Below the Deadline
(1929) United States of America
B&W : Six reels / 5554 feet
Directed by J.P. McGowan
Cast: Frank Leigh [‘Beau’ Nash], Barbara Worth [Claire], Arthur Rankin [Jimmy], Walter Merrill [Donald Cornwall], J.P. McGowan [Taggart], Mike Donlin [‘Sandy’], Virginia Sale [‘Mother’ Biblow], Lou Gory [Stella], Bill Patton [Johnston], Tiny Ward [‘Tubby’], Charles Hickman [the police captain], Fred Walton [Festenberg]
Chesterfield Motion Picture Corporation production; distributed by [?] Chesterfield Motion Picture Corporation? / Scenario by Arthur Hoerl, from a screen story by Arthur Hoerl. Personally supervised (production supervision) by Lon Young. Cinematography by M.A. Anderson and Jack Jackson. Film editor, James Sweeney. Intertitles written by Lee Authmar. / No copyright registration. Released 1 January 1929. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / [?] A remake of McGowan’s 1920 film of the same title? The film was banned by the British Board of Film Censors in 1929. / [?] Silent film?
Drama: Crime.
Synopsis: [Film Daily, 23 June 1929, page 12] It concerns the operations of a gang of clever crooks below the deadline set by the police and their robbery of a jewelry establishment. In order to get even with the detective who arrests one of the gang, they use the girl as a decoy. The hero, manager of the jewelry store, is framed for the robbery of his employer’s place. The detective, who is his buddy, allows him to escape imprisonment so that he can go out and get the evidence on the crooks. This he does with the help of the girl. So the tables are turned very neatly on the head of the gang who is shot.
Survival status: Print exists [16mm reduction positive].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Crime: Robbery - Criminals - Law: Enforcement: Police: Detectives, Policemen
Listing updated: 11 March 2023.
References: Limbacher-Feature p. 20; Robertson-British p. 186 : ClasIm-240 p. 56 : Website-AFI.
Home video: DVD.
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