''Men of Chance'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by George Archainbaud, starring

Ricardo Cortez Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career. Early years Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob K ...

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

, and John Halliday.

Plot

A destitute Marthe Preston is in dire straits in Paris until gambler Richard Dorval comes to her aid. In gratitude, she agrees to a scheme of Dorval's to seduce and wed his rival, "Diamond Johnny" Silk, then help ruin Johnny's horse-racing business interests. Marthe's inside information enables Dorval and an accomplice, bookie Joe Farley, to bribe Johnny's jockeys to deliberately lose races or to help them influence the odds. Johnny learns the truth and demands she leave. Martha has fallen in love with her husband, however, so she pretends to go along with a plot to poison Johnny's horse, double-crossing Dorval and rejoicing in Johnny's triumph.

Cast

as Johnny Silk *

as Marthe Preston Silk * John Halliday as Richard Dorval *

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John E. Ince and Thomas H. Ince. Biogr ...

as Joe Farley *

Kitty Kelly Kitty Kelly (born Sue O'Neil; April 27, 1902 – June 29, 1968), was an American stage and film character actress. Biography Born in New York City in 1902, Kelly was best known as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and her radio hosting with C ...

as Gertie Robbins *

James Donlan James Donlan (July 23, 1888 – June 7, 1938) was an American actor. Born in San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cul ...

as Clark * George Davis as The Frenchman Uncredited: *

Herman Bing Herman Bing (March 30, 1889 – January 9, 1947) was a German-American character actor. He acted in more than 120 films and many of his parts were uncredited. Biography Bing was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was son of the opera ...

as Fritz Tannenbaum * André Cheron as French Detective *

Jean De Briac Jean De Briac (born Jean-Frederic Weitler, 15 August 1891 – 18 October 1970) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1920 and 1962. He was born in France and died in Los Angeles, California. He immigrated to the ...

as Hotel Manager *

Tom Herbert Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as One of Johnny's Bookies * John Larkin as Black Horse Handler * Tom McGuire as Race Track Bookie * Frank Mills as Tony - One of Johnny's Bookies

References

External links

* * * * American black-and-white films Films directed by George Archainbaud Films about gambling American horse racing films American drama films 1931 drama films 1931 films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films {{1930s-US-film-stub