
Henry Wilton is an elderly millionaire saddled with his selfish young second wife Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton and a pair of spoiled grown children, Peggy and Eddie. To test his family's mettle, Henry pretends to have gone broke. Just as he suspected they would, his children rally to their father's side and change their ways: Peggy forsakes the fortune hunter George Struthers for the nice young man she's really in love with, the polo coach Larry Rivers, while Eddie applies for a demanding job and performs admirably. Only Sweetie seems to desert Henry.
Directed by John G. Adolfi, A Successful Calamity leans on a strong ensemble — George Arliss, Mary Astor, Evalyn Knapp — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.
The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about comedy titles of 1932.
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In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs, lost during the revolution.
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