Buried Loot (1935)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Am I Missing Something?

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The very first Crime Does Not Pay short subject featured as its protagonist one of MGM's mainstays for the next three decades. When he did his last film for Leo the Lion in 1963 Robert Taylor set a record for the longest running studio contract for any player.Buried Loot is about as humble a beginning as you could have. Taylor is a bank clerk who has embezzled $200,000.00 plus and then goes into his boss and confesses. Says he spent it all, slow horses, fast women, you name it. He gets a 5 to 12 year sentence for his crime.But while figuring on a minimal two year term, Taylor has the money buried in a secure place, hence the title Buried Loot. Do the time and then live it up. But prison not being the wholesome experience can play funny tricks and you have a lot of time to build things up in your mind and have mind games played on you.During those first years at MGM Taylor was the matinée idol and it was always a tossup between him and Tyrone Power over at 20th Century Fox as to who was the handsomest fellow in films. Taylor's own good looks are woven into the plot in a grisly way.How they get him I won't reveal. But think about White Heat and what was done to nail James Cagney.Buried Loot was highly melodramatic but it serve to give good exposure to a star that MGM was building up for a long term investment.

I first saw this film on Channel 4 back in 1988 whilst I was in secondary school and remember thinking that this was a good vehicle to showcase Robert Taylor as a future talent. It is far superior to 'Society Doctor' simply we see him scheming when he is in court being given a prison sentence. It has the feel of the 'Scotland Yard' short subjects. We see him enjoying himself in prison playing the game until it is time for him to be released and free to enjoy his $200,000. However, the idea is dropped into his head that whilst he is in prison someone may discover his buried loot and leave him with nothing. You see the smile drop from his face and replaced with a dark gloom. There is darkness in Robert Taylor, and it is pity that he always played protagonists because he had enough darkness in him to play antagonists like in 'Undercurrent'.

"Buried Loot" was an MGM one reel feature written and directed by George Seitz that offers a story that could have been written by O'Henry because of the ironic twist in it. Since the whole cast is not credited, one wonders if the studio intended this short film as a showcase, why not have credits that mentioned the same people featured in it.The story is a simple one about how a bank employee decides to confess to the president of the institution his crime of stealing $200,000.00. What's more, he has squandered all the money. The fact is that cunning Al Douglas figures he will spend time in jail and then after serving a sentence, he will be released ahead of the term by his good behavior to dig out the treasure he has buried. But unfortunately, Al, doesn't count on his cell mate's plan to escape prison.The film presents a young Robert Taylor before he became one of the best and most admired actors of the period. Mr. Taylor is heavily made up, as it was the custom of the early films, but one could see how the camera loved him and his virile presence that made him a favorite of the movie fans."Buried Loot" is one of the best examples of the one reel format.

An MGM CRIME DOES NOT PAY Short Subject.An imprisoned embezzler begins to worry about the $200,000 in BURIED LOOT he's secreted in New Jersey.This two-reeler was the first in a series featuring true crime stories told in a compelling, hard-hitting fashion. It is well plotted & acted, with no dull moments or unnecessary subplots. No cast credits are given, but movie mavens will enjoy the ripe performance of Robert Taylor, only steps away from discovery & stardom, as the bad guy consumed not by conscience but by fears of ultimate failure to enjoy his ill-gotten gains.Many of the prison shots were lifted right out of MGM's classic feature THE BIG HOUSE (1930).Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something like writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.