Soak the Rich

Soak the Rich
Directed byBen Hecht
Charles MacArthur
Screenplay byBen Hecht
Charles MacArthur
Produced byBen Hecht
Charles MacArthur
StarringWalter Connolly
John Howard
Mary Taylor
Lionel Stander
Ilka Chase
Alice Duer Miller
CinematographyLeon Shamroy
Edited byLeo Zochling
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • January 17, 1936 (1936-01-17)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Soak the Rich is a 1936 American comedy film written and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Walter Connolly, John Howard, Mary Taylor, Lionel Stander, Ilka Chase and Alice Duer Miller. It was released on January 17, 1936, by Paramount Pictures.[1]

Plot

Humphrey Craig is a tycoon who has endowed a university. His idealistic daughter Belinda enrolls there, hoping to get some idea of the "real world". When Professor Popper lectures his students on the merits of a "soak-the-rich" tax bill, Craig (who opposes the bill) gets Popper fired. Meanwhile, Joe Muglia is the leader of a band of radicals on campus. When the radicals protest the dismissal of Popper, Belinda falls in love with Buzz Jones, a radical and handsome idealist.

Cast

Reception

Frank Nugent of The New York Times wrote, "Collegiate radicals come in for a rather cruel lampooning at the hands of those old die-hards, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, in the antic pair's latest picture, Soak the Rich, which moved into the Astor last night. Their spoofing of youth in revolt is frequently amusing and the quality of the dialogue proves that the premier filmmakers of Astoria have lost none of their wit. The same, alas, cannot be said of their sense of direction."[2]

Variety criticised Hecht and MacArthur for failing to adapt their stage technique to that of a motion picture, and described this as "the chief stumbling block ... It's a simple plot which has possibilities, but it is developed along stage lines, with scenes held too long to one spot and over elaboratlon." The comments regarding the performances of the cast were lukewarm with the exception of Lionel Stander, whose performance was described as "outstanding."[3]

Picturegoer’s Lionel Collier offered a three-star (very good) rating in his review and wrote : "When Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur start satirising the pseudo-intellectuals and idealists you can be pretty sure that you are going to be entertained, and this picture does not belie that promise. It is a little haphazard but the dialogue is witty and subtle." Collier wrote approvingly of the cast and commented, "Walter Connolly gives a fine study … John Howard acts with sincerity as Buzz and Mary Taylor is excellent as Belinda. Lionel Stander as the eccentric revolutionary presents a brilliant piece of character work."[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Soak the Rich (1936) - Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ Nugent, Frank S. (February 5, 1936). "Movie Review - Soak the Rich - ' Soak the Rich,' at the Astor, in Which Hecht and MacArthur Lampoon College Radicals". The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Soak the Rich". Variety. February 12, 1936. p. 18. Retrieved July 4, 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Collier, Lionel (June 27, 1936). "Soak the Rich". Picturegoer. Vol. 6, no. 266. p. 32.
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