Crime Does Not Pay (film and radio series)

Crime Does Not Pay is an MGM anthology crime film series of shorts that ran from 1935 to 1947.

Background

Each film runs approximately 20 minutes in length and begins with an actor appearing as "your MGM crime reporter" introducing a law-enforcement official who would inform the audience of a criminal trend such as drunk driving, juvenile delinquency and fraud that would form the basis of the episode. The dramatic episodes resolved with sobering, ironic or bleak outcomes for the perpetrators.

MGM used the series as a training ground for its young contract players and cast each film primarily with character actors, although several stars appeared, including Van Johnson, J. Carrol Naish, Leon Ames, Laraine Day, Darryl Hickman, Bela Lugosi and Ed Begley. Some of the unknown actors in the series' episodes would later find feature-film success, such as Audrey Totter, Irene Hervey, Tom Neal, Marsha Hunt, Stephen McNally and Barry Nelson. The most famous of these was Robert Taylor, who appeared in the first film in the series, Buried Loot (1935), under his real name of Spangler Brugh as an emergency replacement for an actor who had fallen ill just before filming. Taylor had been an MGM "test boy" whose job was to be filmed opposite various young ingenues for screen tests.^{[citation needed]}

Crime Does Not Pay later spawned a radio series of the same name, recorded and broadcast at MGM's New York station WMGM. Written by Ira Marion and directed by Marx B. Loeb, it aired for two years (October 10, 1949—October 10, 1951), including repeats. It moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System for its final run (January 7—December 22, 1952).^[1]

Film series episodes

Buried Loot with Robert Taylor
Alibi Racket with Edward Norris and Alan Bridge
Desert Death with Raymond Hatton
A Thrill for Thelma with Irene Hervey and Robert Livingston
Hit-and-Run Driver with George Walcott and William Gould
The Perfect Set-Up with William Henry, Helene Chadwick, Frank Shannon, and Robert Dudley
Foolproof with Niles Welch and Alonzo Price
The Public Pays (Oscar winner) with Richard Alexander
Torture Money (Oscar winner), with Edwin Maxwell and George Lynn
It May Happen to You, with J. Carrol Naish
Soak the Poor with Leslie Fenton and Leon Ames
Give Till It Hurts with Janet Beecher, Clay Clement, and Howard Hickman
Behind the Criminal with Edward Emerson, Walter Kingsford, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Joe Sawyer
What Price Safety! with Lionel Royce, George Huston, and John Wray
Miracle Money with John Miljan, Boyd Crawford, Robert Middlemass, and Fred Warren
Come Across with Bernard Nedell, Bernadene Hayes, Rita La Roy, and Donald Douglas
A Criminal Is Born with George Breakston and David Durand
They're Always Caught (Oscar nominee), with Stanley Ridges, John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt, and Charles Waldron
Think It Over with Lester Matthews, Charles D. Brown, Donald Barry, and Dwight Frye
The Wrong Way Out with Kenneth Howell and Linda Terry
Money to Loan with Alan Dinehart, Paul Guilfoyle, John Butler, Addison Richards, and Tom Collins
While America Sleeps with Richard Purcell, Lenita Lane, Egon Brecher, and Fred Vogeding
Help Wanted with Tom Neal, Jo Ann Sayers, Clem Bevans, Edward Pawley, and Truman Bradley
Think First with Marc Lawrence and Laraine Day
Drunk Driving (Oscar nominee) with Richard Purcell, Jo Ann Sayers, and Richard Lane
Pound Foolish with Neil Hamilton, Lynne Carver, Gertrude Michael, and Victor Varconi
Know Your Money with Noel Madison, Dennis Moore, Charles D. Brown, William Edmunds, John Wray, and Adrian Morris
Jack Pot with Tom Neal, Ann Morriss, Edwin Maxwell, and Jean Rouverol
Women in Hiding with Marsha Hunt, Jane Drummond, Mary Bovard, C. Henry Gordon, and Granville Bates
Buyer Beware with Charles Arnt and Hugh Beaumont
Soak the Old with Ralph Morgan and George Cleveland
You, the People with C. Henry Gordon, Byron Shores, Paul Everton, and Matt McHugh
Respect the Law with Moroni Olsen, Richard Lane, Frank Orth, and William Forrest
Forbidden Passage (Oscar nominee) with Addison Richards, Wolfgang Zilzer, Hugh Beaumont, and George Lessey
Coffins on Wheels with Darryl Hickman, Tom Baker, Allan Lane, and Cy Kendall
Sucker List with Lynne Carver, Noel Madison, John Archer, and George Cleveland
Don't Talk (Oscar nominee), with Donald Douglas, Gloria Holden, Barry Nelson, and Harry Worth
For the Common Defense! with John Litel, Douglas Fowley, Horace McNally, and Van Johnson
Keep 'em Sailing with Jim Davis and Ian Keith
Plan for Destruction (wartime subject with Lewis Stone, released with the Crime Does Not Pay series)
Patrolling the Ether with Hazel Brooks and Marc Cramer
Easy Life with Steven Geray, Bernard Thomas, and William "Bill" Phillips
Dark Shadows with Henry O'Neill, Morris Ankrum, Arthur Space, and Paul Guilfoyle
Fall Guy with Leon Ames and Paul Langton
The Last Installment with Walter Sande, Cameron Mitchell, William "Bill" Phillips, Bob Lewis, and Addison Richards
Phantoms, Inc. with Arthur Shields, Harry Hayden, and Frank Reicher
A Gun in His Hand (Oscar nominee), with Tom Trout, Richard Gaines, and Anthony Caruso
Purity Squad with Byron Foulger, Dick Elliott, Morris Ankrum, and Frank Fenton
The Luckiest Guy in the World (Oscar nominee) with Barry Nelson, Eloise Hardt, George Travell, Milton Kibbee, and Harry Cheshire

A 1944 Crime Does Not Pay short with studio newcomers Audrey Totter and Tom Trout was expanded into a 57-minute feature film, Main Street After Dark (released 1945), with new footage of Edward Arnold as a police detective.

Home video

The Warner Archive Collection has released the entire series of 50 shorts on DVD-R as Crime Does Not Pay: The Complete Shorts Collection. Some episodes can also be found as extras on DVDs and Blu-rays of classic MGM films of the period:

The Public Pays is on Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
Drunk Driving is on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Jack Pot is on I Love You Again (1940)
Don't Talk is on Random Harvest (1942)
For the Common Defense! is on Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Purity Squad is on Without Love (1945)
The Luckiest Guy in the World is on Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
Women in Hiding, You, the People, Forbidden Passage, A Gun in His Hand and The Luckiest Guy in the World are on the documentary Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light (2006). This was originally a bonus DVD in the Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 3 box set.

References

^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved October 26, 2019.

External links

Crime Does Not Pay film series on IMDb
Crime Does Not Pay radio show at Zoot Radio
Crime Does Not Pay radio show at the Internet archive
Crime Does Not Pay (1949-1951) at Vintage Radio Logs

[Dunning-1] Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved October 26, 2019.

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