high-rise construction worker and seducer Gunner Smith (John Gilbert), his co-worker and sidekick, Bucker Reilly (Robert Armstrong) and Mary (Mae Clarke), an attractive "Gold digger" seeking financial and emotional stability during the Great Depression. Browning brings to bear all the thematic modes that typically motivate his characters. Film historian Stuart Rosenthal writes: The betrayals, humiliations and retaliations that plague the characters, and the moral legitimacy of their behaviors remains unresolved. Rosenthal comments on Browning's ambivalence: "Fast Workers is Browning's final cynical word on the impossibility of an individual obtaining justice, however righteous his cause, without critically sullying himself. Superficially, things have been set right. Gunner and Bucker are again friends and, together are equal to any wily female. Yet Gunner, the individual who is the most culpable, finds himself in the most secure position, while the basically well-intentioned Mary is rejected and condemned by both men." An outstanding example of Browning's ability to visually convey terror—a technique he developed in the silent era—is demonstrated when Mary perceives that Bucker, cuckolded by Gunner, reveals his homicidal rage. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer committed $525,000 to the film's production budget, quite a high sum for a relatively short feature. Ultimately, MGM reported earnings of only $165,000 on the film after its release, resulting in a net loss of $360,000 on the motion picture. Mark of the Vampire (1935) Browning returned to a vampire-themed picture with his 1935 Mark of the Vampire. Rather than risk a legal battle with Universal Studios who held the rights to Browning's 1931 Dracula, he opted for a reprise of his successful silent era London After Midnight (1927), made for M-G-M and starring Lon Chaney in a dual role.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "...Thalberg did give Browning the green light to proceed with the inferior Mark of the Vampire (1935) three years [after completing Freaks (1932)].}Rosenthal, 1975 p. 15: Browning's Mark of the Vampire a "remake" of his London After Midnight (1927).Sobchack, 2006 p. 31: "Mark of the Vampire is essentially a remake of London After Midnight…"Wood, 2006 TCM: "After the enormous success of Dracula (1931), director Tod Browning was inclined to return to the vampire film...Universal Studios owned the rights to the Dracula franchise...He maneuvered around this obstacle by remaking a vampire chiller he had shot in 1927: London After Midnight."</ref> With Mark of the Vampire, Browning follows the plot conceit employed in London After Midnight: An investigator and hypnotist seeks to expose a