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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Rich Man's Folly remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have an afternoon and want to see a man let his own ego ruin every single person around him, *Rich Man's Folly* is your movie.
It’s great for fans of Charles Dickens who don’t mind the story being chopped up and fried into a 1930s melodrama. 🎬
If you want something fast or happy, stay far away from this one.
It is a heavy movie, not because it’s deep, but because the characters feel like they are carrying weights in their pockets.
George Bancroft plays Paul Dombey and he is just... huge.
Not just physically, but his energy fills up the room in a way that makes everyone else look like they are made of cardboard.
He has this way of staring at people like they are ledger entries rather than human beings.
I’ve seen him in The Sign of the Cross and he always brings that same 'I am the boss' vibe that is hard to look away from.
In this one, he’s obsessed with the name 'Dombey and Son'.
It’s a bit weird how much he talks about it.
He says the name of the company like it’s a holy prayer or something.
The whole plot is basically: man wants a son, man gets a son, man ignores daughter. 🚢
It's a bit of a downer, honestly.
There's this one scene where the wife dies right after giving birth.
It happens so fast you almost miss it.
One minute she's there, looking tired, and the next, the doctor is looking sad and Paul is already looking at the baby.
He doesn't even seem to care she’s gone, which makes him impossible to like.
The daughter, Florence, is played by Frances Dee (and sometimes Anne Shirley depending on which version of the credits you trust).
She spends most of the movie looking like she’s about to cry, and honestly, you can't blame her.
Her dad treats her like she’s part of the wallpaper.
I noticed the sets are really tall in this movie.
The ceilings in the Dombey house feel miles away, which makes the characters look tiny and unimportant.
Maybe that was on purpose to show how the business is bigger than the people? 🏢
Or maybe they just had a big studio to fill.
The kid who plays the son, Paul Jr., has this weirdly intense face.
He doesn't look like a normal baby; he looks like a tiny accountant who is worried about his taxes.
There’s a scene where he’s sitting in a big chair and it’s actually kind of creepy how still he is.
The sound quality is a bit fuzzy in the middle of my copy, but you can still hear the clinking of the glasses during the dinner scenes.
I love those old movie sound effects where every spoon hit sounds like a bell.
The movie slows down a lot in the middle. Like, it really drags.
I found myself looking at the background actors more than the main stars for a bit.
Some of the extras look like they aren't sure where to stand or which way to look.
It’s funny to see someone in the background of a 1931 movie just vibing while the main guy is having a mental breakdown.
It reminded me a little of the pacing in Alias Jimmy Valentine, where things just sort of stop for a while.
But then Bancroft starts yelling again and the movie wakes up.
It’s not a masterpiece, and it’s definitely not the best Dickens adaptation out there.
But there's something about these early 30s films that feels real.
They feel heavy. Not just the themes, but the physical sets and the way people talk.
The ending feels a bit rushed, like they realized they only had five minutes of film left and had to wrap up years of drama.
It’s a movie about a guy who is basically a human brick.
If you like watching bricks crumble, give it a go.
Otherwise, maybe stick to something with a bit more life in it. ⚓
IMDb 5.4
1931
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