Buried Loot

One of Robert Taylor's earliest "films"--if you call a short subject, a film.

All about a guy who steals $200,000 from a bank and the aftermath that goes with it. I found it to be very entertaining and thought that it was too bad that they did not do a complete full length film on this one, as it was really well made!!

Try and catch it on a certain cable channel that shows these "one reel wonders", as it is a good one.

This is a very strange MGM short because it stars pretty-boy Robert Taylor in a very untraditional role. Because it was very early in his career, the big-wigs didn't know how to use him and experimented by starring him in this short crime drama--a role quite unlike his soon to be established persona.

The film is made in a semi-documentary style and is entitled a "Crime Does Not Pay" film. It begins with a narrator and government official preaching that crime is bad and then the narrator talks about a strange case that proves this assertion. Robert Taylor's character works in a bank and embezzles $200,000 (a HUGE sum of money in 1935) and is naturally sent to jail. However, very oddly, he turns himself in to the boss and doesn't try to run--saying he spent the money gambling and having fun. There's a lot more to it than that but I really don't want to spoil it. Suffice to say, though, that it's pretty exciting and what happens to handsome Taylor's face is pretty cool to see.

Overall, while not a great film, it is very unusual as well as a great curio for film history buffs and fans of Hollywood's Golden Age.

The first in MGM's wonderful Crime Does Not Pay short series stars an up-and-coming Robert Taylor as an embezzler who turns himself in, lying and saying he spent all of the money he stole ($200,000 - a lot of bread in 1935). His plan is to serve the few years of prison time so that when he's released he will be able to spend all that money without the cops looking over his shoulder. But once inside the pen he starts worrying something might happen to the money and before long he's thinking of escape. Great beginning to the series with an interesting story with some neat twists and a big star when he was still a nobody. A lot of fun for classic film fans, particularly if you enjoy crime dramas from back in the day.

Just watched this, M-G-M's first of its "Crime Does Not Pay" series of shorts, on TCM just now. Robert Taylor, before his big stardom, plays a guy who turns himself in as the guy who stole lots of money from a bank he works at. He's sent to prison for five years. I'll stop there and say this was quite a thrilling short and when it ends, well, you'll either be very surprised or not so much based on whatever many of these kind of movies or TV shows you may have watched over the years. So on that note, I highly recommend Buried Loot.

I first saw this film on Channel 4 back in 1988 whilst I was in secondary school and remember thinking that this was a good vehicle to showcase Robert Taylor as a future talent. It is far superior to 'Society Doctor' simply we see him scheming when he is in court being given a prison sentence. It has the feel of the 'Scotland Yard' short subjects. We see him enjoying himself in prison playing the game until it is time for him to be released and free to enjoy his $200,000. However, the idea is dropped into his head that whilst he is in prison someone may discover his buried loot and leave him with nothing. You see the smile drop from his face and replaced with a dark gloom. There is darkness in Robert Taylor, and it is pity that he always played protagonists because he had enough darkness in him to play antagonists like in 'Undercurrent'.