Puttin' On the Ritz (film)

Puttin' On the Ritz is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film directed by Edward Sloman and starring Harry Richman, Joan Bennett, and James Gleason. The screenplay was written by Gleason and William K. Wells based on a story by John W. Considine Jr. It was the first of many films to feature the popular song "Puttin' On the Ritz", which was written and published by Irving Berlin in 1929.

Cast

 * Harry Richman as Harry Raymond
 * Joan Bennett as Dolores Fenton
 * James Gleason as James 'Jimmy' Tierney
 * Aileen Pringle as Mrs. Teddy Von Rennsler
 * Lilyan Tashman as Goldie Devere
 * Purnell Pratt as George Barnes
 * Richard Tucker as Fenway Brooks
 * Eddie Kane as Bob Wagner
 * George Irving as Dr. Blair
 * Sidney Franklin as Schmidt

Preservation


All current prints derive from a 1940s re-release print that was censored for pre-Code content and cut down by about twenty minutes. The title cards at the start and end of the film have also been edited and altered. Puttin' On the Ritz was originally shot with two-color Technicolor sequences, but today those sequences partially survive only in black and white.