Often the biggest anxiety for me is choosing something to watch out of all the possibilities. I am appreciating the decision to just focus on finishing a list of movies, the ones I haven’t seen from Danny Peary’s book, Cult Movies 2. Without this list, I never would have sought out Blood Money (1933), a pre-code crime movie that I’d never even heard of. When I say pre-code, that’s before the Hayes code which dictated what could be shown in Hollywood movies and the morality that could be portrayed – pre-code often can mean the movies are a bit more adult and risque than you might expect of old black and white movies. Part of why Blood Money is a cult movie to Danny Peary in his review is that it was a lost movie, only rediscovered in the late 1970s and a window into Rowland Brown’s career as a director. The movie focuses on a bail bondsman Bill Bailey (George Bancroft), cannily introduced in a witty montage of people talking about and using his services before we even meet him. At 65 minutes running time, Blood Money moves quickly and has sharp dialogue and clever gags as it paints a portrait of big city crime as a business – Bailey is a wheeler-and-dealer who doesn’t mind representing crooks or taking little old lady’s houses as collateral. He also has a cosy relationship with a mob boss Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson, an Australian actor who played Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock’s Rebecca) and she has a brother who habitually robs banks, Drury Darling (Chick Chandler). Things start to cook when Bailey represents an upper class dame accused of shoplifting Elaine Talbot (Francis Dee). There are double crosses and betrayals, which lead to a speedy oneupmanship between Bailey and the mob, building to a climax where an explosive device is hidden in an eight ball during a pool game. Dee gives a scene stealer performance as a young society lady excited at the prospect of being close to the criminal underworld, espousing almost sadomasochistic desires, a prototype femme fatale who isn’t quite given the same stern morality treatment as with later crime movies; actually, there’s none of the usual morality punishment for any of the criminal characters. I streamed a copy on YouTube, which was choppy quality but it was watchable. Fast paced with memorable strange and humorous moments – worth seeking out if you’re a fan of old Hollywood cinema. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 