Rich Man's Folly | |
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Directed by | John Cromwell |
Screenplay by | Edward E. Paramore Jr. Grover Jones |
Starring | George Bancroft Frances Dee Robert Ames Juliette Compton David Durand Dorothy Peterson Harry Allen |
Cinematography | David Abel |
Edited by | George Nichols Jr. |
Music by | Herman Hand W. Franke Harling Bernhard Kaun Rudolph G. Kopp John Leipold Oscar Potoker |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
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. [1] [2] This modern adaptation of the 1848 novel Dombey and Son is regarded as Hollywood's first major screen adaptation of a Charles Dickens work. [3]
This article needs a plot summary.(February 2023) |
Director John Cromwell commented on the film and actor George Bancroft in an interview with historian Kinglesy Canham (circa 1975):
”...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.” [4]
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. Paramount created a promotional film in 1931 called The House That Shadows Built , with excerpts of Rich Man's Folly featured.
Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie,, known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage performances. She was known for her versatility, and appeared in Shakespeare, drawing room comedy, pantomime, modern drama, and classics such as Ibsen and Chekhov. In addition to performing in Britain, Compton appeared several times in the US, and toured Australia and New Zealand in a variety of stage plays.
George Bancroft was an American film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. He was cast in many notable films alongside major film stars throughout his Hollywood years.
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The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a feature compilation film from Paramount Pictures, made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. The film was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release.
John Cromwell was an American film and stage director and actor. His films spanned the early days of sound to film noir in the early 1950s, by which time his directing career was almost terminated by the Hollywood blacklist.
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