Blood Money (1933, Rowland Brown)

One of the few Crazy Pre-Code Wonders™ I've seen that actually delivers, in large part because it's legitimately nutty, rather than nutty in a "wow, they actually knew about sex back then" sort of way. Knew I'd be down with it during the opening sequence, in which we meet protagonist Bill Bailey by first meeting a crook who retains his services, his assistant waking a judge in the middle of the night to get the crook released on bail, and so on. But I wasn't positive of my enjoyment until the scene with the woman in the tux with the monocle- Bailey spots her at the bar, offers her a cigar, and her reaction is priceless. Plus Frances Dee is incredible here. She clearly loves playing a bad girl, and it's a shame Hollywood didn't let her do it more often. Rowland Brown- a name that warrants further investigation. I mean, the dude made a movie called THE DEVIL IS A SISSY- how could you possibly go wrong? Rating: ***1/2.