THE BIG SHAKEDOWN

US, 1934, 61 minutes, Black and white.
Bette Davis, Charles Farrell, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Henry O' Neill.
Directed by John Francis Dillon.

The Big Shakedown is a brief drama with touches of the thriller from 1934, a star vehicle for Charles Farrell was something solid star vehicle for a young Bette Davis, doing a contract role that anyone might have done, but bringing a strong presence. Ricardo, Cortez is the villain, running rackets, especially with beer but discovering that the hero, the store owner, was able to make products, even toothpaste, less expensively and employs him to produce toothpaste and other goods, selling them with false labels

The film shows production, sales, the money coming in, the decision to have a wide range of products. Davis is against what is happening but still marries her fiance, is pregnant, gives birth but loses the child because of one of the fake products being ineffective. Glenda Farrell has role of the girlfriend who is discarded and reports the racket to the police, but is shot.

The director, John Francis Dillon, made silent films. This was his last film.

1. Thriller of the 1930s, with bootlegging background, gangster background, the aftermath of the Depression?

2. Warner Brothers, the 1930s, the city setting, the shops, offices, factories? The musical score?

3. The title, ordinary citizens, gangsters, rackets, pressures?

4. Introduction to Jimmy and Norma, at the store, the range of customers coming in, the various needs, no money-making, the boy with the ice cream and stamps? Norma and her being nice to everyone? Jimmy and his ambitions? The planned marriage?

5. The company representative, the offer to buy up the store, the poor price, refusal?

6. Introduction to Dutch Barnes, his henchmen, standover tactics, coming to the store and meeting Norma, the beer, the pressure to change companies? Dutch and the meeting, the challenge about the beer, the many companies producing? His headache, going to the shop, the asperin, meeting Jimmy, discovering what Jimmy could make?

7. The plan, the fabrication of the toothpaste, Jimmy’s demonstration, his unwillingness to participate, his being told that he was innocent, simply making goods, and it was Dutch and others who sold them?

8. Jimmy, participation, his ideas, the many products, Lil and the face cream, the factories and production, the labels, the fraud, the success, the money coming in?

9. Norma, the disagreeing, loving Jimmy, the wedding, the pregnancy, in hospital, the fake digitalis, the loss of the child?

10. Jimmy, the discussions with Dutch, his being persuasive, Jimmy wanting to get out?

11. Little, the character, with Dutch, being discarded, going to the police, Dutch and the setup for the death, her being shot in the street?

12. The international company, the representative, the meetings, interrogating Jimmy, getting him to become a witness?

13. The final confrontation with Dutch, Jimmy with the gun, Dutch being shot, the representative shooting Dutch?

14. The arrests, the court case, the headlines, the prison sentences and the henchmen seen in the prison, Jimmy released, the happy reunion with Norma,
his store and reconstituting it as a service for the needs of people?

15. Morale-boosting story for the difficulties of gangsters and rackets in the 1930s?