Dark Hazard

In one of his more unlikable roles apart from his gangster films, Edward G. Robinson plays Buck Turner--a compulsive gambler. In Buck's case, much of his problem stem from his strong need to be a big shot. Again and again, he makes fortunes and blows them because of his gambling. During one of his periods where he swears off gambling, he meets and marries a nice lady, Marge (Genevieve Tobin) on the condition that he not gamble. But being an addict, he soon is playing the big man and starts back to his old ways. Eventually, the wife has had enough and she takes a powder. He eventually returns to her and makes a lot of promises, but he's soon back to his old ways. The event that eventually destroys the marriage completely is when he comes home with a racing dog, Dark Hazard. So how does Val (Glenda Farrell) figure into all this as well as an old flame named Press? See the film.

While I liked most of the film, as it was a nice portrait of addiction and didn't cop out with a happy ending, this ending was a bit strange and anti-climactic. Still, Robinson and the gang did a nice job in this one and it's worth seeing.

Edward G. Robinson gives an excellent performance in "Dark Hazard" from 1934.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Dark Hazard was a dog!

Jim "Buck" Turner (Robinson) is a compulsive gambler, winning $20,000 at the track and losing $20,000 gambling. It's so bad he has to borrow $5 to get home.

He winds up taking a room in a boarding house, where he meets Marge (Genevieve Turner) and falls in love with her. Though her mother doesn't approve, they get married.

Marge is unhappy about his gambling, and Jim keeps saying he'll stop. He doesn't. One day, he runs into an old girlfriend, Valerie (Glenda Farrell) - she'd like to start up again, but he wants to be faithful to Marge. Later on she's there in down times.

Jim becomes enamored of dog racing and wants to buy a dog named Dark Hazard. But he costs $5,000.

When he wins big and brings home a huge amount of money, Marge, who is pregnant, leaves him and takes all the money. She writes that when he's ready, she will have a place for him.

A few years later, he returns to Marge, who is living with her mother, and meets his little boy. She takes him back though she is dating an old beau, Pres.

The next time he sees the dog, he's broken his leg and about to be put down. Jim buys him for $25. Once the dog is well, he starts winning again.

Many pre-code elements, including a double bed.

You can't help but like Jim and feel sorry for him at times. But you also know he's a survivor, just like Dark Hazard.

Sidney Toler, famous as Charlie Chan, is very good as a guy who gets Robinson to gamble again.

I have to say the dog racing theme was a gigantic turnoff. It's a bad sport, with thousands of greyhounds abandoned every year when their usefulness has ended.

In this movie, the original owner loved the dog; later it's obvious he no longer cares about him. That isn't typical - to these people, the dogs are just moneymakers to them from the beginning.

Other than that, this was a decent film. Was remade by Warners later as Wine, Women, and Horses.

Dark Hazard is 80 minutes of sheer delight in this Edward G. Robinson '34 item directed by Alfred Green that I was totally unfamiliar with. Robinson gives a heart warming interpretation of a race track tout and gambler who falls for Genvieve Tobin, somewhat of a wasp with whom they have wedding bliss in California where he's hired to look after Sidney Toler's 1/3 interest in a dog track. His infatuation with gambling causes her to move back with her mother in (Ohio?); he follows her and patronizes the local dog track where he follows the horse Dark Hazard closely. After the horse is injured he buys it for $25 and nurses it back to health and wealth. He has left Tobin and goes back to his old flame, Glenda Farrell (at her intense best). Has all of Warner's fine snap crackle and pop ingredients of that era.

There's a steak of subversive humour running through this. The novel on which this is based is a very serious examination of gambling addiction but this film makes this a jolly, fun adventure. One example is the background music being played as Edward G's marriage starts to crumble: Honeymoon Hotel from FOOTLIGHT PARADE!

Edward G cited this as one of his least favourite pictures. Being a serious actor and a fan of the author (who also wrote LITTLE CAESAR.....and incidentally owned the dog in this movie) he didn't appreciate the frivolous approach which was taken. For the viewer however this makes it a surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining film.

His character has a serious problem, his gambling looks like it's going to destroy his life but that's not what we get. He doesn't care. At one point he wins $20,000, moments later he's broke, having to borrow $5 to get him home. When he meets gorgeous middle-class Genevieve Tobin he tries to mend his ways but the lure of the bet and the lure of his on-off girlfriend, played perfectly by a ridiculously sexy Glenda Farrell is just too much. He prefers fun to respectability.

Films from this period, and certainly those which followed after the Hays code was properly implemented often had a moral message. This has the opposite. Preachiness is swapped for entertainment. It feels like it shouldn't work but it does - it shouldn't be but it's a lovely warm enjoyable hour an a half. It was after all made in the middle of The Depression so maybe they just wanted to cheer everyone up.

If there is any lesson this teaches us, it's that if you've got a gambling problem, don't worry about it because you're likely to end up having lots and lots of sex with Glenda Farrell.

Compulsive gambler Edward G. Robinson marries nice girl Genevieve Tobin and tries to settle down. His gambling and irresponsibility causes problems between them. Soon he's spending time with ex-girlfriend Glenda Farrell and his wife leaves him. Eventually he buys an injured racing dog named Dark Hazard and nurses him back to health, planning to make a winner out of him.

Fine role for Edward G. Robinson with a solid cast backing him up. Glenda Farrell is always enjoyable. Genevieve Tobin has the thankless role of the suffering wife. Sidney Toler plays the guy who gets Robinson back into gambling. Was remade just a few years later as Wine, Women, and Horses starring Barton MacLane and Ann Sheridan. This is the better version of the two but that one's not bad. Both are pretty simple programmers.