"Silver Dollar" Tabor was a prospector who gained his considerable wealth mining silver at his "Matchless Mine" in Colorado. Before his death he had lost his fortune and bequeathed his widow "Baby Doe" the "Matchless Mine" he vainly thought would make his fortune again. Most people attributed Tabor's change of fortune to the fact that he had deserted his wife and children for a younger, vivacious woman (nearly thirty years his junior). But "Baby Doe" remained faithful to his memory and when she died in 1935 it was as a recluse in a shack near the mine. As the movie was produced while Tabor's widow still lived, the well crafted screenplay had to change names and thinly disguise facts.
"Silver Dollar" shows that even this early in his career Edward G. Robinson was able to give superbly crafted character studies with a depth of dramatic scope.
Even though gregarious Yates Martin (Robinson) has just been elected Mayor of the new city of Denver, he can't keep the wolf from his door!! He is a dreamer who is always looking for the elusive gold strike that he hopes will make his fortune. In the meantime his dour but practical wife (wonderful Aline MacMahon) persuades him to follow the latest lot of miners - as a merchant!!! His "hail fellow well met" air sees this venture almost fail but when two old prospectors, whom Yates had staked to provisions in return for a stake in their mine, hit a silver lode, Yate's fortune is finally made. That same day, a shifty looking miner (it's Walter Long for crying out loud, haven't they seen any of his movies!!) convinces Martin to buy his prosperous mine - "The Matchless Mine" sight unseen and it turns out, initially, that he has been had but he never gives up on it and eventually it proves his greatest success!!!
Pride comes before a fall and while supervising the building of the State's new Opera House, Yates makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Lily Owens (Bebe Daniels). From then on it is all downhill. Martin's larger than life personality combined with his boastfulness and materialism is fanned by Lily's sincere idolatry and flattery. Their house is a monument to bad taste and egotism but Yates is like a babe in arms as far as big business goes. Soon gold forces the price of silver down and by the end Yates has lost everything. When a chance meeting at a hotel with Col. Stanton (Robert Warwick) promises the job of Postmaster General, it unfortunately comes too late.
I actually think this is one of Robinson's greatest performances and he is almost matched by the incomparable Aline MacMahon - they should have bottled her talent, and the lovely Bebe Daniels. Among other players are Leon Waycoff (before he was Ames) and Bonita Granville as the little girl in the store.
"Silver Dollar" shows that even this early in his career Edward G. Robinson was able to give superbly crafted character studies with a depth of dramatic scope.
Even though gregarious Yates Martin (Robinson) has just been elected Mayor of the new city of Denver, he can't keep the wolf from his door!! He is a dreamer who is always looking for the elusive gold strike that he hopes will make his fortune. In the meantime his dour but practical wife (wonderful Aline MacMahon) persuades him to follow the latest lot of miners - as a merchant!!! His "hail fellow well met" air sees this venture almost fail but when two old prospectors, whom Yates had staked to provisions in return for a stake in their mine, hit a silver lode, Yate's fortune is finally made. That same day, a shifty looking miner (it's Walter Long for crying out loud, haven't they seen any of his movies!!) convinces Martin to buy his prosperous mine - "The Matchless Mine" sight unseen and it turns out, initially, that he has been had but he never gives up on it and eventually it proves his greatest success!!!
Pride comes before a fall and while supervising the building of the State's new Opera House, Yates makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Lily Owens (Bebe Daniels). From then on it is all downhill. Martin's larger than life personality combined with his boastfulness and materialism is fanned by Lily's sincere idolatry and flattery. Their house is a monument to bad taste and egotism but Yates is like a babe in arms as far as big business goes. Soon gold forces the price of silver down and by the end Yates has lost everything. When a chance meeting at a hotel with Col. Stanton (Robert Warwick) promises the job of Postmaster General, it unfortunately comes too late.
I actually think this is one of Robinson's greatest performances and he is almost matched by the incomparable Aline MacMahon - they should have bottled her talent, and the lovely Bebe Daniels. Among other players are Leon Waycoff (before he was Ames) and Bonita Granville as the little girl in the store.