Blood Money

Wow! Were do you start with this one?

Director Rowland Brown (soon blackballed in Hollywood for striking a producer) certainly confirms his reputation for style with this racy little pre-Code gem, in which an impossibly youthful Judith Anderson and Frances Dee are both revelations: the former as a supple, sleepy-eyed, smoky-voiced dame draped in a succession of slinky backless thirties evening gowns; the latter as a spoilt little minx who in Miss Dee's own words is a "a kleptomaniac, a nymphomaniac, and anything in between".

Great fun.

All the critics and all the old movie books rate this highly, personally I found it awful. Awful and very boring. It's not so much a black and white film, more of a dull, grey nebulous lump of fog. The premise of Rowland Brown's story actually sounds really exciting and Rowland Brown, who also directed this, was a pretty decent filmmaker so this should have been a thrilling, exhilarating picture - but wasn't.

What made this so interminably dull was the acting. It's not bad acting, it's just dull, flat and lifeless. George Bancroft's character is one of the dullest, most characterless leads I've ever seen. You simply couldn't care less about him. Will he get shot? Will he find happiness? Nobody cares!

Besides Mrs Danvers badly impersonating Mae West, the other female lead is Frances Dee. Her character, the obligatory millionaire's daughter, is so poorly written, so poorly explored it lacks any depth or credibility. She is is ridiculously unreal.

Like with BROADWAY THOUGH A KEYHOLE and BORN TO BE BAD, this picture which is one of the very first films to come out of that brand new studio: Twentieth Century Pictures. It seemed like they hadn't quite found their mojo. Even with their big bank account, their talent and enthusiasm, the teamwork hadn't seemed to have quite gelled yet.

Blood Money (1933)

** (out of 4)

Early Pre-Code from Fox has George Bancroft playing a dirty bail bondsman who gets caught up with a rich girl (Frances Dee) who can't seem to stay out of trouble. I had read several good reviews of this film, which compared it to the fast Pre-Codes of Warner but I found this 65-minute drama pretty boring from start to finish. Bancroft gives his best Cagney impersonation but doesn't add anything to the character. He's neither cool, stylish or tough. The most interesting aspect is seeing Dee play a bad girl, which I guess we'd compare to Paris Hilton today. Dee usually played the good girl so it's nice seeing her doing something different. The film has some pretty rough dialogue, which includes two different times where Bancroft is called homosexual terms including a "fag". The ending also rips off Keaton's Sherlock Jr. with an explosive cue ball, which is just downright stupid here.

"Blood Money" is a noir mystery and drama set in Los Angeles in the early 1930s. This was during the Great Depression, but there's no sign of bread lines and people out of work here. One can imagine that the depression was felt much less in the film capital where movies were still being made to help raise the spirits of the public across the nation. Well, that included crime and murder flicks as well. While this one isn't about murder, it is one heck of a film that shows widespread corruption.

Just about everybody and anybody who is anybody is a friend of and probably on the take with Bill Bailey. The famed bail bondsman is played very well by George Bancroft. I can't think of another film that ever featured or touted a character who was a bail bondsman. Such roles barely get notice when they do appear in an occasional film.

But here, our "hero," while operating on the edge of the law - not clearly violating it, is a likable guy who is friends with all the police force, the judges and courts, and the city and state politicians. Bailey's girlfriend is Ruby Darling (played by Judith Anderson), who owns and runs an upscale speakeasy. Blossom Seeley plays the singer in her joint. Seeley was a famous singer who performed on vaudeville and in nightclubs, and this is just one of four films that she was in.

When Bailey gets a society gal out of a jam for shoplifting, he is smitten by her. Frances Dee plays Elaine Talbart. But she goes for any man who's exciting and winds up with Ruby's brother, Drury Darling, who's a master con-man and robber. Bailey has some problems when Ruby is jealous of his affections for Elaine, but in the end things might just work out

Lucille Ball has a small part in this film as one of Drury's girl friend's at the race track. Here are some favorite lines form this film.

Judge's Wife (Florence Roberts, uncredited), "Well, that Bill Bailey has a lot of nerve." Judge (Clarence Wilson, uncredited), "Mmm, yeah. But he's got a lot of influence too."

Butcher Weighing Sausages (Herman Bing, uncredited), "That was Bill Bailey. He just ordered one hundred and fifty turkeys for Thanksgiving." Butcher (Dewey Robins, uncredited), "For charity, huh?" Butcher with Sausage, "Yeah, sure, for our poor judges, our poor lawyers, and our poor police officers."

Racetrack Spectator (Dennis O'Keefe, uncredited), "You haven't picked a winner tonight, Bailey." Bill Bailey, "I make all my money off losers."

Ruby Darling, "Weren't you ever romantic?" Bill Bailey, "Heh, heh. Can you imagine a guy getting romantic in a reform school, hmmm?"

Bill Bailey, "As long as you have cities, you're bound to have vices. You can't control human nature by putting in a new mayor."

Bill Bailey, "The only difference between a liberal and a conservative man is that the liberal recognize the existence of vice and controls it, while the conservative just turns his back and pretends that it doesn't exist."

Bill Bailey, "The tougher the times, the better my business."

Bill Bailey, "Why, if you were dying and needed blood for a transfusion, I'd be the first one to give it." Ruby Darling, "So, the only way we can get together is to have a blood transfusion, huh?"

Ruby Darling, "I can remember when you thought a hamburger sandwich was a banquet. And you called a dinner a feast."

Bill Bailey, "And, don't forget - behind every Barnum there was always a Bailey."

When I looked at Nina Mae McKinney's filmography list on this site, it listed this movie as among her credits as "Rebecca, Ruby's maid". But the black woman playing such a maid-ID'd as Jessica, by the way-didn't look like her. So I looked at the TCM site link on Wikipedia for this movie and TCM ID'd Theresa Harris as playing in the movie as simply "maid". Since there's no other domestic servant in the film, I'm guessing that's indeed Ms. Harris. Anyway, this was quite a dramatically thrilling movie starring George Bancroft as bail bondsman Bill Bailey. He's mixed with thrill-seeking Frances Dee as Elaine Talbart, Judith Anderson's Ruby Darling, and Chick Chandler as her brother, Drury. This movie lacks a movie score which is probably to the pic's benefit. So that's a recommendation of Blood Money.