Children of the Ritz is a 1929 drama film from First National Pictures. Starring Dorothy Mackaill

Dorothy Mackaill

Dorothy Mackaill was an English-born American actress, most notably of the silent film era and into the early 1930s.-Early life:...

 and Jack Mulhall

Jack Mulhall

Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....

. The movie was silent

Silent Movies

Silent Movies are 13 solo guitar compositions by Marc Ribot released September 28, 2010 on Pi Recordings.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "For those interested in one of the more compelling and quietly provocative and graceful guitar records of 2010,...

 with its own Vitaphone

Vitaphone

Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...

 soundtrack and sound effects recorded on phonographic records. At the time this movie was made the transition from silent to sound was increasing more with movies such as The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody is a 1929 American musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930...

 and many more. Today it's unknown to survive and might be a lost film

Lost film

A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...

.

Plot

Angela Pennington, the spoiled, bored daughter of a wealthy man, amuses herself by attempting to seduce Dewey Haines, the rigid family chauffeur. Dewey wins $50,000 at the race track, and Angela's father, despondent over heavy financial loses, attempts to commit suicide. Dewey gives Mrs. Pennington a large portion of his newly acquired fortune and marries Angela. She quickly spends all of Dewey's remaining money, and he is forced to become a cab driver. Angela goes to live with her parents and comes to suspect Dewey of infidelity. Her suspicions prove to be unfounded, however, and she and Dewey are reconciled, with Angela promising to be frugal.

Trivia

• In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930s, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.