Monogram Strikes a Bulls-Eye

Poverty Row Clicko with Beggars In Ermine (1934)



Note "Final Tribute" To Recently Passed
 Lilyan Tashman, and "Atwill" Misspelled

A cine-snob might argue this property as being too good to have come from Monogram. Was such a compelling yarn shopped among majors before capitulation to poverty row? Metro or Paramount would have added names, length, plus layers of pretension, but not come up with something so good as Monogram manages here within a trim 72 minutes, and who better than Lionel Atwill to play the lead? He's a steel industrialist who loses legs and a faithless wife, but climbs back thanks to assist from worldwide cabel of street people at his behest, reminding me at times of Lon Chaney from The Penalty, only Atwill's more benign. Cheapies from the 30's are often a chore sitting through, but not Beggars In Ermine. It was sold by Monogram as a special and actually got Broadway booked at the Mayfair, its six day stay an abbreviated one with only $4,900 in the till. Noted was fact that replacement Hitler's Reign Of Terror, a documentary that "may turn out to be a freak boxoffice winner"(Variety), earned $4,000 in a first day at the theatre. Beggars In Ermine can be streamed here and there, plus DVD's of varying quality from off-labels.