The Big Shakedown (1934)Racketeers flood the market with counterfeit cosmetics and drugs, causing some tragedies. Director:John Francis Dillon |
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Title: The Big Shakedown (1934)
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Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Charles Farrell | ... | ||
| Bette Davis | ... | ||
| Ricardo Cortez | ... | ||
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Glenda Farrell | ... | |
| Allen Jenkins | ... | ||
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Henry O'Neill | ... | |
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Dewey Robinson | ... | |
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John Wray | ... |
Higgins
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Philip Faversham | ... |
John, the New Salesman
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Robert Emmett O'Connor | ... |
Regan, the Bartender
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Renee Whitney | ... |
Mae LaRue
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G. Pat Collins | ... |
Gyp
(as George Pat Collins)
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Adrian Morris | ... |
Trigger
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Ben Hendricks Jr. | ... |
Spike
(as Ben Hendricks)
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George Cooper | ... |
Shorty
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Former bootlegger Nick Barnes pressures neighborhood druggist Jimmy Morrell into making cut-rate drugs. The money makes it possible for Jimmy to marry Norma Frank, a pharmacy clerk. Expecting a baby, she wants Jimmy to quit the racket. Beaten by the mob, Jimmy works on, diluting the medications still further. Norma is rushed to the hospital for a premature delivery and given bogus medication. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
6 January 1934 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Drogas Infernais See more »Filming Locations:
Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USACompany Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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Lefty: Beer!
Dutch Barnes: Beer, huh, you're five minutes late. We're going into the drug business.
Lefty: Not me. I got a brother doing twenty years for going into the drug business and all they found on him was two decks of coke.
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(uncredited)
Music by Samuel Pokrass
Played on the radio in the apartment
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Did You Know?
Quotes
Dutch Barnes: Lefty, what's our racket?Lefty: Beer!
Dutch Barnes: Beer, huh, you're five minutes late. We're going into the drug business.
Lefty: Not me. I got a brother doing twenty years for going into the drug business and all they found on him was two decks of coke.
See more »
Connections
Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) See more »Soundtracks
"Losing You"(uncredited)
Music by Samuel Pokrass
Played on the radio in the apartment
See more »
Although this is typical of the low-budget quickies that Warners churned out like hotcakes in the Thirties it offers Bette Davis in her most youthfully appealing "down-to-earth platinum blonde girl" phase. You can find the same character in THREE ON A MATCH, THE GIRL FROM 10TH AVENUE, THE PETRIFIED FOREST and others. She exudes an innocent but intelligent, unaffected femininity that seems to have evaporated by the time she hit her stride with JEZEBEL, so it's good that this phase of her career is preserved - if only to track her evolution as an actress. Note the energy and vitality she injects (perhaps effortlessly) into a supporting role as the girlfriend-wife, stealing every scene she's in - without relying on conventional beauty. It's kind of fun also to see how the scenarists managed to leap from one implausible, contrived plot development to the next - but that's a secondary matter because most of these films were beyond belief. The point was to make a moral point, not to be narratively convincing. The point here being: evil gangsters, beware of the authorities because they'll get you!