Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Money Means Nothing (1934)

Director: Christy Cabanne

Cast: Wallace Ford, Edgar Kennedy, Gloria Shea, Vivien Oakland, Maidel Turner, Betty Blythe, Eddie Tamblyn, Richard Tucker, Tenen Holtz, Ann Brody

70 min

Plot

When Julie Ferris, a wealthy young woman searching for excitement, goes slumming at Joe’s Roadside Inn, she notices a group of shady men and follows them in her car. After trailing them for a distance, Julie crashes into their car as they are hijacking two trucks carrying tires. In the ensuing scuffle, the thieves shoot one of the trucks’ drivers, Red Miller, and threaten Julie. Ken McKay, the other driver, protects and rescues Julie, and she immediately falls in love with him. Although her sister Helen and rich brother-in-law George disapprove, Julie marries Ken and moves to Brooklyn.

While determined to make the marriage work, Julie is nonetheless unprepared for her new neighbors, the boorish, nosy Greens. After the Greens crash Julie’s birthday dinner, Herbert Green, who is Ken’s boss at the auto parts store, is told by his overbearing wife that Julie’s snobbish family insulted him. As revenge, Herbert lies to his district manager that Ken has been tipping off the still active hijackers.

Fired, Ken has no luck in finding another job and contemplates making the now pregnant but devoted Julie return to her family when Red Miller, who has opened his own tire store, hires him. In cahoots with the hijackers, Red forces an unsuspecting Ken to help him steal more tire shipments, but Herbert, on a tip from Julie, figures out the plan and calls the police. In the end, the thieves are caught, and a repentant Herbert promises Ken a new job. Thus saved, the newlyweds reaffirm their belief that money means nothing.

Cast


	Wallace Ford	…	Kenneth ‘Kenny’ McKay
	Gloria Shea	…	Julie Ferris McKay
	Edgar Kennedy	…	Herbert Green
	Vivien Oakland	…	Helen Whitney (as Vivian Oakland)
	Maidel Turner	…	Mrs. Kerry Green
	Betty Blythe	…	Mrs. Ferris
	Eddie Tamblyn	…	Robert ‘Robby’ Ferris (as Edward Tamblyn)
	Richard Tucker	…	George Whitney
	Tenen Holtz	…	Mr. Silverman
	Ann Brody	…	Mrs. Silverman
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Irving Bacon	…	Navy Secretary (scenes deleted)
	Ernie Adams	…	Lead Hijacker (uncredited)
	Sam Flint	…	Police Sergeant (uncredited)
	Douglas Fowley	…	Red Miller (uncredited)
	Olaf Hytten	…	Parsons – the Butler (uncredited)
	Jack Kenney	…	Hijacker-Driver (uncredited)
	Jack Norton	…	Jack – Hijacker (uncredited)
	Lee Phelps	…	Chauffeur (uncredited)
	Harry Semels	…	Toy Vendor (uncredited)
	Bert Young	…	Jim – Driver Shot in Leg (uncredited)