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 & crew

Ruth RolandRuth Craig

Henry B. WalthallAlec Craig

Mayme KelsoMrs. Craig

Earl SchenckGrant Elliot

Claire McDowellMrs. Meadows

Roscoe KarnsGene Meadows

Jane MercerBetty Meadows

Lloyd WhitlockHoward Steele

Otis HarlanNorris

Edward W. BormanTilton

Newton Hall

Newton HallLittle Boy

Pat WingLittle Girl