Expensive Women
Encyclopedia
Expensive Women is a 1931
talking
film drama. It is very much a Pre-Code
type of story. It was produced by First National
and distributed through their parent company Warner Brothers. The film was directed by silent film veteran Hobart Henley
and starred Dolores Costello
. This film was Costello's final film as a Warner Brothers leading lady and star of which she had been since 1925. She retired to be the wife of John Barrymore
and to raise their family. Costello would return to films 5 years later after a long hiatus from films and the end of her marriage to Barrymore but never to the luster she enjoyed as a Warners star.
uncredited
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
talking
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
film drama. It is very much a Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
type of story. It was produced by First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
and distributed through their parent company Warner Brothers. The film was directed by silent film veteran Hobart Henley
Hobart Henley
Hobart Henley was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter....
and starred Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen"...
. This film was Costello's final film as a Warner Brothers leading lady and star of which she had been since 1925. She retired to be the wife of John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
and to raise their family. Costello would return to films 5 years later after a long hiatus from films and the end of her marriage to Barrymore but never to the luster she enjoyed as a Warners star.
Cast
- Dolores CostelloDolores CostelloDolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen"...
as Constance 'Connie' Newton - H. B. WarnerH. B. WarnerH. B. Warner was a British actor.-Early life:He was born Henry Byron Charles Stewart Warner-Lickford in St John's Wood, London, England in 1875...
as Melville Raymond - Warren WilliamWarren WilliamWarren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
as Neil Hartley - Anthony BushellAnthony BushellAnthony Bushell was an English film actor and director, who appeared in 56 films between 1929 and 1961. He also appeared on and directed various British TV series such as Danger Man.-Early life:...
as Arthur Raymond - Polly Walters as Molly Lane
- Joe Donahue as Bobby Brandon
- George IrvingGeorge Irving (American actor)George Henry Irving was an American film actor and director who made over 200 films in his lifetime. Some of his best known movies were Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Hearts Divided, A Night at the Opera, Son of Dracula, Hangmen Also Die!, Once Upon a Honeymoon, and Maid's Night Out.-Death:Irving...
as Melville's friend - Billy HouseBilly HouseBilly House was an US vaudevillian, Broadway performer and feature film actor. After devoting most of his career to live performance, he moved to Hollywood where he became a supporting actor during the 1940s and 1950s...
as George Allison
uncredited
- Allan LaneAllan LaneAllan "Rocky" Lane was a studio leading man and the star of many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in more than 125 films and TV shows in a career lasting from 1929 to 1966...
as partier - Mae Madison as Irene
- Margaret MannMargaret MannMargaret Mann , was a Scottish - American actress. She starred in a number of major films such as Black Beauty in 1921 and played the lead role in the 1928 film Four Sons one of John Wayne's first films...
- Cliff Saum as Taxi Driver
- Morgan WallaceMorgan WallaceMorgan Wallace , was an American actor. He appeared in 28 films between 1914 and 1946, including It's a Gift and My Little Chickadee starring W.C. Fields and Mae West....
as Young Man - Adele Watson as Martha, Connie's Maid