Dollar Down

The story

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.

Cast

R Ruth RolandRuth Craig H Henry B. WalthallAlec Craig M Mayme KelsoMrs. Craig E Earl SchenckGrant Elliot C Claire McDowellMrs. Meadows R Roscoe KarnsGene Meadows J Jane MercerBetty Meadows L Lloyd WhitlockHoward Steele O Otis HarlanNorris E Edward W. BormanTilton N Newton HallLittle Boy P Pat WingLittle Girl

See more cast

T Toby WingLittle Girl S Sonnie WalkerLittle Boy M Michael Dark(uncredited) L Lou Marangella(uncredited)