"Why Change Your Wife?' is another of those comedy/satires on married life from Producer/Director Cecil B. De Mille.
Robert (Thomas Meighan) and Beth (Gloria Swanson) are a fairly well off married couple who have begun to grow apart. Beth has become a be-speckled intellectual with little in common with her husband. She prefers classical music to his fox trots and shuns his advances.
In an effort to spice things up, Robert goes to "Le Maison Chic" a dress shop to purchase a negligee for Beth in the hope that it will stir things up. Unbeknownst to Robert, he is being eyed by one of the store's models, Sally Clark (Bebe Daniels) who sets her sights on him.
When Beth spurns Robert's present he becomes depressed. As luck would have it, Sally comes to his office with a missing article from his previous days' purchase, just as he is being turned down by Beth for a night on the town. She wants to stay home and listen to high brow violinist Radinoff (Theodore Kosloff) who has more than a passing interest in her.
Robert takes Sally out instead and finds out that they have much in common. One thing leads to another and Beth and Robert are divorced and Robert marries Sally. After a few months, Robert learns that Sally is not all that he thought her to be and again feels trapped in a loveless marriage.
Beth meanwhile starts to realize that she has let herself go over the years and decides to get a complete make over. Robert and Sally and Beth and her Aunt Kate (Sylvia Ashton) all turn up at the same vacation spot. When Robert sees the "new" Beth he falls in love with her all over again. Sally meanwhile, has taken up with Radinoff.
One day while walking with Beth, Robert slips on a banana peel and sustains a head injury. Beth takes him to her home to recover. Sally finds out and....................................................
This film is pleasant enough but one gets a feeling of deja vu as De Mille had released several similarly themed films in the last little while. The performances are good. Meighan has the boyish good looks and vulnerability that would be characteristic of Gary Cooper years later. Swanson in glasses, is a sight but she really shines after her "transformation". The equally lovely Bebe Daniiels had worked in Harold Lloyd comedies in the teens and was now breaking out into features.
You've just got to see the 1920 style bathing suits which were considered daring for their day in the vacation resort sequence. My how times have changed.
Robert (Thomas Meighan) and Beth (Gloria Swanson) are a fairly well off married couple who have begun to grow apart. Beth has become a be-speckled intellectual with little in common with her husband. She prefers classical music to his fox trots and shuns his advances.
In an effort to spice things up, Robert goes to "Le Maison Chic" a dress shop to purchase a negligee for Beth in the hope that it will stir things up. Unbeknownst to Robert, he is being eyed by one of the store's models, Sally Clark (Bebe Daniels) who sets her sights on him.
When Beth spurns Robert's present he becomes depressed. As luck would have it, Sally comes to his office with a missing article from his previous days' purchase, just as he is being turned down by Beth for a night on the town. She wants to stay home and listen to high brow violinist Radinoff (Theodore Kosloff) who has more than a passing interest in her.
Robert takes Sally out instead and finds out that they have much in common. One thing leads to another and Beth and Robert are divorced and Robert marries Sally. After a few months, Robert learns that Sally is not all that he thought her to be and again feels trapped in a loveless marriage.
Beth meanwhile starts to realize that she has let herself go over the years and decides to get a complete make over. Robert and Sally and Beth and her Aunt Kate (Sylvia Ashton) all turn up at the same vacation spot. When Robert sees the "new" Beth he falls in love with her all over again. Sally meanwhile, has taken up with Radinoff.
One day while walking with Beth, Robert slips on a banana peel and sustains a head injury. Beth takes him to her home to recover. Sally finds out and....................................................
This film is pleasant enough but one gets a feeling of deja vu as De Mille had released several similarly themed films in the last little while. The performances are good. Meighan has the boyish good looks and vulnerability that would be characteristic of Gary Cooper years later. Swanson in glasses, is a sight but she really shines after her "transformation". The equally lovely Bebe Daniiels had worked in Harold Lloyd comedies in the teens and was now breaking out into features.
You've just got to see the 1920 style bathing suits which were considered daring for their day in the vacation resort sequence. My how times have changed.