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It Could Happen to You

  • 1937
  • Approved
  • 1h 11m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
45
YOUR RATING
Astrid Allwyn, Alan Baxter, Owen Davis Jr., Andrea Leeds, Al Shean, and Frank Yaconelli in It Could Happen to You (1937)
ActionAdventureCrime

(1937, Republic) Alan Baxter, Andrea Leads, Owen Davis, Astrid Allwyn. Captivating story of two brothers, one good, one bad. The good one becomes a lawyer while the bad one resorts to crime ... Read all(1937, Republic) Alan Baxter, Andrea Leads, Owen Davis, Astrid Allwyn. Captivating story of two brothers, one good, one bad. The good one becomes a lawyer while the bad one resorts to crime and ultimately...(1937, Republic) Alan Baxter, Andrea Leads, Owen Davis, Astrid Allwyn. Captivating story of two brothers, one good, one bad. The good one becomes a lawyer while the bad one resorts to crime and ultimately...

  • Director
    • Phil Rosen
  • Writers
    • Samuel Ornitz
    • Nathanael West
  • Stars
    • Alan Baxter
    • Andrea Leeds
    • Owen Davis Jr.
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    45
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Phil Rosen
    • Writers
      • Samuel Ornitz
      • Nathanael West
    • Stars
      • Alan Baxter
      • Andrea Leeds
      • Owen Davis Jr.
    • 2User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    Alan Baxter, Owen Davis Jr., and Andrea Leeds in It Could Happen to You (1937)
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    Top cast

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    Alan Baxter
    Alan Baxter
    • Bob Ames
    Andrea Leeds
    Andrea Leeds
    • Laura Compton
    Owen Davis Jr.
    Owen Davis Jr.
    • Fred Barrett
    Astrid Allwyn
    Astrid Allwyn
    • Angela
    Walter Kingsford
    Walter Kingsford
    • Prof. Schwab
    Al Shean
    Al Shean
    • Max 'Pa' Barrett
    Christian Rub
    Christian Rub
    • Clavish
    Elsa Janssen
    Elsa Janssen
    • Mrs. Clavish
    Edward Colebrook
    • Pogano
    Stanley King
    • Detective
    Nina Campana
    • Italian Woman
    Frank Yaconelli
    • Greek
    John Hamilton
    John Hamilton
    • Judge
    Paul Stanton
    Paul Stanton
    • District Attorney
    Bob Murphy
    • Moriarity
    Cy Kendall
    Cy Kendall
    • Detective
    Robert Andersen
    Robert Andersen
    • Swede
    • (as Robert Anderson)
    Bert Sprotte
    Bert Sprotte
    • German
    • Director
      • Phil Rosen
    • Writers
      • Samuel Ornitz
      • Nathanael West
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Connections
      Referenced in Kim Newman on 'The Day of the Locust' (2020)

    User reviews2

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Cast And Crew Try To Make An Important Movie
    Alan Baxter has just graduated from college and has the chance to buy the "Foreign-American Institute" from Walter Kingsford, teaching immigrants what they need for their citizenship papers. Owen Davis Jr. has just become lawyer. Andrea Leeds is the girl they both love, and with whom they split malted at the shop of Al Shean. He's Mr. Davis' father, but he looks on all three as his children. Baxter discovers that Shean has saved up $600 to outfit a law office for Davis. He goes to steal it and winds up killing Shean.

    It's an ambitious production for Republic Pictures, from a script co-written by Nathaniel West. There's a long excursion, before Baxter is identified by the police as the killer, involving Walter Kingsford, forcing Baxter to blackmail his students to pay his fees lest he report them as foreigners, and using Nietzsche to justify it. The first shake-down is tried on Christian Rub, who has a very good scene.

    Nietzsche was the boogey-man of philosophers in the early 20th century; because he wrote about the mob's willingness to accept any charlatan on a white horse and do terrible things. People who never bothered to read him assumed he approved; plus he spent time in a madhouse; worst of all, he was German. So people quoted snippets, thought they represented everything about his opinions, and despised what they believed he had written without having read it. No wonder he went mad.

    In the end and despite considerable acting chops in the cast, the cheapness of the production leaves director Phil Rosen with little more than a simplistic fairy tale, with Kingsford as the ogre and a good mob scene at the end. You can see the ambition of everyone involved in this production, trying to make it something telling and inspirational. Unfortunately, at second feature length and budgeting, they couldn't afford to do more than produce a standard tale.
    helpful•2
    0
    • boblipton
    • Dec 7, 2018

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • June 28, 1937 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Gangs of New York
    • Filming locations
      • Republic Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Republic Pictures (I)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 11 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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    Astrid Allwyn, Alan Baxter, Owen Davis Jr., Andrea Leeds, Al Shean, and Frank Yaconelli in It Could Happen to You (1937)
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