Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS**** Depressed and unable to pay gangster Andrew North, Warner Oland, the $5,000.00, that's at least $100,000.00 in 2016 dollars, he owes him Alan Beckwith, Bill Boyd, plans to off himself after making out a $5,000.00 insurance policy with North as the only recipient. So far so good but it will take a year for the policy to become effective and Alan Beckwith will have to be married for it to be worked out! On top of all that North not satisfied with just the $5,000.00 ups the policy to $100,000.00 in order to get his monies worth! Having a shot gun marriage with Beverly, Dorothy Sebastian, who's kid brother Johonnie, William Collier Jr,is also in debt to North all Alan has to do is wait out the year and on New Years Day 1932 get himself killed in a staged accident and all his troubles will be over! Or so he thought! Playing the stock and real estate markets Alan not only makes enough money to pay North $5,000.00 debt off but also falls in love with his wife Beverly with now getting himself killed the very last thing on his mind! ***SPOILERS*** The movie goes into overdrive with North and his boys out to murder both Alan & Johnnie just for making him look bad as a both a gangster and businessman. This after Alan gets the other $100,000.00 that North wanted in a card game and thus had Johnnie kidnapped by North's men after he came to his pad to off him himself and ended up getting kidnapped by him. This leads to as wild car chase with Squint Dugan, James Gleason, one of North's goon but really an undercover US Government Treasurer Agent behind the wheel.As for North he gets his when placed under arrest and about to be driven to the nearest police station to get booked for attempted murder and kidnapping, as well as racketeering, tries to make a run for it and is crushed by, after jumping out of the car, oncoming traffic! Now with all his troubles behind him Alan and Beverly get married for the second time and this time it's not for a year but for keeps.

MartinHafer The film begins with William Boyd (later known to the world as Hopalong Cassiday) meeting Warner Oland in a restaurant. It seems that Boyd owes gangster Oland $5000 and instead of paying him back, he has an intriguing proposition--he'll kill himself and make it look like an accident to that Oland gets his money. Oland likes the idea but isn't interested in just a paltry five grand, so he modifies the idea. Since most policies won't pay off for the first year, Oland will arrange a sham marriage and support Boyd and his new bride for one year--then an "accident" will occur. And, to make sure that nothing happens to Boyd in the meantime (such as cold feet), Oland arranges to have gunman James Gleason follow him and make sure nothing happens during that year. Now too surprisingly, suicidal Boyd actually falls in love with this arranged wife and by now it's too late--Oland won't let him out of the deal.This plot is very tough to believe and needlessly complicated. Arranging for a wife as well as Gleason seems a bit like overkill. Simply having Oland be the beneficiary seems to make far less sense--but, of course, this changes the plot and then there's no reason for Boyd to change his mind. Despite this rather substantial plot hole and a slow first half of the film, it all managed to pull itself together in the second half--and culminating with a very well-staged chase scene where you DON'T have cheap rear-projected shots and you have some very violent and realistic elements (making it perhaps the best car chase of the era). No cheap stock footage here or a crash that looks ridiculous--it's very well done and made my heart race.Overall, this is a B-movie with some serious flaws, but provided you can just watch the film without questioning them, you'll be very pleasantly surprised by the end--nearly earning this film an 8. A good job of acting by all except Oland--whose delivery, unfortunately, isn't too much better than his Charlie Chan character in other films!

boblipton William Boyd is willing to kill himself for enough insurance money to pay off his debts, but crime boss Warner Oland raises the stakes: a year and a day, and the money will nominally be paid to wife-for-hire Dorothy Sebastian. But a lot can happen in a year...Shot beautifully by under-rated DP Hal Mohr, this movie, with a newly mobile sound camera is very good visually. Unfortunately, leads Boyd and Sebastian are not quite out of the silent era and director Fred Niblo is not so good at directing the dialogue -- nor does the depression that the leads evince for the first half of the movie, help things much. James Gleason and Zasu Pitts are, of course, excellent, but, despite an excitingly shot finale,the acting prevents this from being more than an averagely good picture.

ksf-2 The Big Gamble opens on New Year's eve, with a broke gambler trying to figure out how to work his way out of debt. Alan Beckwith (Bill Boyd) gets local thug Andrew North (Warner Oland) and Beverly Ames (Dorothy Sebastian) involved in a scheme to come up with money fast. Viewers will recognize Warner Oland as the lead in all the Charlie Chan movies in the 1930s. Also keep an eye out for James Gleason as Squint Dugan, small time crook. He will go on to play the ultimate slow-witted New York police lieutenant in just about every film made in the 1940s. Zasu Pitts plays Dugan's wife, maid to the Beckwiths. Sound and light quality are a little iffy, but that can be forgiven, since it was the early days of talkies. The dialogue is all a bit stilted and hesitating, apparently since everyone was new to the live sound track. Director Fred Niblo only made two more films after this one. Niblo had an interesting history; his brother- in- law was George M. Cohan, and Niblo was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Pictures. Not the strongest script or acting, but its a fun, low-key film. Even a couple surprises.