TRAFFIC IN SOULS (1913) White Slave Trade Historic Early Universal Feature Film

Description

Vintage original
35 x 24 in. (89 x 61 cm.) Swedish poster
from the historic and important early feature-length white slavery-themed silent film drama,
TRAFFIC IN SOULS (or WHILE NEW YORK SLEEPS)
, released in 1913 by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company and
directed by George Loane Tucker
. A woman, with the aid of her police officer sweetheart, endeavors to uncover the prostitution ring that has kidnapped her sister, and the philanthropist who secretly runs it.
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.
Released in Sweden as
Kampen Mot Den Vita Slavhandeln
, the design features striking artwork of a white slaver who has kidnapped a young woman and
threatens violence to control her. The artist's signature is featured near the left border above the film's title. Folded as originally issued, is it in fine+ condition with several small holes in the top panels (one of which the paper is still present and has folded back); a couple of small tears on the edges; and some light wrinkling around the outer edges. The year "1919" is handwritten in pencil in the bottom border and these is a tiny embossed stamp on the bottom of the vertical fold line. The color tints are fresh and vibrant without any signs of fading.
American one-sheets for this film, of which there are several styles and are still very rare, sell in excess of ,500.
Traffic in Souls
was the highest-grossing America film of 1913; the first American movie about sexuality; and describing it as the most important film in Universal Picture's history (and studio founder Carl Laemmle's)
may not be an overstatement. It opened on November 24, 1913 at Lou Fields's Theatre at 1215 Broadway in New York City. The film was made for ,700, and reportedly earned 0,000 during its theatrical run, helping to make Universal a major player among movie studios.
Based on a story by the film's director, George Loane Tucker,
Traffic in Souls
was Universal's first feature-length film
. The scenario was written by Walter MacNamara, who also served as producer with Jack Cohn. Executive producers include King Baggot, Herbert Brenon, William Robert Daly, and Carl Laemmle. The film was shot and produced by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where many early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based at the beginning of the 20th century. Additional footage was shot on location at Ellis Island and in Manhattan. 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" over the issue of prostitution. While the film was passed by the National Board of Review 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 ,000. He also claimed that all the money came from George Loane Tucker, Herbert Brenon, William Robert Daly, King Baggot, and Jack Cohn. Furthermore, he also wrote that the film had to be made in secret because Carl Laemmle (the future head of Universal) 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. Silent film historian Kevin Brownlow found evidence that the film's actually started with ,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 white slavery 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 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.