ShangLuda Admirable film.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Rainey Dawn There are several crime dramas from the 1930s to chose from and this one is below average to me. If you want a good crime film from the 1930s you'll have to look elsewhere. This "drama" has it's "cutesy" moments with the wife and once in awhile the men so it's a cutesy drama at times - yea it's "one of those" you see fairly often from the 1930s.I found the story bland, the acting merely okay, cinematography and directing average. Really, look elsewhere for a GOOD crime drama from the 1930s - this one is very mundane, nothing special - doesn't have what it takes to really stand out from other films. Not a hidden gem.This is another film I wanted to like, or at least get into to a degree but I couldn't. Bored me to tears.2/10

mark.waltz There is something very John Barrymore-ish about Lowell Sherman, the middle-aged star of this movie who later played a Barrymore like star in "What Price Hollywood". It is ironic that in real life, they were once married to the Costello sisters and would co-star together in one movie, "General Crack". Sherman seems to be taking on a Barrymore persona here as the suave head of a racket of jewel thieves. He ain't no Ronald Colman of "Raffles" or William Powell of "Jewel Robbery", but a slightly portly lothario who seems to have forgotten that he's past the era of seducing young girls and taking them away from their same-aged boyfriends, which he attempts to do here with Marian Nixon and her fiancée, William Janney."If it wasn't for men like me, there wouldn't be a necessity for men like you", he tells a detective out to bust up his racket, and you know he's dead serious. Even if he runs a seemingly legitimate nightclub, frequented by the well-dressed social set, he's uncontent in his lot, and continues to knock off jewelry shops when the right moment comes along. Hugh Trevor is the handsome but rather amoral pal who goes too far in Sherman's eyes when he robs the struggling Janney right after Nixon has agreed to marry him. This puts Sherman into a sort of George Arliss style plot; He takes the down on their luck lovers into his home, yet plans to steal Nixon for himself until Trevor takes matters into his own hands to get revenge for being humiliated by being exposed for what he claims was just a practical joke.Slightly creaky and extremely stagy, this early talkie crime drama with elements of drawing room comedy manages to entertain in spite of its constant shift in moods. It certainly isn't a rival to the big crime dramas of the time ("Little Cesar", "Public Enemy", "Scarface") yet isn't without merit. Sherman also directs this film which he would do for a few later films he starred in, which brings into question the man's ego, one seemingly as huge as Barrymore's yet without that unforgettable profile and over-sized personality.

JohnHowardReid For his second feature as an actor-director, Lowell Sherman hogs the limelight in the very stagily written, directed, acted, photographed and set, The Pay-Off. Based on a stage play which never made Broadway, little has been done to open it out for the screen. However, director Sherman has an advantage over the rest of the cast which be exploits to the hilt, hogging the camera unmercifully even when he is seated in a two-shot or a grouping of four or five. He also uses his penetrating voice to draw the audience's full attention his way and is the only actor to use such a generous amount of black-ringed eye make-up on his pancake-powdered face, so that you and I can easily pick him out in a crowd. The other players do what they can to upstage actor Sherman, but as he was also the director, they face a losing battle. I can't even remember what the chief villain looks like, but have no trouble recalling Sherman's image. I also remember Marian Nixon, who was one of the very few silent stars who had no trouble at all converting to sound, although she did retire after making her 73rd movie in 1936, after marrying director William A. Seiter in 1934. After Seiter died in 1964, she married Ben Lyon (of all people) in 1971. This was certainly news to me. I grew up with Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels and when Bebe was forced to abandon "Life with the Lyons" for health reasons, the nation went into shock. So Ben returned to the U.S.A. and married Marian Nixon? The things you find out on IMDb! Anyway, getting back to the stagily directed "Pay-Off", it does admittedly hold the interest for its 71 minutes, despite Sherman's constant on-camera thesping. The only time he relaxes and throws a bit of meat to a fellow thespian occurs when he shares a scene with George Marion. Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

kidboots Tommy and Nancy are "spooning" in the park, and dreaming of getting married on their savings of $260. Nancy is played by Marian Nixon,a versatile actress, who specialised in "sweet young things". Tommy was played by William Janney, who I suspect was the older brother of Leon Janney, who made a couple of Penrod films in the early 1930s. They play their roles convincingly.They are overheard by Rocky (Hugh Trevor) who robs them. He is the right hand man of racketeer Gene Fenmore (Lowell Sherman). Gene is a "Robin Hood" as he steals from unscrupulous people and never resorts to any rough stuff or gun play. He is very classy but Rocky wants to run the show. Tommy and Nancy follow Rocky and attempt to hold up Gene and Rocky. After getting to the bottom of things Gene takes them under his wing. Nancy thinks Gene is a good person but Tommy is not so sure. A bit of cross promotion - the dance music at the night club is a selection from "The Cuckoos" which starred Hugh Trevor.The gang is planning a big job but as usual Gene wants no bloodshed. Rocky is determined to implicate Tommy as he has never forgiven him for the "phoney" stick-up. The jeweller is killed and when Gene and Rocky confront each other Rocky is killed. The other gang members, who are fed up with Gene's "gentlemanly" ways believe Gene cold bloodedly murdered Rocky. The police have been trying to capture Gene for years and by arresting "the kids" they hope to appeal to his better nature.Debonair Lowell Sherman is the whole show, although Hugh Trevor shows that he could have been a big star. Hugh Trevor was very handsome, could sing and had such a presence in this film. He had been a hit in "The Cuckoos" (1930) and "Half Shot at Sunrise" (1930) but he left films in 1931 to go back into the insurance business. He was still getting movie offers right up to his untimely death in 1933.