The Trouble with Wives

1925 film

  • September 28, 1925 (1925-09-28)
Running time
70 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Trouble with Wives is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair, written by Sada Cowan and Howard Higgin, and starring Florence Vidor, Tom Moore, Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Lucy Beaumont, and Edgar Kennedy. It was released on September 28, 1925, by Paramount Pictures.[1][2][3]

Plot

As described in a film magazine reviews,[4] Grace Hyatt suspects her businessman husband William of being infatuated with his shoe designer from Paris. Several situations develop which make it appear that William is interested in the young woman. Al Hennessey tells Grace that he and William have visited the woman's apartment. William becomes so uncomfortable with the situation at home that he leaves for a summer hotel. Grace determines that she will get a divorce. When she visits the hotel, she finds the other woman there is the bride of Al Hennessey. The Hyatts are reconciled.[5]

Cast

  • Florence Vidor as Grace Hyatt
  • Tom Moore as William Hyatt
  • Esther Ralston as Dagmar
  • Ford Sterling as Al Hennessey
  • Lucy Beaumont as Grace's Mother
  • Edgar Kennedy as Detective
  • Etta Lee as Maid
  • William Courtright as Butler

Production

A key scene from The Trouble With Wives demonstrates the “extraordinary efforts” that director St. Clair went to in order to eliminate intertitles: The young wife (Florence Vidor) is led to suspect her husband (Tom Moore) of infidelities with blonde vamp (Esther Ralston). The sequence is conducted entirely in cinematic pantomime related to the wife by her husband’s friend (Ford Sterling). [6]

St. Clair, a cartoonist and graphic artist, designed and drew his own intertitles at Paramount when they were required.[7]

Theme

“The satirical point in The Trouble With Wives is the male assumption regarding the way women handle money,” and conversely “that all wives inevitably fall into the trap of becoming suspicious of their husbands.” [8] [9]

Preservation

With no prints of The Trouble with Wives located in any film archives,[10] it is a lost film.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ "Movie Review - Trouble with Wives - THE SCREEN - NYTimes.com". nytimes.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  2. ^ "The Trouble with Wives". afi.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  3. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 203: Filmography
  4. ^ "New Pictures: The Trouble with Wives", Exhibitors Herald, 22 (10), Chicago, Illinois: Exhibitors Herald Company: 84, August 29, 1925, retrieved August 14, 2022 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 203: Filmography, plot synopsis.
  6. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 105
  7. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 105
  8. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 118: “handle money: And p. 203: Filmography: “suspicious of their husbands.”
  9. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 203 Filmography, synopsis: Dwyer reports that the film had “excellent reviews.”
  10. ^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: The Trouble with Wives
  11. ^ The Trouble with Wives at Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files: Lost Paramount films - 1925

References

  • Dwyer, Ruth Anne. 1996. Malcolm St. Clair: His Films, 1915-1948. The Scarecrow Press, Lantham, Md., and London. ISBN 0-8108-2709-3

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Trouble with Wives.
  • The Trouble with Wives at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Synopsis at AllMovie
  • Still at silentfilmstillarchive.com
  • v
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Films directed by Malcolm St. Clair
1910s
  • Rip & Stitch: Tailors (1919)
  • The Little Widow (1919)
  • No Mother to Guide Him (1919)
1920s
  • Hungry Lions and Tender Hearts (1920)
  • He Loved Like He Lied (1920)
  • His Youthful Fancy (1920)
  • Don't Weaken! (1920)
  • Welcome Home (1920)
  • A Kitchen Cinderella (1920)
  • Wedding Bells Out of Tune (1921)
  • Sweetheart Days (1921)
  • The Goat (1921)
  • The Night Before (1921)
  • Call a Cop (1921)
  • Bright Eyes (1921)
  • You'd Be Surprised (1922)
  • Don't Be Foolish (1922)
  • Wedding Dumb Bells (1922)
  • The Blacksmith (1922)
  • Their First Vacation (1922)
  • Twin Husbands (1922)
  • Entertaining the Boss (1922)
  • Keep 'Em Home (1922)
  • Christmas (1923)
  • Fighting Blood (1923)
  • The Knight in Gale (1923)
  • The Knight That Failed (1923)
  • Six Second Smith (1923)
  • Two Stones with One Bird (1923)
  • Some Punches and Judy (1923)
  • Gall of the Wild (1923)
  • Rice and Old Shoes (1923)
  • The End of a Perfect Fray (1923)
  • When Gale and Hurricane Meet (1923)
  • Judy Punch (1923)
  • George Washington Jr. (1924)
  • Julius Sees Her (1924)
  • When Knighthood Was in Tower (1924)
  • Money to Burns (1924)
  • King Leary (1924)
  • William Tells (1924)
  • Sherlock's Home (1924)
  • For the Love of Mike (1924)
  • The Square Sex (1924)
  • Bee's Knees (1924)
  • Find Your Man (1924)
  • The Lighthouse by the Sea (1924)
  • On Thin Ice (1925)
  • Are Parents People? (1925)
  • After Business Hours (1925)
  • The Trouble with Wives (1925)
  • A Woman of the World (1925)
  • The Grand Duchess and the Waiter (1926)
  • A Social Celebrity (1926)
  • Good and Naughty (1926)
  • The Show-Off (1926)
  • The Popular Sin (1926)
  • Knockout Reilly (1927)
  • Breakfast at Sunrise (1927)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928)
  • Sporting Goods (1928)
  • Beau Broadway (1928)
  • The Fleet's In (1928)
  • The Canary Murder Case (1929)
  • Side Street (1929)
  • Welcome Danger (1929; uncredited)
  • Night Parade (1929)
1930s
1940s