utgard14
Small-town barber Nick Venizelos (Edward G. Robinson) is very lucky at gambling. So lucky that his friends pool their money and send him to a high-stakes poker game in the city. But Nick gets in over his head and is conned by grifters. Together with his friend Jack (James Cagney), Nick gets even and then rises to the top of the gambling empire. Not sure exactly what that means since the movie is pretty vague about what Nick is doing besides playing poker. But the district attorney thinks he's a public menace that needs to be stamped out, so there we are.Fine Pre-Code Warner Bros. drama, notable for being the only screen pairing of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, two of WB's biggest stars of the 1930s. Robinson's the lead here, with Cagney in a supporting role. They play well off each other. Boris Karloff has a bit part as a gambler Robinson hates. We never get an explanation as to why. Not Karloff's finest hour. In "be thankful this is in black & white" news, pay attention to a character named Shultz that's part of the con artist gang. This guy's teeth are disgusting!
AaronCapenBanner
Edward G. Robinson and Jimmy Cagney team up in their only picture together(strangely enough). Robinson plays Nick, an immigrant Greek barber who loves to gamble and can't stay away from a poker game or betting. Cagney plays Jack, his good friend who is amused by him, and he and their other friends bankroll him in a big betting game in the city, though Nick's weakness for women gets him cleaned out in a rigged game, Nick decides to get even by joining in on the racket, which makes him rich at first, but of course things later go wrong, though Jack does what he can to help. The two top actors are once again the whole show in otherwise familiar picture that works because of their star-power.
secondtake
Smart Money (1931)A clever story about crime and misguided love (quasi-love) and about the love of money. What's wrong with that? Nothing here. With a remarkable performance by Edward G. Robinson (as usual), and supporting roles by a young James Cagney and a series of blondes who will more or less look alike at first. It might have been something of a formula production for the cast and crew, but it's during the lively pre-1934 sound era where, especially at a studio like Warner Bros., things manage to pop one way or another.As much as this is a very good film, completely engaging and without gaffes or sentimental slow downs, it remains secondary for 1931 because of several interesting things. First, Robinson had just become famous for "Little Caesar" where he had a shining (and roughly similar) role as a sort of good guy gangster. Second, Cagney was in a rare supporting role, not yet famous for his breakout role in "The Public Enemy" later the same year. Both of these Warner films are better, all around. And a third twist is the appearance early on of Boris Karloff, who was about to launch to superstardom as, yes, "Frankenstein," a Universal film from later in, yes, 1931. But you should watch "Smart Money" for what it does so well--tells a fast, multi-layered story with economy and life, and with great performances by the leads. The story and direction might fall short of classic, but it's still really solid.
stuman-2
It seems that several cast members sneak a lot of Yiddish within some of the quick dialog. I know that Cagney, brought up in the lower East Side, did actually insert Yiddish into some of his finished product. Seems odd that this would happen. Appreciate it if someone might elaborate as to if mixtures of different languages/dialects were actually permitted in final takes. Obviously this would save funds on retakes and let a well done scene pass through. Perhaps since this film was done in '31,it didn't matter too much. Yet, much of the dialog is hard to decipher in spots. I enjoyed the film. A cute piece of height of the depression era entertainment.
AD
