Idle Rich, The

This early Talkie comes loaded with love and laughter as the alluring and versatile Leila Hyams (Freaks, Ruggles of Red Gap) stars opposite leading light Conrad Nagel in this comedy of love between the classes. After millionaire William Van Luyn (Nagel) snags stenographer Joan Thayer (Hyams), he finds himself subjected to the stentorian social critiques of her strident "working white-collar" relatives. The good-natured Van Luyn gamely moves in with Joan's family, eager to show he has no disdain for the hardships and shortcomings enjoyed by Joan's "class." As the Thayer family's haughty pride comes to endanger both William's marital happiness and their own prospects, William gambles his fortune against his understanding of human nature in order to bring them to their senses. This engaging comedy of class and romance also features Bessie Love, whose remarkable career stretched from the Silent Era all the way to the Eighties.

• classic
• comedy