The Working Man (1933)

George Arliss does his usual enjoyable turn as a wily old patriarch running rings round the rest of the cast while adroitly covering his tracks in 'The Working Man', which takes him out of his usual historical fancy dress and instead places him at the helm of a very contemporary tale of post-Crash America; complete with a Thoroughly Modern young female lead in the form of Arliss's young blonde protégé Bette Davis.

With America at the time sunk in the depths of the Great Depression, Arliss's extraordinary manipulation of two competing shoe manufacturers pretty much on a whim - played as good-natured force - provides a bizarre commentary on its time; and Arliss remains fun to watch over seventy years after his death.