You Can't Buy Luck (1937)
When a gambler is accused of murder, the pretty orphanage employee he loves sets out to prove him innocent of the crime.
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It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
A Masterpiece!
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Hedda Hopper is the only big name name I recognize in this short version film from RKO. Joe Baldwin (Onslow Stevens) races horses, and is rather superstitious. His girl is Jean Jason (Maxine Jennings), and she wants to secretly toot off to europe with her "friend" Paul (Vinton Hayworth). Lots of intrigue, murder, mayhem. some story elements in here, about adopting, and helping out an orphanage home. Baldwin gets blamed for a killing, but did he really do it? We watch the courtroom drama, while his new girl runs around and tries to find the truth. Hedda Hopper has only a small role in this one. Too bad. Not a very exciting tale, but its not bad. Helen Mack is in here as "Betty". She worked with some of the greats of Hollywood. Check out her story on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Mack . Directed by Lew Landers, who had popped onto the scene in the early 1930s. Shown on TCM now & then, this one kind of has a murder noir feeling.
Onslow Stevens and Helen Mack never achieved true greatness in movies, but they had some success in TV and Broadway, perhaps because of the many films they made for the studio system (like this one) that were of unexceptional quality. The plot summary listed above could be the storyboard for the movie, so I won't waste your time; however, a quick scan above should give you an idea of how odd the story is. Summing up the first half, Onslow Stevens is an extremely superstitious gambler, down on his luck. By way of an orphanage that has brought him his bad luck he finds instant love with an all too nice girl played by Helen Mack. The second half is best stated as an "innocent man framed for murder gets nice girl to find proof he's not guilty while on the lam then convinces cops to set up real killer in the nick of time--the end" type of story. Heard that one before? If you need background noise while working on a really late night then this is your movie.