Miriam Hopkins

Joel McCrea

Fay Wray

Henry Stephenson

Reginald Denny

Beryl Mercer

George Meeker

Wade Boteler

Herbert Bunston

Burr McIntosh

Edgar Norton

Selmer Jackson

Bess Flowers

Harold Miller

Charles Coleman

Brooks Benedict

William A. Boardway

Harry Bowen

William Burress

Edward Cooper

Oliver Cross

Dick Gordon

William Gould

Fred Howard

Olaf Hytten

Mike Lally

Buddy Roosevelt

Dale Van Sickel

Pandro S. Berman

William A. Seiter

Norman Krasna

John E. Tribby

Nicholas Musuraca

George Crone

Charles M. Kirk

Van Nest Polglase

Walter Plunkett

Rex Bailey

Ernest Bachrach

Comedy

Romance

The Richest Girl in the World

RKO Radio Pictures

United States of America

English

secretary

heiress

CinemaSerf

Poor little rich girl “Dorothy” (Miriam Hopkins) is fed up always being ousted by gold-digging boyfriends and so hits on the idea, with the help of her executor “Connors” (Henry Stephenson), of swapping places with her dedicated secretary “Sylvia” (Fay Wray) and the. Seeing if she can’t meet a man who likes her for herself. That man might just have come along in the form of “Tony” (Joel McCrea) but with the whole scenario being built on a pyramid of lies and with the real husband of “Sylvia” (Reginald Denny) getting just as confused by proceedings, this all starts to look distinctly dodgy. Now to get anything from this, you have to pretty much suspend common sense. Even in the 1930s, the identity of the heiress would never have been so easy to conceal as it appears here. Even her own board of directors don’t seem to recognise their own boss. Thereafter, the film really belongs to Hopkins because she delivers quite a skilful portrayal of a selfish, spoiled and really quite unpleasant girl who coasts along through a mire of caviar and lobster completely unaware of just how fortunate she is. It does have moments of levity, usually at the hands of Denny but it’s all just a little too contrived to remain very funny for long. How the other half lived!

Recently jilted poor little rich girl “Dorothy” (Miriam Hopkins) is fed up always being pursued by gold-digging boyfriends and so hits on the idea, with the help of her executor “Connors” (Henry Stephenson), of swapping places with her dedicated secretary “Sylvia” (Fay Wray) and then seeing if she can’t meet a man who likes her for herself. That man might just have come along in the form of “Tony” (Joel McCrea) but with the whole scenario being built on a pyramid of lies and with the real husband of “Sylvia” (Reginald Denny) getting just as confused by proceedings, this all starts to look distinctly dodgy. Now to get anything from this, you have to pretty much suspend common sense. Even in the 1930s, the identity of the heiress would never have been so easy to conceal as it appears here. Even her own board of directors don’t seem to recognise their own boss. Thereafter, the film really belongs to Hopkins because she delivers quite a skilful portrayal of a selfish, spoiled and really quite unpleasant girl who coasts along through a mire of caviar and lobster completely unaware of just how fortunate she is. It does have moments of levity, usually at the hands of Denny but it’s all just a little too contrived to remain very funny for long. How the other half lived!

The Richest Girl in the World( 1934)

$30,000 A DAY TO SPEND...and nothing to live for!

Overview

Top Billed Cast

Social

A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Sun Jun 29 2025

Media

Recommendations

Facts

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

Keywords