Aben Kandel's play, "Hot Money," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 7 November 1931 and closed later that month after only 9 performances. The opening night cast included Leo Donnelly as Gar, Dorothy Vernon as Francine, Robert Fischer as Mr. Ginsberg and Peggy Conklin as Helen.
In 1932 Warners re-shot this same comedy with French-speaking actors (replacing the original performers), delivering all their dialog in French, at the same Hollywood studio, in the same sets, and using the same script (translated into French), under the French title "Le bluffeur" (The Bluffer). Subtitles weren't yet in vogue, so Warners gave French-speaking audiences a parallel version they could understand, played mostly by French actors. Powell's star part was played by Andre Luguet, Brent's by Lucienne Radisse, Sidney's by Torben Meyer, Kibbee's by Andre Cheron, McHugh's by Jacques Jou-Jerville, Middleton's by Georges Renavent, Beresford's by Christian Rub, and Littlefield's by Emile Chautard. Meyer, Renavent, Rub, and Chautard were already permanently ensconced in Hollywood, while most of the other French-speaking actors were imported from Paris just for these parallel French-language versions in the early 1930s. When subtitles and dubbing were soon "perfected", the US studios ceased making parallel versions like "Le bluffeur".
Several people in studio records/casting call lists as cast members did not appear, were not identifiable, or were replaced in the movie. These were (with their character names, if any): Lucien Littlefield (Oscar Brown - replaced by Frank Darien), Maurice Black (Poppolus - replaced by Hector Sarno) and Lilian Bond.