Puttin' on the Ritz is a musical film

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

, directed by Edward Sloman

Edward Sloman

Edward Sloman was an English silent film director, actor, screenwriter and radio broadcaster. He directed over 100 films and starred in over 30 films as an actor between 1913 and 1938....

 and starred Harry Richman

Harry Richman

Harry Richman was an American entertainer. He was a singer, actor, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and night club performer, at his most popular in the 1920s and 1930s....

, Joan Bennett

Joan Bennett

Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...

, and James Gleason

James Gleason

James Austin Gleason was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.-Career:...

. The screenplay was written by James Gleason

James Gleason

James Austin Gleason was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.-Career:...

 and William K. Wells, based on a story by John W. Considine, Jr.

This was the first of many movies to feature the popular song "Puttin' on the Ritz

Puttin' on the Ritz

"Puttin' on the Ritz" is a popular song written and published in 1929 by Irving Berlin and introduced by Harry Richman in the musical film Puttin' on the Ritz . The title derives from the slang expression "putting on the Ritz," meaning to dress very fashionably. The expression was inspired by the...

", written and published by Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...

 in 1929.

Preservation status

All current prints derive from a 1940's re-release print that was censored for 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...

 content and cut down by about twenty minutes. The title cards at the start and end of the film have also been edited and altered. Puttin' on the Ritz was originally shot with two-color Technicolor

Technicolor

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 sequences, but today those sequences partially survive only in black and white.

Cast

• Harry Richman as Harry Raymond
• Joan Bennett as Dolores Fenton
• James Gleason as James 'Jimmy' Tierney
• Aileen Pringle
  Aileen Pringle
  Aileen Pringle was an American stage and film actress during the silent film era.-Early life:Born Aileen Bisbee into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco, California family and educated in Europe, Pringle began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son...
  
   as Mrs. Teddy Von Rennsler
• Lilyan Tashman
  Lilyan Tashman
  Lilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'...
  
   as Goldie Devere
• Purnell Pratt
  Purnell Pratt
  Purnell Pratt was an American film actor. He appeared in 114 films between 1914 and 1941.He was born in Bethel, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* On with the Show...
  
   as George Barnes
• Richard Tucker
  Richard Tucker (actor)
  Richard Tucker was an American actor. He appeared in 266 films between 1911 and 1940.He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was the first official member of the Screen Actors Guild and a founding member of SAG's Board of Directors...
  
   as Fenway Brooks
• Eddie Kane
  Eddie Kane
  Eddie Kane was an American actor who appeared in over 250 productions from 1928 to 1959.Some of his more famous films include The Public Enemy , The Mummy , Mr. Deeds Goes to Town , Mr...
  
   as Bob Wagner
• George Irving
  George 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 Dr. Blair
• Sidney Franklin as Schmidt