Just before he propelled the crime melodrama to new, macabre heights in The Unholy Three, Browning directed this partially lost morality tale pertaining to a different kind of horror: that of a middle-class family living beyond their means and falling prey to moneylenders. Produced by and starring Ruth Roland for FBO Studios, a small operation that later became RKO Pictures, Dollar Down follows Roland as the spendthrift daughter of a manufacturing firm’s general manager (Henry Walthall), who pawns a ring purchased on credit to throw an extravagant party and sends the family’s livelihood into a tailspin. Because its last reel completely disintegrated before it could be copied, the film remains an ultra-rare curio that nonetheless captures an important chapter in Browning’s career before his successful string of films made for MGM.
Directed by Tod Browning
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Cast
Ruth Roland
Ruth Craig
Henry B. Walthall
Alec Craig
Mayme Kelso
Mrs. Craig
Earl Schenck
Grant Elliot
Claire McDowell
Mrs. Meadows
Roscoe Karns
Gene Meadows
Jane Mercer
Betty Meadows
Lloyd Whitlock
Howard Steele
Otis Harlan
Norris
Edward W. Borman
Tilton
Newton Hall
Little Boy
Pat Wing
Little Girl
Toby Wing
Little Girl
Sonnie Walker
Little Boy
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The Visit
Come Sunday
The Enforcer
El Chicano
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The Nest
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The Sound of Silence
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