Crime specialist W.R. Burnett wrote or contributed to some of the top thrillers of the early Depression years, including Little Caesar (1930) and Scarface (1932). He was also an enthusiastic devotee of the sport of dog racing. Warner Bros. paid a then- impressive $15,000 for Burnett's book about the unstable life of a gambler who follows the action on the dog tracks. Dark Hazard stars Edward G. Robinson, who reportedly welcomed the opportunity to play something other than a ruthless gangster. Buck Turner blows his winnings as soon as he earns them. A gambling addict, he's easily distracted and influenced by shady associates. Buck marries the lovely, traditional Marge (Genevieve Tobin) with a promise to reform but soon quits his straight job to keep the books for a racetrack entrepreneur (Sidney Toler). He also takes up again with an old flame (Glenda Farrell). Buck continues to pursue the gambling scene even as his fortunes fall and his marriage crumbles. His dream is fulfilled with the purchase of the title animal, a purebred racing whippet. Robinson's performance is fine but some of the details are perplexing. Buck's affection for his tolerant missus pales in comparison to the love he feels for the sleek racing dog. Director Alfred E. Green had previously guided Robinson through two other movies about ambitious men struggling with family problems, Silver Dollar (1932) and I Loved a Woman (1933). This downbeat tale deglamorizes its subject, only to tacitly endorse Buck's abandonment of his wife and child. Warners remade it just three years later, as Wine, Women and Horses with Barton MacLane and Ann Sheridan.

By Glenn Erickson