an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

***SPOILERS**** Depressed and unable to pay gangster Andrew North, Warner Oland, the $5,000.00, that's at least $100,000.00 in 2016 dollars, he owes him Alan Beckwith, Bill Boyd, plans to off himself after making out a $5,000.00 insurance policy with North as the only recipient. So far so good but it will take a year for the policy to become effective and Alan Beckwith will have to be married for it to be worked out! On top of all that North not satisfied with just the $5,000.00 ups the policy to $100,000.00 in order to get his monies worth! Having a shot gun marriage with Beverly, Dorothy Sebastian, who's kid brother Johonnie, William Collier Jr,is also in debt to North all Alan has to do is wait out the year and on New Years Day 1932 get himself killed in a staged accident and all his troubles will be over! Or so he thought! Playing the stock and real estate markets Alan not only makes enough money to pay North $5,000.00 debt off but also falls in love with his wife Beverly with now getting himself killed the very last thing on his mind! ***SPOILERS*** The movie goes into overdrive with North and his boys out to murder both Alan & Johnnie just for making him look bad as a both a gangster and businessman. This after Alan gets the other $100,000.00 that North wanted in a card game and thus had Johnnie kidnapped by North's men after he came to his pad to off him himself and ended up getting kidnapped by him. This leads to as wild car chase with Squint Dugan, James Gleason, one of North's goon but really an undercover US Government Treasurer Agent behind the wheel.As for North he gets his when placed under arrest and about to be driven to the nearest police station to get booked for attempted murder and kidnapping, as well as racketeering, tries to make a run for it and is crushed by, after jumping out of the car, oncoming traffic! Now with all his troubles behind him Alan and Beverly get married for the second time and this time it's not for a year but for keeps.

Someone wrote here "could have been better." There probably has never been a movie of which that couldn't have been said. Nevertheless, it is true here: The story needed to be fleshed out, with more details of how the good guys almost got out of their mess.The cast names bespeak a quality production; the director was a good one; the editor, Joseph Kane, did a great job with what he had, and, as an aside, it's interesting that he, as so many other editors, later became a crackerjack director himself.Bill Boyd was a great favorite with audiences, especially in his "Hopalong Cassidy" days, and with, especially, Cecil B. DeMille. He was a good actor, but was even more a strong personality.Dorothy Sebastian was a beautiful woman and, especially in this movie, a good, intense actress. She died awfully young, and in her last roles didn't even get screen credit. That seems a shame.Prolific James Gleason got second billing, even over the female love interest, and made his usual hit. He was around a long time, but we could use a character actor like him today.Other cast members deserve praise too, as does the stunt work. All in all, this is a good movie, perfect for a relaxing watch.

William Boyd is willing to kill himself for enough insurance money to pay off his debts, but crime boss Warner Oland raises the stakes: a year and a day, and the money will nominally be paid to wife-for-hire Dorothy Sebastian. But a lot can happen in a year...Shot beautifully by under-rated DP Hal Mohr, this movie, with a newly mobile sound camera is very good visually. Unfortunately, leads Boyd and Sebastian are not quite out of the silent era and director Fred Niblo is not so good at directing the dialogue -- nor does the depression that the leads evince for the first half of the movie, help things much. James Gleason and Zasu Pitts are, of course, excellent, but, despite an excitingly shot finale,the acting prevents this from being more than an averagely good picture.

The Big Gamble opens on New Year's eve, with a broke gambler trying to figure out how to work his way out of debt. Alan Beckwith (Bill Boyd) gets local thug Andrew North (Warner Oland) and Beverly Ames (Dorothy Sebastian) involved in a scheme to come up with money fast. Viewers will recognize Warner Oland as the lead in all the Charlie Chan movies in the 1930s. Also keep an eye out for James Gleason as Squint Dugan, small time crook. He will go on to play the ultimate slow-witted New York police lieutenant in just about every film made in the 1940s. Zasu Pitts plays Dugan's wife, maid to the Beckwiths. Sound and light quality are a little iffy, but that can be forgiven, since it was the early days of talkies. The dialogue is all a bit stilted and hesitating, apparently since everyone was new to the live sound track. Director Fred Niblo only made two more films after this one. Niblo had an interesting history; his brother- in- law was George M. Cohan, and Niblo was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Pictures. Not the strongest script or acting, but its a fun, low-key film. Even a couple surprises.