Blood Money (1933)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Rowland Brown

Writers:

Rowland Brown (written by)
Hal Long (continuity)
(more)

Release Date:

17 November 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

HIS "IN" ALWAYS GOT THEM OUT! Only to get them in his merciless grasp! What price bail?

Plot Keywords:

Election | Butcher | Luau | Racketeer | Bank Robbery

Cast

George Bancroft	...	Bill Bailey
Judith Anderson	...	Ruby Darling
Frances Dee	...	Elaine Talbart
Chick Chandler	...	Drury Darling
Blossom Seeley	...	Singer
Etienne Girardot	...	Bail Bond Clerk
George Regas	...	Charley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernie Adams	...	Prisoner in Visiting Room (uncredited)
Franklyn Ardell	...	Man at Pool Hall (uncredited)
Lucille Ball	...	Davy's Girlfriend at Racetrack (uncredited)
Harold Berquist	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Herman Bing	...	Butcher Weighing Sausages (uncredited)
John Bleifer	...	Bombmaker (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Charley's Bodyguard (uncredited)
Ann Brody	...	Jewish Mother (uncredited)
James Burke	...	Pool Hall Detective (uncredited)
Frederick Burton	...	Marcus P. Talbart (uncredited)
Jack Byron	...	Racetrack Extra (uncredited)
Douglas Cosgrove	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Harry Depp	...	Florist (uncredited)
John Webb Dillon	...	Detective (uncredited)
Mike Donovan	...	Turnkey (uncredited)
Adalyn Doyle	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Frances Dunn	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Matty Fain	...	Fain - a Racketeer (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Noel Francis	...	Red's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Jessica - Ruby's Maid (uncredited)
Eddie Hart	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Detective Posing as Drunk (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson	...	Man in District Attorney's Office (uncredited)
Sydney Jarvis	...	Poolroom Kibitzer (uncredited)
Eddie Kane	...	Sam - Fight Fan (uncredited)
Edward Keane	...	Pool Player - $1000 Bettor (uncredited)
Ray Kilgore	...	Trick Pool Player (uncredited)
Henry Kolker	...	Newspaper Editor (uncredited)
William Le Maire	...	Jim - the Doorman (uncredited)
Henry Lewis Jr.	...	Jewish Son (uncredited)
Grover Ligon	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Arthur Loft	...	Charley's Man (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas	...	Prison Guard (uncredited)
Philo McCullough	...	Racketeer (uncredited)
Earl McDonald	...	Golfer (uncredited)
Larry McGrath	...	Referee (uncredited)
Matt McHugh	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Walter Miller	...	George - Hood Who Jumps Bail (uncredited)
Louis Natheaux	...	Nagel's Pal (uncredited)
Wheeler Oakman	...	Gangster with Shotgun (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Turnkey in Solitary (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Racetrack Extra (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Bradley Page	...	District Attorney (uncredited)
Franklin Parker	...	Man in District Attorney's Office (uncredited)
Walter Percival	...	Hood (uncredited)
Grace Poggi	...	Dancer at Lawn Party (uncredited)
Florence Roberts	...	Judge's Wife (uncredited)
Dewey Robinson	...	Butcher (uncredited)
Joe Sawyer	...	Red (uncredited)
Sandra Shaw	...	Girl at Racetrack (uncredited)
Jimmie Slaving	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Detective (uncredited)
Leo Sulky	...	Detective (uncredited)
Edward Van Sloan	...	Jordan - Department Store Manager (uncredited)
Robert Webb	...	Bandleader (uncredited)
Katherine Williams	...	Nightclub Woman Wearing Monocle (uncredited)
Clarence Wilson	...	Judge (uncredited)

Directed by
Rowland Brown

Writing credits
Rowland Brown		(written by)
Hal Long		(continuity)
Speed Kendall		contributing writer (uncredited)

Produced by
William Goetz	....	associate producer
Raymond Griffith	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer
Joseph M. Schenck	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alfred Newman		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
James Van Trees		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Lloyd Nosler

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino		(as Al D'Agostine)

Makeup Department
Ruby Felker	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Karl Herlinger	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Ed Ebele	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Samuel G. Engel	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Ben Silvey	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Julia Heron	....	props (uncredited)
Elmer Howard	....	assistant props (uncredited)
Lee Marple	....	assistant props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bruce Rutherford	....	sound mixer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Fred Bentley	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Jimmy Connelly	....	grip (uncredited)
Kenneth Green	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Leo J. Hefferman	....	still photographer (uncredited)
James Van Trees Jr.	....	second camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mickey Meyers	....	wardrobe: men
Andy Anderson	....	wardrobe: women (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director

Transportation Department
Oscar Wright	....	transportation (uncredited)

Other crew
Joseph M. Schenck	....	presenter
Kitty Alexander	....	stand-in: Judith Anderson (uncredited)
Ray Kilgore	....	trick shot artist (uncredited)
James Light	....	dialogue director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• 20th Century Pictures

Distributors

• United Artists (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Company:

20th Century Pictures

Trivia:

Several people are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but they did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Frank Moran and Frank Austin (Laborers), Eugene Storm (Employment Manager), Edward Gargan and William L. Thorne (Men at Police Headquarters), Fred Kohler (Editor) and Hal Price (Cigar Clerk). A modern source also lists J. Carrol Naish as Charley (who was played by George Regas) and Paul Fix, but they also were not seen in the movie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Frankie and Johnny

Who says crime doesn't pay?

One of the most interesting of the Fox pre-code talkies, for several reasons: 1) It has nice girl Frances Dee as a perverse and masochistic society miss, snarling and hip-shaking and shocking the elite. 2) It has Judith Anderson, in a swell backless evening gown, playing a moll, against-the-grain casting of the most inspired sort, even if the movie never explains her high-tone Brit accent vs. her brother's American Midwest elongated vowels. (She also played a gangster years later in "Lady Scarface," but it's a much less interesting film.) 3) You get to see Blossom Seeley, the great vaudevillian, sob a couple of torch songs, and she's the real thing. 4), and most fascinatingly: George Bancroft plays a no- better-than-he-should-be bail bondsman who works both sides of the street and is terribly corrupt, yet the movie likes him, we like him, and he doesn't have to repent for it. It's lively and violent and funny, and, unlike so many Fox early talkies, it has the fast pace of a good Paramount or Warners flick from the same period.