By Violet LeVoit
The Idle Rich
Brief Synopsis
A typist's relatives turn up their noses at her rich husband.
Cast & Crew
Read More
William C. De Mille
Director
Conrad Nagel
William Van Luyn
Bessie Love
Helen Thayer
Leila Hyams
Joan Thayer
Robert Ober
Henry Thayer
James Neill
Mr. Thayer
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jun
15,
1929
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play White Collars; a Comedy in Three Acts by Edith Ellis (New York, 1926).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 20m
Sound
Mono (MovieTone)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
7,351ft
(9 reels)
Synopsis
Millionaire William Van Luyn marries Joan Thayer, a middle-class stenographer of little commonsense, and offers her family the benefits that his money can so easily provide. The family haughtily refuses, and Joan soon insists that he move in with her family and share the virtues and discomforts of her simple home life. William decides to give his fortune away to found a hospital and finds that his new relatives suffer a quick change of heart about accepting the benefits of his money.
Director
William C. De Mille
Director
Cast
Conrad Nagel
William Van Luyn
Bessie Love
Helen Thayer
Leila Hyams
Joan Thayer
Robert Ober
Henry Thayer
James Neill
Mr. Thayer
Edythe Chapman
Mrs. Thayer
Paul Kruger
Tom Gibney
Kenneth Gibson
Frank Thayer
Crew
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jun
15,
1929
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play White Collars; a Comedy in Three Acts by Edith Ellis (New York, 1926).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 20m
Sound
Mono (MovieTone)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
7,351ft
(9 reels)
Articles
The Idle Rich -
Broadway playwright William C. de Mille directed 53 pictures in his three decade career, but by 1932 he knew he couldn't compete with his younger brother Cecil B's reputation in Hollywod. But before stepping aside into his later career as AMPAS president (as well as founder and faculty member of USC's film school), he put his mark on movies like this one, a class-tinged romantic comedy based on the 1925 play White Collars. Wealthy William Van Luyn (Conrad Nagel) wants to help the less fortunate family of his new bride Joan (Leila Hyams), but, in an act of proud reverse snobbery, they refuse. To diffuse the class divide, Joan suggests William move in with her family, including little sister Helen (Bessie Love), to really understand what it means to be middle class. A presumably exhausted Bessie Love found time in her 60-hour studio workweek to make this and five other pictures this year, but her effervescent pep still overshadows everyone else in the cast. Remade as Rich Man, Poor Girl in 1938.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
The Idle Rich -
Broadway playwright William C. de Mille directed 53 pictures in his three decade career, but by 1932 he knew he couldn't compete with his younger brother Cecil B's reputation in Hollywod. But before stepping aside into his later career as AMPAS president (as well as founder and faculty member of USC's film school), he put his mark on movies like this one, a class-tinged romantic comedy based on the 1925 play White Collars. Wealthy William Van Luyn (Conrad Nagel) wants to help the less fortunate family of his new bride Joan (Leila Hyams), but, in an act of proud reverse snobbery, they refuse. To diffuse the class divide, Joan suggests William move in with her family, including little sister Helen (Bessie Love), to really understand what it means to be middle class. A presumably exhausted Bessie Love found time in her 60-hour studio workweek to make this and five other pictures this year, but her effervescent pep still overshadows everyone else in the cast. Remade as Rich Man, Poor Girl in 1938.
By Violet LeVoit
