During 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.
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.
In one of his columns, Jimmy refers to Damon Runyon having had his tonsils removed. He did so in real life in 1931. A heavy smoker, Runyon would die of throat cancer in 1946. In the same column, Jimmy also mentions newspaperman, author and screenwriter Gene Fowler.
Mary's $3,000 in bad checks she tells Jimmy about would equate to about $69,000 in 2023.
This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in Sacramento CA Wednesday 27 March 1957 on KCRA (Channel 3), in San Francisco Wednesday 3 April 1957 on KRON (Channel 4), in Phoenix 4 April 1957 on KVAR (Channel 12) and in Portland OR 29 April 1957 on KOIN (Channel 6).