Buried Loot

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.

...not even in 1935! Thus proves this early entry in the long running series "Crime Does Not Pay" produced by MGM. Robert Taylor had been in films before this, but AFTER this short, MGM gave him a trial at a prominent supporting role in 1935's Society Doctor - and it is a hoot. But I digress.

Taylor plays Al Douglas, a bank employee who just walks into the bank president's office and confesses to stealing 200K. He knows he is going to jail. The bank president asks him what he did with it and he says "I spent it". Now remember in 1935, deep in the Depression, 200K was equal to about four million dollars today. You just don't spend that kind of money on nothing! So Al's plan was to steal the money, bury it, do his time as neatly as possible so he does the minimum sentence, then dig up the money and live like a king.

Al gets five to ten years. So five years is not long to wait for 200K in 1935. He is doing well in prison, and becomes a trustee. It looks like he'll be out in five. And then "stir" starts getting to him, plus his cellmate has an escape plan and makes one ominous statement - "A lot can happen in five years."

This gets Al thinking. What if somebody digs up the loot while he is in jail? What if he did all of this for nothing? And so his first mistake is to agree to escape with his cellmate. And he just keeps making bad mistakes until the tale has been told by law enforcement to the "MGM Crime Reporter" in flashback.

Taylor did a good job in this short. He displays a real grasp of the craft of acting in a 20 minute short that was usually presented in a "Just The Facts Ma'am" Dragnet style, to reference something more recent. The only odd thing has nothing to do with acting - it has to do with art design. For some reason the MGM crime reporter is conducting his interview in an office with a chandelier in it and a stuffed bird that looks just like The Maltese Falcon on a bookcase. Where is ace MGM art designer Cedric Gibbons when you need him??

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'.

Buried Loot (1935)

**** (out of 4)

An embezzler steals $200,000 and says he gambled it away. This isn't exactly true because he's buried the money and plans to get it when he's released from prison in five years but a few twists changes things. Here's a terrific MGM short from their "Crime Does Not Pay" film line, which back then was what the TV show Cops is today. Cops would tell true life crimes and then re-enact them. This story is full of wonderful twists and turns and the ending is downright jaw dropping. One of the best of its kind.

Robert Taylor is no ordinary crook. He's smart. He confesses to embezzling $200,000 from the bonding company he he works for and accepts the five-to-ten-year sentence. What no one knows is he's buried the money where no one will find it. He figures that after he serves his time, he'll get it and live the high life. He's wrong, of course, because this is the first episode of MGM's long-running CRIME DOES NOT PAY series.

MGM made no mistake with this episode, starring the rising Robert Taylor. George Seitz directed and co-wrote the short subject, and production value was added by using clips from THE BIG HOUSE. Atmosphere is augmented by camerawork that includes a lot of side-lighting and shadows that would become the bedrock of film noir. All in all, a very satisfactory effort.