Probably inspired by Cecil De Mille's "the ten commandments" (1923),but in a much more modest way, ,Howard Hawks begins his movie with a prologue showing Adam and Eve after the Fall : they live is some kind of prehistoric world ,in which Eve is looking forward to going to the fig leaves sale.Anachronisms abound and the subtitles are very witty,which is very rare in a silent movie.
Hawks' theory was : "the snake was none other than another woman in disguise".Thus edified,we go straight from the Iron age (?)into the twentieth century ...when woman's main concern is the clothes she is going to wear to impress her best (female ) friend .In 1926,a man would not want her wife to work ,so she 's got to expend a lot of energy when she's got nothing left to wear.The pawnshop gag may have inspired Roald Dahl for "Mrs Bixby and the colonel's coat" which was first published in 1959 (and would become a short in the "Hitchcock presents" series).
"Fig Leaves" is sometimes much fun to watch and is to be recommended ,even to these who dislike silent flicks.
Hawks' theory was : "the snake was none other than another woman in disguise".Thus edified,we go straight from the Iron age (?)into the twentieth century ...when woman's main concern is the clothes she is going to wear to impress her best (female ) friend .In 1926,a man would not want her wife to work ,so she 's got to expend a lot of energy when she's got nothing left to wear.The pawnshop gag may have inspired Roald Dahl for "Mrs Bixby and the colonel's coat" which was first published in 1959 (and would become a short in the "Hitchcock presents" series).
"Fig Leaves" is sometimes much fun to watch and is to be recommended ,even to these who dislike silent flicks.