Troubles of a Grasswidower (1912)
"Max reprend sa liberté" (original title)

An elegant dandy - he of suit, vest, tie, and top hat - ignores his wife at dinner in favor of his newspaper, so she tearfully leaves him and returns home to mother. He is ecstatic, dancing... See full summary »

Stars:

Max Linder, Delphine Renot, Jane Renouardt

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Max Linder	...	Max (uncredited)
Delphine Renot	...	Max's Mother-in-Law (uncredited)
Jane Renouardt	...	Max's Wife (uncredited)

Storyline

An elegant dandy - he of suit, vest, tie, and top hat - ignores his wife at dinner in favor of his newspaper, so she tearfully leaves him and returns home to mother. He is ecstatic, dancing a jig at the prospect of new-found freedom, but after a series of disasters as he washes up the dishes, shops and cooks, makes his bed and tries to get a night's sleep, then looks unsuccessfully for his tie in the morning, he's at his wit's end and the place is in shambles. Will his better half return?

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Plot Keywords:

top hat | morning | dishes | newspaper | bed | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

26 January 1912 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Troubles of a Grasswidower

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé Frères

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Overdone slapstick made me yawn...

This is a Max Linder short, a domestic comedy about a man trying to fend for himself when his wife returns to her mother. It's the "Mr. Mom" of silent films. It's the sort of thing Chaplin and Keaton would do later on with better results.

The film is divided into segments titled: Household Troubles, Washing Dishes, The Market, House Cleaning, Where Is That Tie? All of them lead to explosive mishaps with the house turned upside down for the final segment as he wakes up in the morning and searches for his missing tie. His wife and mother-in-law arrive at the finale and find him in a state of panic and the house a mess.

Despite all the effort that obviously went into making this short--and all the destruction--the whole plot is taken to the extreme with the overdone slapstick.

This can't be one of Linder's best, but at least it survived pretty much intact while most of his short films have been lost.