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Rating:  -
On his first visit to a racetrack, straight-laced John Litel innocently places a two-dollar bet and winds up winning ten dollars, a simple act that leads to a full-blown gambling addiction, embezzlement, and associations with seedy con artists. TWO-DOLLAR BETTOR is a preachy, ham-fisted yet entertaining "problem picture" from 1951. It's sort of the REEFER MADNESS of gambling movies, although Litel's sympathetic performance helps to smooth over some pretty implausible situations. It may not be a first-place winner, but it's still in the money.
Rating: -
EXCERPT FROM THE BACK COVER:
"A family man loses everything in this horrifying tale of gambling addiction! ... Two-Dollar Bettor is a classic '50s "problem picture" - part noir gangster exploitation and part campy morality play, filled with glittering production design that offers an insightful and now nostalgic window into America's past."
* * * *
The director: Edward L Cahn has directed over 100 films but none that I could recognize as "significant" (and I research multitudes of films).
The first act of Two-Dollar Better tries so hard and so heavy-handedly to establish the perfect, loving American family of widower with two intelligent teenage daughters that the actors almost look like they're about to explode with happiness. Of course, the director thought the audience had to be hit over the head with this concept so that, in the second act, when he brings in the gambling fiasco YOU MIGHT SEE THE DIFFERENCE.
John Litel's acting is good, his daughters and mother-in-law are less so - Marie Windsor (who is EXCELLENT in Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing") is average as is Steve Brodie.
Watching "the kids" dance to records in the living room is, nostalgic, I guess... some of you who are old enough to remember "Our Gang" will notice the main football star is none other than Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer.
The film is in overall good shape and it MAY be worth repeated viewings as long as they are FEW-AND-FAR-BETWEEN.
Overall Quality of DVD: **1/2 /**** Sound: ** /**** Plot: ** /**** Acting: **/**** Cinematography: **/**** Direction: ** /****
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