Cinematography:
James Van TreesComposer:
Alfred NewmanCast:
George Bancroft, Judith Anderson, Frances Dee, Chick Chandler, Etienne Girardot, George Regas, Edward Van Sloan, Dennis O'Keefe, Lucille Ball, Louis Natheaux (more)Plots(1)
Rowland Brown's Blood Money (1933) has lost none of its ability to entertain and startle over the seven decades since its release. The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey (George Bancroft), who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals. Among the latter is Drury Darling (Chick Chandler), the brother of Bailey's paramour, nightclub owner Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson). Bailey is popular enough in the criminal world, over his providing the means for gang members to stay in circulation while awaiting trial, and he knows how to spread the money around to make the wheels of government run more smoothly (and not run over any of the speakeasies, casinos, clip-joints, and other enterprises of the gangs to which he is closest). Then, one day, he meets Elaine Talbert (Frances Dee), a thrill-seeking socialite whose penchant for excitement has ratcheted up from shoplifting in the better stores to fast cars and fast men. Bailey doesn't quite know what to make of her -- she's attractive enough, and drawn to him, but her lust for illicit and dangerous diversions runs counter to the common sense that he applies to his life, every place but where women are concerned. His quasi-legal and extra-legal maneuvering is fun for a while, but what she really wants, as she tells Bailey, is a man who will "take charge" and dominate her, physically and in every other way. Eventually, she tires of the middle-aged Bailey and gravitates toward Drury Darling, whose exploits as a bank robber, willing to fight the law head on, are more in line with some of the excitement that she craves. When Darling is arrested, he depends upon her to pass along the money that Bailey needs to bail him out, and that's when the smoothly operating life that Bailey has arranged for himself grinds to a halt. A cache of worthless bonds, a war within the underworld itself, and an assassination attempt on Bailey are just part of the double-dealing and blood-letting that ensues, climaxing with game of pool involving a booby-trapped eight ball (a variation of a famous sequence from Keaton's Sherlock Jr., later re-used by the Three Stooges in I'll Never Heil Again). (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
George Bancroft
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Underworld (1927)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Judith Anderson
Australia
Best movies:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Rebecca (1940)
Laura (1944)
Frances Dee
USA
Best movies:
Come and Get It (1936)
Little Women (1933)
Of Human Bondage (1934)
Chick Chandler
USA
Best movies:
It Started with Eve (1941)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Etienne Girardot
UK
Best movies:
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Twentieth Century (1934)
George Regas
Greece
Best movies:
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Union Pacific (1939)
North West Mounted Police (1940)
Edward Van Sloan
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
The Phantom Creeps (1949) (TV movie) - a.f.
Dennis O'Keefe
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Fury (1936)
Lucille Ball
USA
Best movies:
Trumbo (2015) - a.f.
Top Hat (1935)
Stage Door (1937)
Louis Natheaux
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Modern Times (1936)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Douglas Cosgrove
USA
Noel Francis
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Smart Money (1931)
Imitation of Life (1934)
Herman Bing
German Empire
Best movies:
Sunrise (1927)
Dumbo (1941)
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Ernie Adams
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Bess Flowers
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rear Window (1954)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Joe Sawyer
Canada
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Gilda (1946)
Philo McCullough
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Love Crazy (1941)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Walter Miller
USA
Best movies:
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Virginia City (1940)
The Raven (1935)
Kathlyn Williams
USA
Best movies:
Souls for Sale (1923)
Henry Kolker
USA
Best movies:
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Holiday (1938)
Union Pacific (1939)