Not a B-movie
This is not a "B" movie at all, as one of the reviewers on site has it. B movies at the time were budgeted very cheaply (from around $20,000 up to around $50.000), were generally no more than about an hour long, and usually featured B-movie specialist actors who might play out their whole screen career at this level. In contrast, I'd bet this film cost around $200,000 or so -- even at Warners' pinch-penny rates -- and featured two established leading men -- Lewis Stone and Pat O'Brien -- both quite popular primarily in A-movies, if not quite at major star level, one in a very gradual decline from silents, the other on a long rise; Bette Davis, well and truly on the rise by now and exclusively in A's, if not spectacular ones; and in a minor role, Glenda Farrell, who would indeed settle into B-movie 'stardom' though almost as popular at the box-office as stable-mate Joan Blondell. Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly and others of the cast were very well regarded supporting actors without the requisite "looks" of a star. All in all, Bureau Of Missing Persons (1933) rates as a more than respectable entry in the "A" release schedule of a major studio of the era though not in the classic class.
share