Why Change Your Wife?

I bought this film because Bebe Daniels is in it. I may be a little biased since Bebe was my grandfather's aunt, but I think the movie is terrific. The story is so true to life even today! It has a great message and the written narration is so "deep" for the lack of a better word. I was actually more impressed with Gloria Swanson in this particular film though! She was great! She actually "made" the movie! Bebe's part as a vamp was really good too though! She was the perfect one to play this part! I am not gonna give anything away, just order it and watch it for yourself! My husband and I enjoyed it so much! I must confess I ordered all the Bebe movies I could find because there is a definate family resemblance between she and I! But out of my strange interest in this aspect, I actually ended up finding so much more! I love the Silent Classics and discovered Gloria Swanson in the process! Thank you and take care!!!

Why Change Your Wife (1920)

This is a great romp, getting better with every scene. It is not good to women, though, making them out to be selfish and catty. It also makes it seem that a woman's role is to be beautiful for her man, and if she isn't, he practically has the right to leave her. I mean, come on now!

The leads (three of them) are all first rate. The man is a charmer, really convincing and natural, Thomas Meighan. His wife (at first) is Gloria Swanson, a silent screen staple (especially for director Cecil B. de Mille who directed six straight films with Swanson, including the parallel, Don't Change Your Husband (1919). But the third other woman is Swanson's match, Bebe Daniels, and if she isn't as famous, it's only because time is fickle.

Because the three are so well balanced, both in ability and in the way they are given time together (in all three possible combinations, plus all three of them together), the film really builds momentum well. The modernity of flipping wives was probably part of the racy appeal, and it might seem a little staid by our standards, where there is (sometimes) less gravity to a marriage.

Music is key, which might seem odd for a silent film, but by showing us the 78 records being put on, the audience knows what the soundtrack would be. (The actually sound tacked on to my DVD version of this film is a brutal melange of found orchestral pieces that cut in and out, hither and tither.) For those interested in the actual piece called Hindustan that is key in three scenes (and key to the changing sentiments of the women) go to www.archive.org/details/JosephC.SmithsOrchestra-01-07 and you can actually click on piece to hear it (a lively pre-jazz dance type number).

So is this a pertinent film? In a way, it is. It's basic theme of paying attention to what your mate needs, and appreciating their attentions, is pretty timeless. But in other ways the film is sadly, painfully retrograde, and it isn't just because it's 1920. The way the women vie for the man, and the way he lets them, and ultimately the way he treats the Daniels character (who does him no wrong any more than the Swanson one does), is just cheap and tossed around for comedic purposes. Which is how you can take it and enjoy it. More than you'd expect.

Why Change Your Wife? was a movie about a couple undergoing some problems. Robert keeps trying to please his nagging wife, Beth. He tries to please her without success. He tries several things to please her and she continuously turns it down, refusing to change for him. This leads Robert to go out with another women who works in a negligee shop. Eventually she gets a little saucy to spruce herself up and become more appealing in hopes to win Robert back. I loved the romantic drama and the passion behind this silent film. Though it would have been better with sound, I found it very similar to some of the popular movies out today. It was refreshing to see the humor and romantic scandals that were around back in 1920 and how they haven't differed much from the scandals of today. It was a delight to watch.

Swanson changes her style dramatically in the middle of the film (after the divorce), and she becomes really gorgeous. It seems like this film was made just to show her. Comparing with her, Daniels (and other characters) is not so impressive. The film itself has a simple story and maybe it is not so appealing to everyone but still interesting to see.

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.