DON'T BET ON LOVE is a dull little morality tale warning against the evils of betting on horses. Lew Ayres has a steady job as a plumber, not to be sneezed at in 1933, a year which was still at the lowest depth of the Great Depression, yet he has a fondness for playing the ponies and, from what we see here, astounding luck in picking them. His father, Charles Grapewin, disapproves, and fiancée Ginger Rogers disapproves even more. Ginger won't marry him unless he quits gambling, something Lew promises to do, but he's not a very honest fellow in this movie and just can't help but follow any hot tip that he runs across. Ginger calls off the wedding, Lew runs through the ups and ultimate down of the gambling life, and everybody lives happily, if modestly, ever after.
The cast is better than the material even if our two leads are somewhat miscast (Tom Dugan as the comical 'best friend' perhaps fares best). Ayres had the manner neither of a plumber nor of a gambler (doctors and lawyers were more in his line), and Rogers is pretty much limited to nagging him throughout. The director moves his camera a lot but to little effect, and there's a general aura of cheapness to the production and flatness to the drama. Too bad as it's the only time that soon-to-be husband and wife Ayres and Rogers ever worked together, and they were capable of much, much more.
The cast is better than the material even if our two leads are somewhat miscast (Tom Dugan as the comical 'best friend' perhaps fares best). Ayres had the manner neither of a plumber nor of a gambler (doctors and lawyers were more in his line), and Rogers is pretty much limited to nagging him throughout. The director moves his camera a lot but to little effect, and there's a general aura of cheapness to the production and flatness to the drama. Too bad as it's the only time that soon-to-be husband and wife Ayres and Rogers ever worked together, and they were capable of much, much more.