I have been curious about the films of Constance and Norma Talmadge for a long time, but it is very hard to find any of their films that have not been lost, much less that have been put on DVD. Constance was the comic actress of the two sisters, and this is a very fun romp of a film that holds up very well today some 87 years after it was made. The initial scene on a raft, full of over the top acting and clichés, is just Constance's character finishing her former fiancé's novel. She has married another man when her author-fiancé is presumed dead, and she is finding life with her husband dull compared to the life she has imagined she would have had if her favorite novelist had survived. However, it turns out the death of her "primitive lover" was just a publicity stunt, and he unexpectedly reappears and turns Constance's life upside down. Her husband decides the best thing to do is step aside until he realizes that maybe his wife needs to realize that her former fiancé is not the definitive hero and outdoorsman after all, and sets out to show it to her. The quality of the current DVD print is quite clear, and I highly recommend the film.
If you are familiar with Buster Keaton's silent films, one face you will likely recognize is that of Big Joe Roberts, who plays a cowboy lost in a storm who runs across Constance's cabin in the wilderness and demands a meal. He is involved in one of the funniest scenes in the film as Constance's character is an unexperienced cook, to put it kindly. As a result, Big Joe is faced with a dinner consisting of coffee of molasses-like consistency and pancakes that he finds so inedible and even indestructible that he later finds a possible use for them as a bullet-proof vest.
If you want to introduce someone to silent film, this is the place to start.
