Kept Husbands
| Kept Husbands | |
|---|---|
 Joel McCrea and Dorothy Mackaill in film scene | |
| Directed by | Lloyd Bacon |
| Produced by |
William LeBaron (producer) Louis Sarecky (associate producer) |
| Written by |
Forrest Halsey (adaptation) Alfred Jackson (adaptation) Louis Sarecky (writer) |
| Starring | See below |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Jack MacKenzie |
| Editing by |
George Marsh Ann McKnight |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release dates | 1931 |
| Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Kept Husbands is a 1931 American film directed by Lloyd Bacon.
In 1959, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[1]
Plot summary
Dorothea "Dot" Parker (Dorothy Mackaill) is a spoiled rich girl whose father invites a working stiff at his steel mill to dinner after the man saves several of his coworkers lives in an industrial accident. Dot's mother (Mary Carr) is a hopeless snob who wants to call off dinner with a worker she deems lower class, but Mr. Parker, who is a far better judge of character, persists.
Dot takes one look at her father's handsome employee Richard Brunton (Joel McCrea) and is hopelessly smitten. Dot wagers with her father that she will get a proposal from Richard and is soon collecting on her bet. The marriage initially threatens to emasculate Richard, who loses interest in his career and finds himself dominated by Dot's vapid, social whirl of bridge games, cocktail parties and passive acceptance of life as a "kept" man. He must ultimately put his foot down and assert to the spoiled heiress that he is the man of the house and that they must live honestly off of his income alone, much to the petulant Dot's initial distress.
Though made in the years before Hollywood's Production Code placed uncompromising rules on the sex, drinking and violence that could be shown in movies, the romantic comedy Kept Husbands (1931) is far from the racy content of other Pre-Code movies of the time.[citation needed]
In fact, the film is in many ways highly conventional for how it reaffirms the gender roles in the Brunton household, arguing that the man and woman should fulfill their proper duties. In the Depression years, rich heiresses were not especially appealing figures for impoverished audiences. Conventions of the time demanded that haughty women like Dot be put in their place by the film's end.[citation needed]
Cast
- Dorothy Mackaill as Dorothea "Dot" Parker Brunton
- Joel McCrea as Richard "Dick" Brunton
- Ned Sparks as Hughie Hanready
- Mary Carr as Mrs. Brunton
- Clara Kimball Young as Mrs. Henrietta Post
- Robert McWade as Arthur Parker
- Bryant Washburn as Charlie Bates
- Florence Roberts as Mrs. Henrietta Parker
- Freeman Wood as Llewllyn Post
Soundtrack
- "The Wedding March" (Written by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy)
- Whistled by Joel McCrea - "Three Little Words" (Written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby)
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kept Husbands. |
- Kept Husbands at the Internet Movie Database
- Kept Husbands is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]