- Young girls are cheated in rigged gambling games and then forced into prostitution to pay off their debts.
- Mae Miller wants the finer things in life, luxuries that she feels that her doctor husband cannot provide for her. She begins to gamble in order to rake up some spending money for herself, but she winds up deeply in debt--and to pay it back, she is reduced to the shame of selling herself.—Kieran Kenney
- A surprise midnight raid on an illegal casino and bordello is announced by a number of police cars and biker patrolmen driving at speed, all sirens out. Thus forewarned, the wealthy married men and underage girls in the house take hasty and futile precautions, while the owner and his aids calmly take their organized escape. A well dressed lady is going out of the room, as if she had not noticed the police invading the roulette room. An Officer stops her: "Who are you?" She deigns to answer: "Oh!... I'm Molly Murdock ('Vera Steadman' (qv)), you can't arrest me!..." The look in the Officer's face says the opposite. Another Officer is arresting a man in a tuxedo, "Ah! I'd never seen a 'Million Dollar' Taylor ('Bryant Washburn' (qv)) before. Glad to meet you. Come on!" Suddenly, shots are heard from another division of the large casino. The policemen cross an office adjoining the main room, and find themselves facing a locked door. One cop uses a big ax to break in. Inside, the cops find an attractive young blonde, with a frozen snarl on her face, wearing a good black coat, and with a fuming gun in her right hand, standing over the dead casino owner.
The morning papers make large headlines of the event: Morning Sun - 'Lucky' Wilder Killed In Own Gambling Club; Evening Mail - 'Lucky' Wilder Dead, In Mystery Shooting; Daily World - Beauty Kills Gambler - 'Lucky' Wilder. For the Evening News, in it's extra edition, Blonde Mystery Woman Kills 'Lucky' Wilder, and it's the first newspaper to publish front page photos of the mystery woman and of the wilder and unlucky gangster.
In a gloomy office, the District Attorney ('Edward Keane' (qv)) is conducting the inquest. Taylor and Molly sit on a coach, at their ease, while the D.A. interrogates the blonde, shouting in her face: "It's women of your kind that must be brought to justice! You who thrive in the slime of life! Who keep clubs like the one we raided open to lure your victims out of their doom, until you climax your vile life with the drastic crime of murder!" The D.A. wants to know how a respectable wife of a surgeon and researcher becomes a murderer, but he is not breaking her silence, so he confronts her with her husband, Dr. John Miller ('Robert Frazer (I)' (qv)). At last, the platinum blonde Mae Miller ('Martha Chapin' (qv)) confesses to the crime, sobbing, "to save other girls from the cruel paradise into which I was lured!" Her husband listens, showing compassion for her.
In a flashback, Mae is changing clothes in her bedroom, while her sister Carolyn ('Jay Sheridan' (qv)), wearing a patterned dress, high-heels and black nylons, sits talking with her. Mae loves her husband, but she loves money and luxuries that her husband just can't afford. Carolyn leaves when Dr. Murdoch arrives, and just when they are preparing for a tender moment together, Mrs. O'Reilly, his lab assistant, calls him on the telephone, asking him to go back right away; the health of some boy is at risk, and the good surgeon and researcher leaves, counseling his wife to go out and have some fun - by herself.
At the D.A.'s office, sweet Mae suddenly shows her fury, pointing to the older blonde sitting quietly in front of her. Mae accuses Molly of being responsible for her fall, and being paid by Wilder to bring him other women gamblers.
With her last words, a second flashback to a garden party, where some time back, Mae was having a drink and watching a boxing match in a ring that occupies the center of the garden-house. Molly, "a woman she considered her best friend", incites her to bet on the outcome, and in the end Mae is both thrilled for watching the fight, and for winning $105.00 gambling. Mae and Molly keep enjoying nights out alone at the garden-house, this time to see men wrestling matches. During an intermission, Molly presents her to a very rich man, Mr. Taylor, who's soon paying them coffees, and lacing their coffees with some whiskey he carries in a pocket flask. The mix of half-naked men seen from the front row and whiskey in her coffee, has Mae giggling too much. She returns home and strips to a good night's sleep, after discovering that her husband has not returned home yet.
Next morning, Mrs. Miller is waked up by Molly calling her on the phone. Feeling a headache and surprise, she listens to her friend distractedly, as she reads a paper note pinned to her husband's pillow: «Darling: You looked so sound asleep I hadn't the heart to wake you up this morning. I can't be home until late. Love and kisses. John» Molly is precisely inviting Mrs. Miller to another night of gambling. Her objection that she does not have money to bet is easily dismissed by Molly, who'll be glad to lent her some until she wins, and pays her back. That evening, Molly takes Mae to a swanky gambling club: "The Devil's Playground!" Mae thinks it's a wonderful idea, and is immediately attracted by the varieties floor show with girls doing the risqué French can-can. Molly does not let her stay long, and suggests she tries her luck further in the gaming room. They are greeted by Nick ('Eddie Laughton' (qv)), the games room supervisor. Rigging the roulette wheel so that Mae could win, it turns out that at one point she won over $3,000. Nick introduces Ms. Miller and Molly to Mr. Wilder's office, finely decorated and with a bronze statue of a ballerina by Degas, on a plinth. Wilder is the perfect gentleman, encouraging her to come back again - and after a night of wins, she has all reasons to feel happy and light-headed. She spent the money on fancy clothes and a new car, and started telling lies to her husband about where the money for the luxuries came from.
At the D.A.'s office, the naive housewife claims: "How was I to know I was just a dupe! That it was a game to lead me on!"
Mae Miller's flashback story goes on... When Mae starts losing, the club keeps extending credit until she can't possibly pay it back. The next time she looses, Nick takes Mae to see Wilder, and she begs him for extended credit, as she has been loosing money consistently. He informs her that she owes him US$ 10,300.00 and she must pay him immediately. She argues, "But I haven't got any money!" He demands her to pay right now, or else she must tell her husband of the debt. "I can't! I can't!" she says, but he leaves her alone to think it over - just in time for experienced Molly to go in and play her part. Molly convinces her into accepting the courtship of Mr. Taylor, who was rich enough to pay for her debt. That night, Mae returns home so nervous that she has a traffic accident - or rather, falls victim to an accident arranged for by 'Lucky' Wilder. Dr. Mills has already talked with the owner of the other car involved in the accident, and tells his wife that the man is asking for a lot of money. Yet, the doctor seems more concerned with the professional news he has to share with his wife. The good news is that he is invited to go to Chicago, to demonstrate his experimental surgical technique to a great specialist, from which notoriety and financial gain may arise. The bad news is that, with the couple's stringent budget, he can't afford to take her with him.
Therefore, Mrs. Mills is at liberty to entertain Mr. Taylor, who is at liberty to see more of her. In a well photographed scene, she meets the rich man in a dingy, darkly lit bedroom. She proceeds to strip naked for him, the camera focusing on each piece of her outer clothes and undergarments hitting the floor. Then, while her lover is off camera, a huge close-up of Mae's bare shoulders and face - registering orgasmic joy. She is able to pay $3,000 dollars to Nick, but he informs her that she is now «on call» at Molly's orders. It is revealed to Mrs. Mills that her friend Molly runs 'Lucky' Wilder's call-girl ring, where women are given numbers for recognition when taking assignments by phone. We see two types of girls in this prostitution ring: the happy little bombshell who calls the office to ask for more, "Number 33 calling!" and the depressed housewife who drags around in wrinkled lingerie until forced by Molly to "go to work".
The end of the line seems to be a smoky bar "in the slums" that serves as the front to a bordello in the rooms upstairs. A noisy metal band, "It's all in fun", provides some music to exotic dancers in body-hugging lingerie. The Manager brings a Coca-Cola bottle to a man who is already drunk, sitting at a table. A Blonde ('Janet Eastman (II)' (qv)) sits by his side and tries to attract his attention, putting a hand on his thigh, showing an abnormal interest in his cheap hat, but he keeps shoving her back. Then she goes upstairs, taking his hat with her, and the Tall Man ('Gaston Glass' (qv)) reluctantly stands and follows her. Before he gets to the blonde, three giggling girls in underwear walk over to him and start pulling him to a bedroom. The Blonde appears, throws the hat at him, and goes down dejectedly, as the three women close the bedroom door on them.
The Manager is sitting at a table, talking to two older girls in dresses. "She can do better than you, Kat!" the Manager says to the Little Brunette to his left, wearing a black dress and a small hat on top of her head. The two women exchange angry words, and Jean ('Florence Dudley' (qv)), the Tall Brunette to the man's right, stands up, imitated by the other girl. They are going at each other's faces with their hands. The man steps back, and the two women fight, attracting everybody's attentions. The manager steps between them again. "He! What are you doing here?" the taller brunette says. Now, both girls gang on him, hitting him to the chest and upper arms, while trying to hit each other nevertheless. He manages to grab both women by the scruff of the necks, orders his employees to "Open that door," and finally shoves both screeching wildcats out of the bar into an alley.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Miller, who seems have drank a glass too many already, is sitting at a nearby table with two men, trying to drag one upstairs. Apparently, they are more interested in a game of cards, and Mae ends up by getting to her room alone. 'Lucky' Wilder and Molly enter the establishment now, as he seems interested to check personally on some new amateur girl acrobat dancer the Manager is presenting tonight. Shortly after, it's Dr. Mills who enters, escorting Carolyn, and they sit at a table close to Wilder's. The next number of the show is an impressive girl who's able to place her head between her feet, arching her body back. "Oh my god, that girl is made of rubber," comments Carolyn. Then, the Man in White Shirt accuses the Man in Coat of cheating; both stand up, and start a fistfight, overturning some tables and chairs. The man in the shirt grabs a knife from a table, and stabs the other to the belly before the other can defend himself. The man falls heavily, and Carolyn screams. The attacker runs upstairs, and enters Mrs. Miller's room. The Manager and two apron barmen carry the victim upstairs, into another room. Dr. Miller follows them, and assists the wounded, after what he declares that all is well, it was a light wound only. He's going back to the bar when he overhears his wife's voice coming from room no. 6. He checks, opening the door, and she sees him. She runs to close the door, but it's too late, John Mills is awe struck by finding his wife at such a place.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Frank Wilder was chatting with, and enticing Carolyn to visit his club. Mae's little sister Carolyn is so impressed with Mae's lifestyle that she becomes interested in going to "Frank's Place" and make a bundle of money, too. Much later, Mae Miller is reading with interest the newspaper at the same low class bar. It reports, with Dr. John Miller's photograph, "Scientists Acclaim Doctor's Discovery". Then, Wilder enters, escorted by two women, Molly and Carolyn, and they take a table opposite from where Mae is; she gets upset, and manages to hide behind a curtain without being seen by her little sister. Wilder crosses the room to Mae's side and extorts more money from the bar Manager. As soon as Wilder is alone, the girl jumps him, and demands to his surprise "to let her alone", meaning the new girl he is with, revealing then that Carolyn is her sister. Wilder doesn't bother, and has her forced shut in another room by the two Barmen.
Much later, again, one morning in the hospital, Dr. Miller is called by a nurse to attend to a girl who was taken the night before. He is told the girl had been forced to abort the unborn child of one her many johns in a back-alley operation, and he is enraged upon the criminals who forced her so. When he enters the room, he recognizes Carolyn. The girl is too weak, and there is nothing he can do for her. In the corridor, he sees his wife again, who came to visit her sister. Mae enters the bedroom just in time for a few words of mutual sympathy and confessions, before Carolyn dies.
Mae's tale comes then to the point of the previous night's police raid, and Wilder's attempt to escape through a back door. She pulled the gun on Wilder, who locked the door behind him, as she told him what a lowlife heel he is for what he did not only to her and Carolyn but to the scores of other people that he exploited. He advanced on her menacingly, as if he was about to pull a gun out of his mackintosh. She shoots him three times. "Yes, I killed him," she shouts in the D.A.'s office. "I wish I could have done it a hundred times. He gambled with souls, he killed my sister, he deserved to be killed..." Dr. Miller pleads with him to spare Mae for what she did, saying that she bared her soul and that she only had "exterminated a vile and evil creature who was only a menace to society", and that Mae had already suffered enough.
D.A. - "There's nothing I can do."
Dr. Miller - "Yes, there is! You can give me back my wife!"
D.A. - "I'm sorry, but that has to be decided by a judge and a jury."
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