Traffic in Souls is a 1913 narrative feature film focusing on forced prostitution (white slavery) in the US and filmed around Ellis Island in New York City. Its subjects were working women and immigrants to the US and it was released at a time when the country was undergoing a "moral panic" over the issue of prostitution.[1] The film's release eventually resulted in the adding of "white slavery" to the list of topics banned under the Hays Code.[2][3]
In 2006, the film was added to the National Film Registry for preservation in the Library of Congress because it "presaged the Hollywood narrative film" and drew attention through its riveting depiction of the methods used to entrap young women into prostitution.[4]
It was an early example of the narrative style in American films. It was six reels, long for an American film at the time.[2]
The storyline concerns two young Swedish women immigrants who are approached by men soliciting for white slavery under the guise of a legitimate work offer. In the scenes filmed at the Battery, after the women are transported there from Ellis island, real life immigrants can be seen in the background.[5] The entire film takes place in 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. It concludes with a joke ending, an ending to a thriller that at the time was not the cliché it has become now.[6]