Visually, "Don't Change Your Husband" is a pretty film, with lush interiors, and that's typical of director Cecil B. DeMille. Unfortunately, this is overall a very superficial film, which is also typical of DeMille. At least, "Don't Change Your Husband" isn't as insultingly commercial or absurd as "Male and Female" and other subsequent DeMille pictures. Additionally, Elliott Dexter's transformation as Mr. Porter is impressive.
This is a superficial film by a superficial filmmaker and likewise the characters are superficial. The story is about a wife who leaves her foolish husband because he eats onions before kissing her, his shoes are old, and he's sloppy with his cigar smoking and because the other man shows her an exotic fantasy scene instead of his vices while courting her. I can't take this kind of movie seriously and, thankfully, DeMille didn't' ask for one to. The treatment is often light, and the dramatic parts don't drag that down too much. It's better that it's just fluffy rather than pretentious. "Don't Change Your Husband" is the second in DeMille's trilogy on extramarital relationships, between two other catchy titles: "Old Wives for New" and "Why Change Your Wife?"
This is a superficial film by a superficial filmmaker and likewise the characters are superficial. The story is about a wife who leaves her foolish husband because he eats onions before kissing her, his shoes are old, and he's sloppy with his cigar smoking and because the other man shows her an exotic fantasy scene instead of his vices while courting her. I can't take this kind of movie seriously and, thankfully, DeMille didn't' ask for one to. The treatment is often light, and the dramatic parts don't drag that down too much. It's better that it's just fluffy rather than pretentious. "Don't Change Your Husband" is the second in DeMille's trilogy on extramarital relationships, between two other catchy titles: "Old Wives for New" and "Why Change Your Wife?"