''Twenty Dollars a Week'' is a 1924 American silent

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

directed by F. Harmon Weight and starring

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

Taylor Holmes Taylor Holmes (May 16, 1878 – January 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway theatre, Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he is probably best remembered for his screen performances, which he began on ...

, and Edith Roberts.

Ronald Colman Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor who started his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrated to the United States where he had a highly successful Cinema of the United ...

, then a rising star, had a supporting role as Arliss's character's son. The film was long thought lost before a print was rediscovered in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

collection. In 1933, Arliss starred in a talkie remake, ''

The Working Man ''The Working Man'' is a 1933 pre-Code American comedy film starring George Arliss and Bette Davis, and directed by John G. Adolfi. The screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Maude T. Howell is based on the story ''The Adopted Father'' by Edgar F ...

'', co-starring a young

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, John Reeves, steel magnate, wagers with his son Chester that he can earn twenty dollars a week and live on it. He procures work in the office of William Hart's steel plant. Against her brother's wish, Hart's sister Muriel adopts a little boy. Hart evens up by adopting John Reeves as his father. Reeves foils James Pettison's plot to ruin Hart. Chester also makes good as a workman and wins the affection of Hart's sister. The father reveals his identity and takes Hart as a partner.

Cast

Preservation

Prints of ''Twenty Dollars a Week'' are located in the

and

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision (Operating name for The New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero.) is an archive that was launched on 31 July 2014, following the completion of a three-year proces ...

(New Zealand Film Archive).Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''$20 A Week''
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References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

* 1924 films 1924 comedy-drama films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films 1920s rediscovered films American black-and-white films American silent feature films English-language comedy-drama films Films directed by F. Harmon Weight Rediscovered American films Selznick Pictures films Silent American comedy-drama films Surviving American silent films {{1920s-silent-comedy-film-stub