Love Is a Racket

1932
Unrated
1h 11m

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Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Ann Dvorak in Love Is a Racket (1932)

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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

581

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos21

+ 15

Top cast26

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Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Jimmy Russell

Ann Dvorak

Sally Condon

Frances Dee

Mary Wodehouse

Lee Tracy

Stanley Fiske

Lyle Talbot

Edward Griswold 'Eddie' Shaw

Warren Hymer

Burney Olds

André Luguet

Max Boncour
(as Andre Luguet)

Cecil Cunningham

Aunt Hattie Donovan

Terrance Ray

Seeley

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
- William A. Wellman
Writers
- Rian James
- Courtney Terrett
All cast & crew
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Personal Property

Storyline

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Trivia
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.

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.

Connections
Alternate-language version of L'athlète incomplet (1932)

User reviews21

Review

Featured review

6/10

a racket indeed

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. decides that "Love is a Racket" in this 1932 film directed by William Wellman and also starring Ann Dvorak, Frances Dee and Lee Tracy. Fairbanks Jr. is Jimmy Russell, who writes a Broadway beat column. He's in love with a young actress (Dee) who finds herself in debt to a criminal and asks Jimmy for help.

The story is okay, with a twist at the end. What impressed me the most is how underrated Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is. He's just wonderful here, as he has been in many other films - perhaps he never got that one breakthrough role. He was in an era of stultifying competition - Errol Flynn, Brian Aherne, David Niven, Ronald Colman - but acting-wise, he was very versatile, talented and charming.

The acting overall is quite good and doesn't suffer from some of the melodramatic work seen in early films.