Poor Rich Man (1918)

Release Date - Dec 23, 1918 (USA - Unknown)  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza

Vantyne Carter (Francis X. Bushman) is a playboy living in luxury off his father (C.J. Williams). Vantyne's cousin Teddy (Stuart Holmes, at the time one of the screen's best-known villains), meanwhile, leads a fine upstanding life -- or at least he appears to, so he can curry favor with his wealthy uncle, Vantyne's father. One day, the senior Carter, fed up with his son's antics, decides to play a trick on both Vantyne and Teddy. The old man and his lawyer off on a hunting trip, and then the lawyer returns with news that Carter was killed in an accident. The will is read, and Vantyne is to inherit the estate, providing he can take the dilapidated Carter country home and make money out of it. If he can't do this within six months, Teddy gets the money. Inspired by his sweetheart, Arizona Brown (Beverly Bayne), he makes the place over into a fancy hotel. It attracts a large society crowd, but Teddy, bent on getting the money and egged on by his actress girlfriend (Sally Crute), plots the hotel's downfall. He pulls a fake jewelry theft and makes the kitchen staff go on strike. The hotel does fail, but Mr. Carter, who has been watching from afar, comes back from the dead, impressed by his son's ingenuity and glad to see his nephew unmasked for who he truly is. The star team of Bushman and Bayne had also just become a married couple prior to the making of this light comedy.