In Los Angeles, the naive and lonely burger waitress and aspirant singer Carol Heath (Jennifer Jason Leigh) finds an advertisement in the newspaper with a job opportunity in Tokyo. She has a meeting with the agents, the American Cavanaugh (Philip Charles MacKenzie) and the Japanese Shiro (Richard Narita); she signs the contract in English and Japanese and travels to Japan to work at the White Orchid night-club. She shares a hotel room with a dancer and sooner she discovers the scheme of prostitution in the club that belongs to Yakuza. Alone, without money and her passport, she is protected by Shiro, but pressed by the managers Madame Mori (Carolyn Seymour) and her husband Mori (Mako) to be receptive to client's proposals. Meanwhile her former boyfriend returns to LA and seeks her out.

"Girls of the White Orchid" is a good story of trafficking of human beings, showing the recruitment, transfer and reception of white slaves. Unfortunately, the plot becomes unrealistic in the moment that Carol refuses to prostitute, and has an awful commercial conclusion with the rescue of her boyfriend. There are better recent movies about this theme but considering that this is a TV movie of 1983, I believe it is one of the first to deal with this subject. The reviews in IMDb and the IMDb User Rating are very unfair with this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Escravas Brancas" ("White Slaves")

Viewed this film under the title, "Death Ride to Osaka" which is the same film as "Girls of the White Orchid" which deals with the Japanese Mafia who run an establishment that deals with young girls from America who have some talent like singing and dancing and are willing to selling their bodies for entertainment. However, these young girls are hired by an agency in the Los Angeles who advertise for young talented gals and they have no idea what they are really being hired for. Jennifer Jason Leigh, (Carol Heath) is one of these young girls who falls into this trap and finds herself trapped in Japan and at the mercy of dirty old men and Mafia pimps. This story goes on and on and begins to get very boring with girls trying to escape and some being sent to OSAKA.

Oriental bad guys entice a sweet, naive young American girl named Carol (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Tokyo, ostensibly to further her singing career. But the bad guys run a prostitution ring out of a Tokyo club called the White Orchid. And Carol's real job is that of a prostitute. Carol resists, and her boyfriend leaves the U.S. to rescue her. Based on a real life event, this made-for-TV film is sub-par.

For one thing, Leigh is miscast. She's too young and too innocent looking. Another problem is that beyond the basic premise, there just isn't that much to the story. Pacing is slow. Characters spend a lot of time walking around on the streets. Ancillary singers sing and perform in the club. All of which add up to ... filler.

The film has a cheap, made-for-TV look and feel. Music is nondescript. Acting is stilted. The film's ending is predictable and visually unimaginative. "Girls Of The White Orchid" is rather like an inferior imitation of an extended episode of Hawaii Five-O. I kept waiting for Steve McGarrett to show up to tell his partner: "book'em, Danno".