Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Crappy film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

. . . of our upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti, often for the Great-Grandkids of their "First Release" audiences. SMART MONEY is no exception to this law. Edward G. Robinson, film history's one actor who can out-Rump Rump himself, is cast as a bogus casino operator who has corrupted nearly the entire government of New York, is in the process of extending his Swindling Empire World-Wide, but absolutely refuses to release his Financial Information to the Proper Authorities as he coarsely assaults one young chick after another. Beginning to sound a little familiar to Current Headlines? SMART MONEY was made prior to the Institution of the Fat Cat Roman-Run Censorship Code (aka, the MPAA Thought Police), so Warner is able to prophecy such Rump-like comments as "Say, you're a cute little trick" (to a female stranger in her twenties) and "Why, you hustling little bag, I'll have you on your knees!" while giving his First-shown Floozie $100 for an abortion after he's knocked her up. Yes, 75 years BEFORE our Deplorable 2016 Rigged Election, Warner Bros. anticipates that Lucifer's Three C's--that is, Capitalism, Communism, and "Conservatism"--would collude to install a casino racketeer money launderer for history's biggest thief ("Mad Vlad" Putin, who has stolen $1 TRILLION plus from the Russian People) in residence at our once-sacred White House despite his hobby of perverse serial sexual assaults, and Edward G. Robinson's best SMART MONEY effort to warn us!

Immigrant Nick(Eddie Robinson) runs a barber shop in a small town, but there's a gambling operation in the back room. Nick is an adrenalin junkie. He doesn't mind risking all his savings and that of others in a high stakes poker game with the acknowledged king of high stakes gambling: Hickory Short. Losing all his stake to an imposter doesn't convince him that his lucky star has set. He raises another stake and returns to play Sleepy Sam(the imposter) and gang again. He wins this time, but the gang beats him up when he wants to run with his earnings. Nick raises another stake and, bravely, returns to Sleepy's lair once more. He plays Sleepy alone this time, in a winner take all arrangement, and wins. When the gang goes to beat him up again, two accomplices with guns burst through the door at a signal, and he leaves with his earnings. His deed is written up in the newspaper, which pleases him. He now tracks down the real Hickory Short, and wins in an even high stakes game. Now, he really feels like the king of the hill. But the police are being pressured by the public to reign him in, now that he has several casinos in the city. He somehow fixes it so that technically, he's not the owner of any of these illegal casinos, thus the police can't arrest him. Nick rubs the head of an African American for luck, has Cigars made in Cuba to his specification, always dresses smartly, takes pride in his manicured finger nails, has a weakness for cute blonds, is pleasant to everyone except those who cross him, and likes to be recognized as a famous hood who always outsmarts the cops.Nick and his pall Jack(James Cagney) are out riding when they are asked to take care of a nearly drowned young woman(Irene) who has been fished out of the river. Instead of taking her to the hospital, they take her home to revive her, and suggests she stay there until fully recovered. She tells them that she tried to kill herself because she's wanted by the police for blackmail. Nick's right hand man, Jack(Jimmy Cagney), doesn't trust her and wants her to leave. But Nick overrules him, and even hints at giving her an engagement ring. The police devise a scheme where they will capture Irene and offer her a reduced sentience if she will cooperate in a sting operation.(Sort of a legalized blackmail). At first, she nixes that idea, since Nick has been so kind to her. During the raid on one of Nick's casinos, Irene slips a horse racing card into Nick's jack pocket. Nick is not aware that there is an obscure law against possessing such a card. Thus, he thinks nothing of it when he discovers it. But, Jack saw her do this, and argues she must be working for the police... I will stop here, and let you discover the ending. Although this is the one film that includes both Eddie and Cagney, it's pretty much Eddie's film. Cagney's best scene is when he does a pantomime for Nick describing who's at the front door. After this very early film for both future stars, they were considered too "hot" to be cast in the same film.... Noel Francis plays Marie. Initially she's Sleepy Sam's moll. But after Nick impoverishes Sleepy, apparently she becomes Nick's moll, although we don't see too much of her any more... I don't believe anyone was killed by bullets, and guns are brandished only during the casino raid, and the one poker game.I have a few questions: It appears that Sleepy's gang usually only gamble among themselves. So, how do they, as a group, make any money at gambling?When Sleepy's gang beat up Nick when he wants to run with his earnings, Nick only shows a small cut on his forehead and a sore jaw. Seems like he should have had more extensive injuries. Not clear to me how Nick built several casinos around the city, yet technically didn't own any, so the police couldn't arrest him.Unclear to me whether Nick is uncommonly lucky all the time, or if he has some tricks to insure his winning. Maybe some of both?

Small-town barber Nick Venizelos (Edward G. Robinson) is very lucky at gambling. So lucky that his friends pool their money and send him to a high-stakes poker game in the city. But Nick gets in over his head and is conned by grifters. Together with his friend Jack (James Cagney), Nick gets even and then rises to the top of the gambling empire. Not sure exactly what that means since the movie is pretty vague about what Nick is doing besides playing poker. But the district attorney thinks he's a public menace that needs to be stamped out, so there we are.Fine Pre-Code Warner Bros. drama, notable for being the only screen pairing of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, two of WB's biggest stars of the 1930s. Robinson's the lead here, with Cagney in a supporting role. They play well off each other. Boris Karloff has a bit part as a gambler Robinson hates. We never get an explanation as to why. Not Karloff's finest hour. In "be thankful this is in black & white" news, pay attention to a character named Shultz that's part of the con artist gang. This guy's teeth are disgusting!

This is not exactly the sort of film you'd expect from Edward G. Robinson in 1931. While he was well-known for his gangster roles, this character isn't a saint by any stretch, but he's far from vicious or deadly like "Little Caesar". In addition, this early film is the only film that ever paired him with Jimmy Cagney. Cagney, at this point, was the lesser star and has a rather small role in the film as Robinson's right-hand man. The breakout film, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, was released just before SMART MONEY and at the point of making this second film, the studio didn't know that he was now a mega-star.Robinson is a barber with an uncanny ability to gamble and win. Eventually, he and his friends pool their money and send him to "the big city" and even though he at first is bankrupted, he eventually becomes the biggest and most famous gambler around the country. The only problems are that he's a lousy judge of women AND the District Attorney is out to get him no matter what it takes! The film is pretty well written and interesting--not the usual gangster stuff. Plus, there are a few neat scenes that took place since the film was created before the strict Production Code was created--so you get to see Eddie kick a woman in the rear as well as have another lady try to offer him sex to pay off her debt to him! Pretty risqué here and there, but in general this isn't really that violent or salacious a film. Just a good drama with some nice twists and decent acting.PS--When you watch the film, look for a brief cameo by Boris Karloff. He does have a few speaking lines, but he has a rather odd accent--a Brit trying to sound like an American mug.