Despite the frequent lapses of logic, flimsy script, and over-the-top melodrama, Alvin Rakoff’s Passport to Shame (US: Room 43) somehow manages to be a riveting exploitation noir that actually makes us care about the characters. Oddly credited as “guest star,” Diana Dors steals the show as tough-minded hooker Vicki, who’s trapped in a sort of white slavery dormitory run by master pimp Nick Biaggi (Herbert Lom). Biaggi rules the girls through intimidation and violence, including deforming the face of Vicki’s younger sister as punishment for noncompliance. (Don’t ask why Biaggi would destroy the face of a woman he’s trying to sell for sex.) Vicki plays mentor to Biaggi’s newest acquisition from Paris, a desperate girl named Malou (Idile Versois) who has no idea she’s joining a prostitution ring until it’s too late. In one of his few English-speaking roles, popular American-turned-French actor Eddie Constantine plays Johnny McVey, who agrees to marry Malou to keep her from being deported but, when he develops real feelings for her, ends up helping to rescue her from Biaggi’s trap. (The scene in which Johnny reveals his feelings is genuinely touching.) Director Rakoff appears to be enjoying himself, trying a wide variety of camera angles, adding a sleazy jazz score, and inserting a whacked-out, unpolished nightmare sequence that contains, among other spectacles, a vat of writhing naked men reaching out for Malou. Observant viewers may notice a very young Michael Caine in an uncredited role as a bridegroom.