Crime Does Not Pay (film and radio series)

Crime Does Not Pay was an MGM anthology crime film series of shorts that ran from 1935-1947. Each episode was around 20 minutes in length and composer-conductor John Gart provided the music. It later spawned a radio series of the same name.

The radio show was recorded and broadcast at MGM's New York station, WMGM. Written by Ira Marion and directed by Marx B. Loeb, it aired for two years (October 10, 1949-October 10, 1951), including repeats. It moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System for its final run (January 7-December 22, 1952).[1] For the most part, B movie actors were featured but occasionally one of MGM's major stars would make an appearance. These included Bela Lugosi, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, John Loder and Lionel Stander. After the play, the actors usually returned to speak with the audience as themselves.

Film series episodes
  • Buried Loot, with Robert Taylor
  • Alibi Racket
  • Desert Death
  • A Thrill for Thelma
  • Hit-and-Run Driver
  • The Perfect Set-Up, with William Henry, Helene Chadwick, Frank Shannon, and Robert Dudley
  • Foolproof
  • The Public Pays (Oscar winner)
  • Torture Money, with Edwin Maxwell and George Lynn (Oscar winner)
  • It May Happen to You, with J. Carrol Naish
  • Soak the Poor
  • Give Till it Hurts, with Janet Beecher, Clay Clement, and Howard Hickman
  • Behind the Criminal, with Edward Emerson, Walter Kingsford, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Joe Sawyer
  • What Price Safety!, with Lionel Royce, George Huston, and John Wray
  • Miracle Money, with John Miljan, Boyd Crawford, Robert Middlemass, and Fred Warren
  • Come Across, with Bernard Nedell, Bernadene Hayes, Rita La Roy, and Donald Douglas
  • A Criminal Is Born
  • They're Always Caught, with Stanley Ridges, John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt, and Charles Waldron (Oscar nominee)
  • Think it Over, with Lester Matthews, Charles D. Brown, Donald Barry and Dwight Frye
  • The Wrong Way Out, with Kenneth Howell and Linda Terry
  • Money to Loan, with Alan Dinehart, Paul Guilfoyle, John Butler, Addison Richards, and Tom Collins
  • While America Sleeps, with Richard Purcell, Lenita Lane, Egon Brecher, and Fred Vogeding
  • Help Wanted, with Tom Neal, Jo Ann Sayers, Clem Bevans, Edward Pawley, and Truman Bradley
  • Think First
  • Drunk Driving, with Richard Purcell, Jo Ann Sayers, and Richard Lane (Oscar nominee)
  • Pound Foolish, with Neil Hamilton, Lynne Carver, Gertrude Michael, and Victor Varconi
  • Know Your Money, with Noel Madison, Dennis Moore, Charles D. Brown, William Edmunds, John Wray, and Adrian Morris
  • Jack Pot, with Tom Neal, Ann Morriss, Edwin Maxwell, and Jean Rouverol
  • Women in Hiding, with Marsha Hunt, Jane Drummond, Mary Bovard, C. Henry Gordon, and Granville Bates
  • Buyer Beware
  • Soak the Old, with Ralph Morgan and George Cleveland
  • You, the People, with C. Henry Gordon, Byron Shores, Paul Everton, and Matt McHugh
  • Respect the Law, with Moroni Olsen, Richard Lane, Frank Orth, and William Forrest
  • Forbidden Passage, with Addison Richards, Wolfgang Zilzer, Hugh Beaumont, and George Lessey (Oscar nominee)
  • Coffins on Wheels, with Darryl Hickman, Tom Baker, Allen Lane, and Cy Kendall
  • Sucker List, with Lynne Carver, Noel Madison, John Archer, and George Cleveland
  • Don't Talk, with Donald Douglas, Gloria Holden, Barry Nelson, and Harry Worth (Oscar nominee)
  • For the Common Defense!, with John Litel, Douglas Fowley, Horace McNally, and Van Johnson
  • Keep 'em Sailing
  • Plan for Destruction
  • Patrolling the Ether
  • Easy Life with Steven Geray, Bernard Thomas, and William "Bill Phillips
  • Dark Shadows with Henry O'Neill, Morris Ankrum, Arthur Space and Paul Guilfoyle
  • Fall Guy
  • The Last Installment with Walter Sande, Cameron Mitchell, William "Bill" Phillips, Bob Lewis and Addison Richards
  • Phantoms, Inc. with Arthur Shields, Harry Hayden and Frank Reicher
  • A Gun in His Hand with Tom Trout, Richard Gaines and Anthony Caruso (Oscar nominee)
  • Purity Squad with Byron Foulger, Dick Elliott, Morris Ankrum, and Frank Fenton
  • The Luckiest Guy in the World with Barry Nelson, Eloise Hardt, George Travell, Milton Kibbee and Harry Cheshire (Oscar nominee)

Home video

The Warner Archive Collection has released the entire series of 50 shorts on DVD-R as Crime Does Not Pay: The Complete Shorts Collection. Some episodes can also be found as extras on DVDs and Blu-rays of classic MGM films of the period:

  • The Public Pays is on Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
  • Drunk Driving is on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
  • Jack Pot is on I Love You Again (1940)
  • Don't Talk is on Random Harvest (1941)
  • For the Common Defense! is on Mrs Miniver (1942)
  • Purity Squad is on Without Love (1945)
  • The Luckiest Guy in the World is on Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
  • Women in Hiding, You, the People, Forbidden Passage, A Gun in His Hand and The Luckiest Guy in the World are on the documentary Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light (2006). This was originally a bonus DVD in the "Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 3" box set.

References
  1. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
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