Rich Man's Folly
{{short description|1931 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Rich Man's Folly
| image = Juliette Compton, promo photo 1931.JPG
| alt =
| caption = Promotional still of Juliette Compton for the film
| director = John Cromwell
| producer =
| screenplay = Edward E. Paramore Jr.
Grover Jones
| starring = George Bancroft
Frances Dee
Robert Ames
Juliette Compton
David Durand
Dorothy Peterson
Harry Allen
| music = Herman Hand
W. Franke Harling
Bernhard Kaun
Rudolph G. Kopp
John Leipold
Oscar Potoker
| cinematography = David Abel
| editing = George Nichols Jr.
| studio = Paramount Pictures
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1931|11|14}}
| runtime = 80 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Rich Man's Folly is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by John Cromwell and written by Edward E. Paramore Jr. and Grover Jones. The film stars George Bancroft, Frances Dee, Robert Ames, Juliette Compton, David Durand, Dorothy Peterson, and Harry Allen. The film was released on November 14, 1931, by Paramount Pictures.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/107796/Rich-Man-s-Folly/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221014020/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/107796/Rich-Man-s-Folly/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 21, 2015|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|publisher=Baseline & All Movie Guide|author=Sandra Brennan|date=2015|title=Rich-Man-s-Folly - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com|access-date=February 20, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=1&Movie=4493|title=Rich Man's Folly|work=afi.com|access-date=February 20, 2015}} This modern adaptation of the 1848 novel Dombey and Son is regarded as Hollywood's first major screen adaptation of a Charles Dickens work.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5ssCQAAQBAJ&q=%22+Rich+Man%27s+Folly%22+and+%22Dombey+and+Son%22&pg=PA62|title=Adaptations in the Sound Era: 1927-37|author=Cartmell, Deborah|date=July 30, 2015|isbn=9781623560423|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|page=62}}
Plot
{{No plot|date=February 2023}}
Cast
- George Bancroft as Brock Trumbull
- Frances Dee as Ann Trumbull
- Robert Ames as Joe Warren
- Juliette Compton as Paula Norcross
- David Durand as Brock Junior
- Dorothy Peterson as Katherine Trumbull
- Harry Allen as McWylie
- Gilbert Emery as Kincaid
- Guy Oliver as Dayton
- Anne Shirley as Anne, as a child
- George MacFarlane as Marston
=Criticism=
Director John Cromwell commented on the film and actor George Bancroft in an interview with historian Kinglesy Canham (circa 1975):
{{blockquote |”...Rich Man’s Folly was a very good opportunity [to make something more than a routine picture]; it was a modern dress version of Dickens’ Dombey and Son, and it should have been absolutely splendid for Bancroft except that it required in the actor a consciousness of the material—of which he had none! To him it was always just another part to play in the same old manner. He had no realization of the opportunities that were there, so they were simply missed.”Canham, 1976 p. 62-63}}
Preservation status
Although the film does still exist, Rich Man's Folly has not been seen publicly in decades. It has never been released onto VHS or DVD, and no re-showings or television broadcasts are known to have taken place. A surviving copy currently exists in the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the film can be viewed on Youtube. Paramount created a promotional film in 1931 called The House That Shadows Built, with excerpts of Rich Man's Folly featured.
Footnotes
{{reflist}}
References
- Canham, Kingsley. 1976. The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 5: King Vidor, John Cromwell, Mervyn LeRoy. The Tantivy Press, London. {{ISBN| 0498016897}}
External links
{{commons category|Rich Man's Folly (film)}}
- {{IMDb title|0022309|Rich Man's Folly}}
{{John Cromwell}}
{{Dombey and Son}}
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Films directed by John Cromwell
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:1930s English-language films
Category:Films based on British novels
Category:Films based on works by Charles Dickens
Category:Films scored by W. Franke Harling
Category:Films scored by Bernhard Kaun
Category:Films scored by Rudolph G. Kopp