls'' at HistoricFilms''Traffic in Souls'' at Cleveland Institute of Art with still photo from film''Traffic in Souls'' at UCLA Film and Television Archive (May 2012) showing an 88-minute version
*Ball, Eustace Hale (1914),
Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its Cure
', New York: G. W. Dillingham Co., novelization of film at Project Gutenberg {{George Loane Tucker 1913 films 1910s crime drama films American black-and-white films American crime drama films American silent feature films Ellis Island Films about prostitution in the United States Films set in New York City Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey Films shot in New York City United States National Film Registry films Universal Pictures films 1913 drama films Works about sex trafficking Films directed by George Loane Tucker 1910s American films Silent American drama films Films about human trafficking in the United States American exploitation films