A gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue beholden to a penthouse gangster.A gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue beholden to a penthouse gangster.A gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue beholden to a penthouse gangster.
André Luguet
- Max Boncour
- (as Andre Luguet)
William Burress
- Ollie
- (scenes deleted)
George Raft
- Sneaky
- (scenes deleted)
George Beranger
- Manager of Elizabeth Morgan's
- (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
- Sardi's Waiter
- (uncredited)
George Ernest
- Newsboy
- (uncredited)
Harrison Greene
- City Editor
- (uncredited)
Eddie Kane
- Sardi's Captain of Waiters
- (uncredited)
John Larkin
- Tod - Jimmy's Elevator Operator
- (uncredited)
John Marston
- George Curley
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring his tenure with Warner Bros., William A. Wellman churned out a number of energetic, fast-paced entertainments which are often overlooked by admirers of his work but stand out from the assembly-line programmers they were intended to be. Among the highlights from this early period are Night Nurse (1931) with Barbara Stanwyck, the grim Pre-Code drama Safe in Hell (1931) and Love Is a Racket (1932) (1932) starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as a newspaper columnist working the Broadway beat. The latter film is not only a fascinating time capsule of its era, with glimpses of then-popular New York City nightspots such as Sardi's, but also presents an unapologetic, cynical view of reporters who often resort to any means necessary to score a front-page story.
Wellman would go on to make several more distinctive B-pictures for Warner Bros. including the post-World War I social drama Heroes for Sale (1933) and the picaresque railroad adventure, Wild Boys of the Road (1933), but Love Is a Racket (1932) is a fun, unpretentious introduction to his Pre-Code films for the studio.
- Quotes
James 'Jimmy' Russell: [Giving her a gift of 'nylon' stockings] Here you are, ya' peroxide pirate.
Switchboard Operator: Oh, Mr. Russell... they're lovely! And extra length, too!
James 'Jimmy' Russell: Yeah... winter'll soon be here.
- ConnectionsAlternate-language version of L'athlète incomplet (1932)
Featured review
The title fits the film perfectly
This seedy, downbeat Broadway tale of love, money, ambition, and power makes for an entertaining film. Credit director William Wellman's felicity with the fast-paced Warner Bros style for the no-nonsense, snappy approach. Douglas Fairbanks Jr is very fine as the hardbitten gossip columnist with a fatalistic, romantic side, but Lee Tracy, Ann Dvorak, Frances Dee, Warren Hymer, and, especially, Cecil Cunningham as the conniving Aunt Hattie, do their best to steal the film. And, as this is a pre-code movie, who says a character can't get away with murder?
Details
- Runtime1 hour 12 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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