Des Femmes Disparaissent (aka The Road To Shame) (1959)

Suspicious of where his girlfriend (Estella Blain) goes at night, her boyfriend (Robert Hossein) attempts to follow her but he is attacked by two thugs (Philippe Clay, Pierre Collet). It seems the naive girlfriend thinks she's going to a party with her girlfriends when in reality, she's walking into a sex trafficking ring. Based on the novel by Gilles Morris Dumoulin and directed by Edouard Molinaro (LA CAGE AUX FOLLES). The movie opens with a scrawl saying it won't sugarcoat the horror of sex trafficking but it seems to exploit the topic in an unpleasant way. It wouldn't be wrong to suggest they use the topic to titillate their audience. If it weren't for the talent behind and before the camera like director Molinaro and fine actors like Hossein, Clay and Magali Noel (as a procuress for the trafficking ring), I'd call it an exploitation film. The film is accompanied by an excellent jazz score by the great Art Blakey. With Robert Lombard, Jane Marken and Jacques Dacqmine.