Rice's plays of the 1930s included "The Left Bank" (1931), a comedy dramatizing an expatriate's superficial attempt to escape from American materialism in Paris, and "Counsellor-at-Law" (1931), a vigorous work that drew a realistic picture of the legal profession for which Rice had been trained. (The latter play is probably more frequently revived in regional theatres than any of Rice's other plays.) In that decade, he also wrote two novels and enjoyed a lucrative period in Hollywood, writing screenplays. His time in Hollywood was not without its friction, though, as he was looked upon by many studio heads as one of "those Eastern Reds."