Blood Money (1933)

Director:

Rowland Brown

Writers:

Rowland Brown (written by)
Hal Long (continuity)

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

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

unbelievable pre-code

"Blood Money" is a fascinating precode - what else can you say about a film that has Judith Anderson in a glamor role? And an ingénue who longs for S&M to boot.

This 1933 film concerns a bail bondsman named Bill Bailey (George Bancroft) who's been helping out the mob for years. He falls for a pretty shoplifter named Elaine (Frances Dee) - she's actually slumming, as she's from a wealthy family. This leaves Bailey's girlfriend, club owner Ruby (Anderson) in the lurch. She's the woman responsible for his success, helping him out when he was thrown off of the police force. However, Elaine (who would follow any man who thrashed her around like a dog, says she) steals some bonds instead of delivering them to the appropriate place, thereby setting up Bailey as a mob target and getting his brother-in-law in deep trouble with the law. Ruby believes he's responsible for her brother's problems, and has a hit put out on him.

The acting is over the top, the dialogue is rough and filled with sexual innuendos, the atmosphere is sleazy - it's pre-code all right. I read a transcript of an interview with Joel McCrea (intended to be for a biography that wasn't written) and he kept referring to "Mother" - I finally realized that he didn't call his wife, Frances Dee, "mother" - he was referring to her that way while talking to one of his sons, who was conducting the interview. As the promiscuous, dying to be hit ingénue, she wasn't very motherly in this.

This is a no-miss if only to see Judith Anderson in a gown and jewels hanging out with mobsters and Frances Dee as something other than a pretty goody-two-shoes.