Why Change Your Wife? (1920)

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Sada Cowan (story)
Olga Printzlau (writer)

Release Date:

19 September 1921 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Robert and Beth Gordon are married but share little. He runs into Sally at a cabaret and the Gordons are soon divorced...

Plot Keywords:

Resort | Morality | Fashion | Butler | Flashback Sequence

Cast

Gloria Swanson	...	Beth Gordon
Thomas Meighan	...	Robert Gordon
Bebe Daniels	...	Sally Clark
Theodore Kosloff	...	Radinioff
Sylvia Ashton	...	Aunt Kate
Clarence Geldart	...	The Doctor
Mayme Kelso	...	Harriette - the Couturière
Lucien Littlefield	...	Gordon's Butler
Edna Mae Cooper	...	Gordon's Maid
Jane Wolfe	...	Client

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Germany:(Banned) (original rating)

Company:

Artcraft Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Film debut of William Boyd.

Quotes:

Bathing Suit Mannequin: When a girl can wear a bathing suit like this, it's her duty to do so.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)

Gloria Swanson Wins Her Man!

Why Change Your Wife was part of Cecil B. DeMille's "marriage trilogy" and is a sly and well-acted 1920 silent film that stars Gloria Swanson as a dowdy and prissy wife whose husband (Thomas Meighan) is bored with. He wants fun and romance! So he trots off to a dressmaker to buy her a negligee to spice up the marriage. But an ambitious model (Bebe Daniels) recognizes him as her mother's old boss and sets out to trap him. Of course he is putty in her hands and she causes a divorce.

After the divorce Swanson overhears two women gossiping about her in the next changing room. She decides to "jazz up her lingerie" and win the husband back. Of course they all end up at the same Atlantic City hotel where the transformed Swanson (what a bathing suit!) catches his eye anew. Through a series of plot twists, including the manic cat fight between the two women with threats of throwing acid, poor Bebe concedes defeat and (after emptying his wallet of cash) leaves him to Swanson.

Good fun and all 3 stars are terrific. Also taking center stage are the women's fashions (hilariously "exotic") and the interior decor. DeMille was the first director to understand the importance of film as a TREND SETTER and basically created the product endorsement mania so prevalent in today's films.

Sylvia Ashton is Aunt Kate, Theodore Kosloff is the violinist, Lucien Littlefeld is the butler, and William Boyd is one of the hotel guests. The hotel is quite a spot, and mention should be made of the cat and dog fight which presages the battle between Swanson and Daniels. The dog is funny, and the cat is named Toodles, which was the name of the home wrecker played by Julia Faye in the preceding "marriage" film: Don't Change Your Husband.