''Buried Loot'' is a 1935 American crime film, the first installment of 50
shorts
Shorts are a garment worn over the human pelvis, pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" b ...
in the ''Crime Does Not Pay'' series produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
and released to theaters between 1935 and 1947.
[Kehr, David (2012)]
"Justice Served, Justice Blurred: ‘Crime Does Not Pay: The Complete Shorts Collection’ on DVD"
''The New York Times'', July 20, 2012; retrieved December 21, 2017. Directed by
George B. Seitz
George Brackett Seitz (January 3, 1888 – July 8, 1944) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, such as '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1914) and ''The Exploits o ...
, ''Buried Loot'' stars
Robert Taylor in his first leading role for MGM, although he and the rest of the cast and crew are uncredited during the film's presentation.
[
]
Plot
The film's story is a contemporary one, set in New York City in the 1930s. It recounts the crime of Al Douglas ( Robert Taylor), a bank employee who embezzles $200,000 ($ today) from the city's Seacoast National Bank. He then carries out his plan to confess his deed to the bank's president, telling him that he has squandered all the money, mostly through reckless gambling. In reality, though, Douglas has not spent any of the cash; he buried it in a suitcase at a remote spot "across the river in Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
". As part of his plan too, Douglas quite willingly goes to prison after his trial and conviction for grand larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...
. There he intends to be a model inmate and expects to serve only the minimum term of his five-to-ten-year sentence. Upon his release, he will then retrieve the hidden loot and enjoy a rich lifestyle.
Once Douglas is in prison his resolve to stay there, even for the minimum term, begins to wane. His cellmate Louie ( Al Hill) continues to talk about how things always change while people are behind bars and how outside prison "nothing stays put". Such comments cause Douglas to worry that someone will find his ill-gotten treasure, so he agrees to participate in Louie's scheme to sneak out of prison by disguising themselves as a priest and as another regular visitor. The scheme succeeds and the two men escape.
Following their getaway, the former cellmates separate to make it harder for authorities to track them. Louie goes to an undisclosed location in New York while Douglas flees to Canada, knowing that he would be easily recognized in the United States and might be followed if he tried to dig up his buried loot too soon after his escape. In Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Douglas decides to alter his physical appearance permanently before returning to New Jersey. He stages an accident and deliberately burns his face with nitric acid
Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...
. His self-inflicted burns prove to be so severe that he is hospitalized and has to undergo extensive surgeries, which leave his face horribly scarred from skin grafts and numerous stitches. Now confident that he will not be recognized in the United States, Douglas leaves Canada after his release from the hospital and retrieves the suitcase, still full of money. He then proceeds to New York City to book passage on a ship to Europe.
In New York, while walking along a street with his suitcase, Douglas is spotted by two men he had befriended in Canada. The two are the same friends who had taken him to the hospital after his burn injuries and had visited him during his recovery. They invite him to share a taxi ride. He declines, but they cheerfully insist, and he goes with them. The taxi soon stops in front of the Seacoast National Bank, his former employer. Now quite nervous, Douglas refuses to go into the building, so his friends suddenly put handcuffs on him, take his suitcase, and escort him at gunpoint to the office of the bank's president. Douglas is surprised to see Louie there, along with other men. The bank president now informs Douglas that his escape from prison had been an elaborate ruse
Ruse may refer to:
Places
*Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria
**Ruse Municipality
** Ruse Province
** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency
*Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia
* Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...
, that he was allowed to escape. He also tells Douglas that officials for the bank's bonding company never believed his claim that he had spent all of the stolen cash, so in an effort to recover the money the company had organized his escape and had its agents follow him constantly since then. Those agents included some prison staff, his Canadian "friends", and even Louie. The film ends with the disfigured Douglas staring at the camera as he is being told he will now return to prison to serve his maximum sentence with no hope for early parole.
Cast
* Robert Taylor as Al Douglas
* Al Hill as Louie Rattig
* Richard Tucker
Richard Tucker (August 28, 1913January 8, 1975) was an American operatic tenor and cantor. Long associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker's career was primarily centered in the United States.
Early life
Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticker ...
as Bank President
* George Irving as Edward Swain
* Robert Livingston as Bob
* Brooks Benedict
Brooks Benedict (born Harold J. Mann, February 6, 1896 – January 1, 1968) was an American actor of the silent and sound film eras, when he played supporting and utility roles in over 300 films, mostly uncredited.
Life
He was born to Alice Jul ...
as Man in Getaway Car
* James Ellison James Ellison may refer to:
* James O. Ellison (1929–2014), U.S. federal judge
* James T. Ellison (1862–1920s), New York gangster
*James Ellison (actor) (1910–1993), American film actor
*James Ellison (footballer, born 1901) (1901–1958), En ...
as Detective
* Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author and translator. He wrote poetry (original and translations from Irish), dramatic works, memoirs, journalistic columns and features on a ...
as Court Clerk
* Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross (born Bernice Maude Gaunt, January 7, 1913 – March 9, 1975) was an American actress and singer, notable for her duet with Bob Hope, "Thanks for the Memory" from ''The Big Broadcast of 1938''. She appeared in 25 feature films bet ...
as Girl in Canadian Apartment
* Henry Otho
Henry Otho (February 6, 1888 – June 6, 1940) was an American actor. He has worked in ''The Big Stampede'' (1932), ''Mary Stevens'' (1933), ''Hard to Handle (film), Hard to Handle'' (1933), ''The Mayor of Hell'' (1933), ''Baby Face (film), Bab ...
as Prison Guard
* Monte Vandergrift as "Death House" Guard
Production and premiere
Five years before the release of ''Buried Loot'', MGM produced the feature-length prison drama '' The Big House'' and staged the film on huge sets constructed by studio crews, who had meticulously reproduced the cellblocks, mess hall, and high-walled prison yard of San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
in California. MGM recycled some of the footage shot on those sets for ''The Big House'' and used it in ''Buried Loot'' for scenes depicting Al Douglas in prison.[Toole, Michael T]
"Articles"
''The Big House'' (1930), TCM; retrieved March 5, 2018.
MGM released ''Buried Loot'' to theaters on January 19, 1935, but five days earlier the studio had arranged a special presentation of the film for law enforcement officials in Baltimore, Maryland. ''Motion Picture Daily
''Motion Picture Daily'' was an American daily magazine focusing on the film industry. It was published by Quigley Publishing Company, which also published the ''Motion Picture Herald''. The magazine was formed by the merging of three existing Qui ...
'', an entertainment trade publication in New York, reported on that premiere
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
:
References and notes
External links
*
*
* {{amg movie, 119944
1935 films
American black-and-white films
1935 crime drama films
American crime drama films
1930s English-language films
Films directed by George B. Seitz
1930s American films