His Greatest Gamble

Last updated
His Greatest Gamble
His Greatest Gamble.jpg
Directed by John Robertson
Charles Kerr (assistant)
Screenplay by Sidney Buchman
Harry Hervey
Story by Salisbury Field
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Myles Connolly
Starring Richard Dix
Dorothy Wilson
Bruce Cabot
Erin O'Brien-Moore
Cinematography Teddy Tetzlaff
Edited by William Hamilton
Music by Max Steiner
Production
company
Release dates
  • July 17, 1934 (1934-07-17)(Premiere-New York City) [1]
  • August 10, 1934 (1934-08-10)(US) [1]
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

His Greatest Gamble is a 1934 American drama film directed by John Robertson from a screenplay by Sidney Buchman and Harry Hervey, based on a story by Salisbury Field. The film stars Richard Dix, Dorothy Wilson, Bruce Cabot, and Erin O'Brien-Moore. Edith Fellows also has a role, playing the character of Alice Stebbins as a child.

Contents

A print is held by the Library of Congress. [2]

Plot

Phillip Eden cares for his daughter Alice. When he learns that his ex-wife Florence intends to take custody, he attempts to flee with Alice, but an acquaintance is accidentally killed. Phillip is sent to prison. He initially receives letters from Alice, who doesn't know where he is, but eventually Alice becomes depressed living with Florence. Eleven years go by, and Phillip, still in prison, decides he needs to see Alice, so he escapes from prison. He finds Florence has kept Alice a prisoner in her own house, having convinced her that she is ill. Stephen, who wants to marry Alice, arrives, and Phillip convinces Alice that she can be happy, that she doesn't have to accept everything her mother tells her. Stephen and Alice head to Europe while Phillip surrenders to the police.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Cabot</span> American actor (1904–1972)

Bruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933) and for his roles in films such as The Last of the Mohicans (1936), Fritz Lang's Fury (1936), and the Western Dodge City (1939). He was also known as one of "Wayne's Regulars", appearing in a number of John Wayne films beginning with Angel and the Badman (1947), and concluding with Big Jake (1971).

<i>Street Scene</i> (play) 1929 play written by Elmer Rice

Street Scene is a 1929 American play by Elmer Rice. It opened January 10, 1929, at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City. After a total of 601 performances on Broadway, the production toured the United States and ran for six months in London. The action of the play takes place entirely on the front stoop of a New York City brownstone and in the adjacent street in the early part of the 20th century. It studies the complex daily lives of the people living in the building and the sense of despair that hovers over their interactions. Street Scene received the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

<i>A Place in the Sun</i> (1951 film) 1951 US drama film by George Stevens

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the 1926 play, also titled An American Tragedy. It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women: one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory, and the other a beautiful socialite. Another adaptation of the novel had been filmed once before, as An American Tragedy, in 1931. All these works were inspired by the real-life murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in 1906, which resulted in Gillette's conviction and execution by electric chair in 1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Clarke Wilson</span> American dramatist

Dorothy Clarke Wilson was an American writer, perhaps best known for her novel Prince of Egypt (1949), which was a primary source for the Cecil B. DeMille film, The Ten Commandments (1956).

<i>Night World</i> (film) 1932 film

Night World is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film featuring Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, and Boris Karloff. The supporting cast includes George Raft and Hedda Hopper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Wilson (actress)</span> American actress (1909–1998)

Dorothy Wilson was an American movie actress of the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin O'Brien-Moore</span> American actress (1902-1979)

Erin O'Brien-Moore was an American actress. She created the role of Rose in the original Broadway production of Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene (1929), and was put under contract in Hollywood and made a number of films in the 1930s. Her promising career on the stage and screen was interrupted by severe injuries she sustained in a 1939 fire. Following her recovery and extensive plastic surgery, she returned to the stage and character roles in films and television, including four seasons of the primetime serial drama Peyton Place (1965–1968).

<i>Gods Step Children</i> 1938 film by Oscar Micheaux

God's Step Children is a 1938 American drama film directed by Oscar Micheaux and starring Jacqueline Lewis. The film is inspired by a combination of elements shared from two previously released Hollywood productions, Imitation of Life and These Three.

<i>Gambling Wives</i> 1924 film by Dell Henderson

Gambling Wives is a 1924 American silent melodrama film. Directed by Dell Henderson and produced by actor-producer Ben F. Wilson, it was released through Arrow Films. The film stars Marjorie Daw.

<i>Sinner Take All</i> 1936 film by Errol Taggart

Sinner Take All is a 1936 American murder mystery film directed by Errol Taggart and starring Bruce Cabot, Margaret Lindsay and Joseph Calleia.

<i>Three Who Loved</i> 1931 film

Three Who Loved is a 1931 American Pre-Code drama film directed by George Archainbaud from a screenplay by Beulah Marie Dix based on a story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Martin Flavin. The film revolves around a love triangle. It was produced by RKO Pictures, which also distributed the film, releasing it on July 3, 1931.

<i>Too Many Cooks</i> (film) 1931 film

Too Many Cooks is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, written by Jane Murfin and starring Bert Wheeler, Dorothy Lee, Roscoe Ates and Robert McWade. It was released on July 18, 1931 by RKO Pictures.

<i>The Big Gamble</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

The Big Gamble is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Fred Niblo and written by Walter DeLeon and F. McGrew Willis. The film stars William Boyd, Dorothy Sebastian, Warner Oland and James Gleason. The film was released on September 4, 1931 by RKO Pictures.

<i>Legion of Terror</i> 1936 film by Charles C. Coleman

Legion of Terror is a 1936 American drama/action film, directed by Charles C. Coleman. The film, which stars Bruce Cabot, Marguerite Churchill, Ward Bond, and Crawford Weaver, is a fictionalized story about the real-life Ku Klux Klan splinter group called the Black Legion of the 1930s. It was inspired by the May 1935 murder in Michigan of Charles Poole, a Works Progress Administration worker.

<i>Bad Guy</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by Edward L. Cahn

Bad Guy is a 1937 American crime film directed by Edward L. Cahn and written by Earl Felton and Harry Ruskin. The film stars Bruce Cabot, Virginia Grey, Edward Norris, Jean Chatburn and Cliff Edwards. It was released on August 27, 1937 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>The Big Sister</i> (film) 1916 film by John B. OBrien

The Big Sister is a lost 1916 American drama silent film directed by John B. O'Brien and written by Harvey F. Thew. The film stars Mae Murray, Matty Roubert, Harry C. Browne, Ida Darling, Armand Cortes and Tammany Young. The film was released on September 7, 1916, by Paramount Pictures.

Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary is a three-volume biographical dictionary published in 1971. Its origins lay in 1957 when Radcliffe College librarians, archivists, and professors began researching the need for a version of the Dictionary of American Biography dedicated solely to women.

<i>Grounds for Divorce</i> (1925 film) 1925 film by Paul Bern

Grounds for Divorce is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Paul Bern and written by Guy Bolton, Violet Clark, and Ernest Vajda. The film stars Florence Vidor, Matt Moore, Harry Myers, Louise Fazenda, George Beranger and Gustav von Seyffertitz. The film was released on July 27, 1925, by Paramount Pictures.

The Little Firebrand is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Charles Hutchison and starring Edith Thornton, George Fawcett and Lou Tellegen.

<i>The Legend of Hollywood</i> 1924 silent film

The Legend of Hollywood is a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by Renaud Hoffman and starring Percy Marmont, Zasu Pitts, and Alice Davenport.

References

  1. 1 2 "His Greatest Gamble: Detail View". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  2. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, p.80 c.1978 by the American Film Institute