''Expensive Women'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

film drama. It was produced by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

and distributed through their parent company

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

The film was directed by silent film veteran

Hobart Henley Hobart Henley (born Hess Manassah Henle; November 23, 1887 – May 22, 1964) was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer. He was involved in over 60 films either as an actor or director or both from 1914 to 1934. Early ...

and stars

Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903Costello's obituary in ''The New York Times'' says that she was born on September 17, 1905. – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ...

. It was Costello's final film as a leading lady and star for Warners, which she had been since 1925. She retired to be the wife of

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...

and to raise their family. Costello would return to films five years later after a long hiatus and the end of her marriage to Barrymore, but never regained the luster she enjoyed as a Warners star. 1893-1993 A print is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'' (<-book title) p.52 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

Plot

Constance Newton attends a party with her friend Bobby Brandon, and falls in love with another party guest, composer Neil Hartley. She leaves the party with Neil, spending the night at his apartment. Bobby finds out about it, but fickle Constance soon falls for married man Arthur Raymond, one of Neil's students. Arthur tells Constance he's in the process of getting a divorce, but the divorce falls through. Later when Constance and Bobby attend a party, he is murdered by Arthur but Constance is blamed as the suspect.

Cast

as Constance "Connie" Newton *

H. B. Warner Henry Byron Warner (né Lickfold; 26 October 1876 – 21 December 1958) was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in '' The King of Kings''. In later years, he successfully moved int ...

as Melville Raymond *

Warren William Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Per ...

as Neil Hartley *

Anthony Bushell Anthony Arnatt Bushell (19 May 1904 – 2 April 1997) was an English film actor and director who appeared in more than 50 films between 1929 and 1961. He played Colonel Breen in the BBC serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59), and also ap ...

as Arthur Raymond * Polly Walters as Molly Lane * Joe Donahue as Bobby Brandon * George Irving as Melville's friend *

Billy House William H. Comstock (May 7, 1889 – September 23, 1961), known by his stage name Billy House, was an American actor, vaudevillian and Broadway performer. After devoting most of his career to live performance, he moved to Hollywood where he beca ...

as George Allison Uncredited *

Allan Lane Allan "Rocky" Lane (born Harry Leonard Albershardt; September 22, 1909 – October 27, 1973) was an American 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 i ...

as partier *

Mae Madison Mae Madison (born Mariska Megyzsi, September 17, 1915November 1, 2004) was an American film actress. She was born in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were from Hungary. Madison started out as a dancer in the late 1920s. She signed a contra ...

as Irene *

Margaret Mann Margaret Mann (4 April 1868 – 4 February 1941, in Los Angeles, California), was a Scottish-American actress. Early years Mann was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, one of 10 children in her family. The family moved to South Africa when she was 12 ...

* Cliff Saum as Taxi driver *

Morgan Wallace Morgan Wallace (born Maier Weill, July 26, 1881 – December 12, 1953) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1914 and 1946, including W.C. Fields' ''It's a Gift'' (1934) Introduction by Arthur Knight where he p ...

as Young man * Adele Watson as Martha, Connie's maid

References

External links

* 1893-1993 * *
''Expensive Women'' lobby poster
1931 films Films directed by Hobart Henley Warner Bros. films 1931 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films {{1930s-drama-film-stub