Sick Abed (1920)

When showing a woman customer some ranch property, real estate agent John Weems's car is disabled by a terrible storm, and he and his client are forced to take refuge in a roadhouse. ... See full summary »

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

Clara Genevieve Kennedy, Ethel Watts Mumford (play)

Stars:

Wallace Reid, Bebe Daniels, John Steppling

Cast

Cast overview:
Wallace Reid	...	Reginald Jay
Bebe Daniels	...	Nurse Durant
John Steppling	...	John Weems
Winifred Greenwood	...	Constance Weems
Tully Marshall	...	Chalmers
Clarence Geldert	...	Dr. Macklyn (as Clarence Geldart)
Lucien Littlefield	...	Dr. Widner
Robert Bolder	...	Dr. Flexner
Lorenza Lazzarini	...	Customer
George Kuwa	...	Wing Chow

Storyline

When showing a woman customer some ranch property, real estate agent John Weems's car is disabled by a terrible storm, and he and his client are forced to take refuge in a roadhouse. Weems's wife Constance finds out about her husband's adventure and, bored with her marriage, determines to file for divorce. Constance calls upon Reginald Jay to testify about the roadhouse incident, and Jay, reluctant to testify, feigns illness and is hospitalized, promptly falling in love with one of his nurses. After several comic incidents involving Jay's attempts to convince the doctors of his malaise, Constance is reconciled with her husband and Jay wins the love of his nurse.

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Plot Keywords:

based on play | 

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Taglines:

With Bebe Daniels as the Nurse OH BOY! LET'S ALL BE SICK! (Print Ad- Nevada Daily Mail, ((Nevada, Mo.)) 21 January 1921)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

It was based on a 1918 Broadway stage play Sick-a-bed by Ethel Watts Mumford starring Mary Boland. The spelling of the movie varies from the spelling of the play.

User Reviews

Reid & Daniels have Star Power

Okay, it's the future and we only have the films we have, and thus, SICK ABED (1920) must be elevated to important status, if only for the two stars, Wallace Reid and Bebe Daniels, and its director, Sam Wood. Star appeal, star power, there's no question that it carries this picture. Reid was the forerunner to today's American light comedic lead, through Jimmy Stewart to Tom Hanks. Everything they said about him shines through here, the warmth, naturalness, the timing, the joviality, the athletic confidence, the Arrow-Collar looks. He's a forgotten original, and SICK ABED's not a bad example of his particular speciality. No less important, and much longer lasting, Bebe Daniels was smack dab in the middle of her featured player period, after her years with Harold Lloyd, and before her reign as one of the most popular screen comediennes of the late 20s, and she's marvelously cool and beautiful as the cool and beautiful nurse hired to look after a patient who is only faking a nervous breakdown. The reasons for this aren't terribly vital, it's a light play with plenty of doctors and lawyers, and a modest amount of mistaken identities and misunderstood intentions. The director kept things cracking, and the cast is fine, including the dependable Tully Marshall, and another enjoyable, eccentric turn by Lucien Littlefield. I'm told that Wallace Reid made much better movies than SICK ABED, and I know Bebe Daniels certainly did, but as an example of early 1920s romantic farce, and especially considering how few films of that era still exist, this one is in terrific shape, so it really is a more important film now, and deserves to be seen by more audiences.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

None

Release Date:

27 June 1920 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hjertetyven

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1