Comments on: Crime Is a Business Like Any Other

By: TCM's Classic Movie Blog

TCM's Classic Movie Blog — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:58:22 +0000

[...] Dreiser’s An American Tragedy (1931), etched a lively portrayal of a fervid thrill seeker in Blood Money (1933), as well as her best known turn as gentle Meg in Little Women (1933). When an ambivalent [...]

By: Bob Rooney

Bob Rooney — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:25:14 +0000

This is an unexpectedly marvelous movie that I saw recently on the Fox movie channel. The story is about as sordid as Hollywood could get and makes the self-imposed industry Production Code understandable. It was a good change of pace part for Frances Dee and I was surprised to see such a young, confident Judith Anderson (I would not have thought that this was her first movie). Good movie. Thanks for another good piece.

By: judyge

judyge — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:07:18 +0000

This sounds like a fascinating movie – I hope it shows up on TCM in the UK some time. Will keep my eyes open for it. Thanks for another great posting.

By: Al Lowe

Al Lowe — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:44:49 +0000

The name Blossom Seeley sounded vaguely familiar. Then it hit me.

Betty Hutton played Blossom in the biopic Somebody Loves Me in 1952. Her leading man was Ralph Meeker, better known these days for Kiss Me Deadly and Naked Spur.
I’ve never seen Somebody Loves Me (or Blood Money either).
This was Hutton’s last Paramount film. She married the choreographer on the Seeley film and insisted he direct her next movie. When Paramount declined, she walked out.
Her rapid decline reminds me of the “Lonesome Rhodes Express, Going Down” scene in Face in the Crowd. She had made two of the biggest hits of the early 50s, Annie Gets Your Gun and Greatest Show on Earth. Then suddenly she was no longer in demand.
The film depicted Seeley as a vaudeville headliner, Broadway star and World War I volunteer.

By: moirafinnie

moirafinnie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:29:54 +0000

Hi Stacia, Well, if a little "unwholesomeness" is what you long for, this film is definitely designed to appeal to that craving. Btw, Blood Money, along with Ann Vickers and Scarface, (both of which are shown on TCM occasionally), were subject to censorship around the country when released. Blood Money was one of several movies reportedly deemed "unfit" by more than one board in the Midwest in particular. Since the studio was trying to survive in the depth of the Depression, there may have been a tendency to see some of the resultant publicity as manna from heaven for the often meager box office of those years--despite the fact that the same industry unified behind the self-imposed censorship enforced under the stricter enforcement of the PCA beginning in July, 1934. Hi BillB, I received a dvd-r of Blood Money from a friend. Those expurgated forms of the movie that were allegedly distributed after 1934 may exist somewhere, but I understand that the version that is occasionally broadcast on FMC cable is the original pre-code, but is badly in need of restoration. You may be able to locate a copy of the film from online collectors, but unfortunately, there is currently no commercial dvd available from Fox. It would be great if 20th Century Fox could start to distribute some of those earlier films in their library on dvd in the future, since they have done a splendid job of packaging their later, better known films for that market in recent years. The splendid actress Anna Maria Italiano was born in the Bronx in 1931 to Michael and Mildred Italiano. The actress only became "Ann Bancroft" two decades later when her career began. George Bancroft was married twice and had only one child by his second wife, Octavia Broske. As far as I know the memorable actress of recent decades and the earlier, tough guy actor are not related.

By: Movie Man » The Morlocks are back

Movie Man » The Morlocks are back — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:20:20 +0000

[...] highly recommend this post on the very obscure movie BLOOD MONEY and its complicated star, George Bancroft. Having caught the movie on Fox Movie Classics a couple of [...]

By: Will

Will — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:11:03 +0000

I caught this one a few weeks ago on Fox Movie classics and really enjoyed it. It was fascinating to see Bancroft in a lead role after watching him play supporting characters in other crime films, and that last scene with Frances Dee where she eagerly rushes off to be mauled is something else. Slowly but surely, I’ve been working my way through all the movies in Danny Peary’s CULT MOVIE books, and this was one I never thought I’d catch. The print wasn’t great, but maybe it’ll show up again — or even on DVD.

By: BillB

BillB — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:56:35 +0000

Being a Lon Chaney Sr and George Raft fan I cant wait for this one! What a tresat…but I’m a bit concerned about when you metioned “expurgated and incoherent form” i want to make sure i get the real deal. Any clues – and where did you et copy you watched? Soon to be a George Bancroft fan I think. Was that Ann Bancrofts father?

By: Stacia

Stacia — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:25:57 +0000

Distinctly unwholesome? There is no higher recommendation! I will be on the look-out for this one, I am very intrigued.

By: Suzi Doll

Suzi Doll — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:37:03 +0000

I wish I had seen this film and will look for it in the future. From now on, “the only difference between a liberal and a conservative man is that the liberal man recognizes the existence of vice and tries to control it, while the conservative just turns his back and pretends it doesn’t exist” is my new favorite movie line to quote.

Thanks Moirafinnie for digging up this up.