Why Change Your Wife?

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.

Today Cecil B. DeMille is probably best known for the overwrought (if thoroughly enjoyable) biblical epic "The Ten Commandments." But during the silent era he made several sophisticated comedies portraying the battle of the sexes such as "Why Change Your Wife," an engaging mixture of bizarre, over the top glamour (the negligee the husband buys his wife is so elaborately constructed I couldn't blame her for looking dismayed when she first saw it) and dead on day-to-day detail about married life—is there a couple who hasn't gotten in each other's way and on each other's nerves when sharing a bathroom? Gloria Swanson plays Beth Gordon, a young wife who cannot resist the temptation to improve her husband, scorning his fox trot records for something called "The Dying Poet." She loses him to the proverbial shop girl, Sally Clark—hilariously played by Bebe Daniels—a character so vulgar she owns a gyrating Kewpie Doll. (This film's frank endorsement of consumerism has often been remarked on, but it rightly acknowledges that what we chose to buy tells as much about our class and character as anything else). The husband soon realizes that he made a mistake, clearly finding Sally's baby talk even more tiresome than Beth's high minded nagging, but it isn't until Beth transforms herself into a sexy knockout wearing the height of pre-flapper fashion that the two reunite.

The movie isn't entirely cynical about romance—it is never really in doubt that Beth and her husband love each other—but it is shrewd enough to recognize that in holding the attention of your partner a little glamour and sophistication doesn't hurt (the husband isn't let off the hook though, and his naiveté in expecting the honeymoon phase to last forever is mocked in a bathroom scene when Sally repeatedly interrupts his attempts to shave just as Beth did earlier).

A side note: All the leading players are engaging, but the violinist (played by Theodore Kosloff) who seduces women by making love to their souls steals every scene he is in.

To sum up, this worldly comedy challenges the common assumption that silent film is little more than slapstick or melodrama.

Why Change Your Wife? (1920)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A husband (Thomas Meighan) is growing tired of his wife (Gloria Swanson) putting down his ways, which include his lavish wine cellar, his smoking and that the fact that he seems not to care about the millions starving in Europe. The husband, tired of his strict wife, decides to divorce her and catch up with the fun Sally (Bebe Daniels). The wife, determined to win him back, decides to start dressing sexier and being more of an actual wife. This third and final film in DeMille's marriage trilogy is certainly better than Don't Change Your Husband but is still pretty far off from the first in the series, Old Wives for New. Once again DeMille mixes the comedy with the melodrama and then adds even more "messages" to try and tell the viewers how to live their life. Everyone knows DeMille would go over the top with his sugar and messages in later films but it's rather amazing to see his subtitles here, which pretty much demand that women and men act a certain way. The thing at times feels so over thought that you can't help but wonder what was going on in the director's mind. With that said, the film is a pleasant little movie with a few nice laughs and some good performances. Swanson seems a lot more comfortable here than in the previous movie and she does a fine job with her character. She also has the right physical appearance to pull off the plain duck to beautiful woman. Meighan gives a decent performance but he's nothing great. It's sex-kitten Bebe Daniels who ends up stealing the film as the other woman. Every time she was on screen I couldn't help but smile at the apparent fun she was having being the "bad" other woman. She certainly has the look of a vamp and this adds to her fun performance. Theodore Kosloff and Sylvia Ashton are also fine in their roles and a young William Boyd can be scene in a brief role.

In 1920, Cecil B. DeMille was already the king of Paramount. Titles would show a DeMille coin and he was the producer and director in charge and already had spectacles under his belt. But he also made romantic comedies that very much are a product of their times. His most famous female star of the late teens to early twenties was Gloria Swanson, who would go on to be a major silent star in her own right during the era.

Thomas Meighan is not so well remembered today except for hard core silent buffs. Few of his films are rarely revived and he died in 1936 after a two year bout with cancer. Another major silent star who did have some successes in sound was Bebe Daniels, probably most famous for singing "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me" and breaking her leg in 42ND STREET.

Meighan and Swanson co-starred together in DeMille's MAN AND FEMALE a year previous to this one. Here, they are introduced as husband and wife in a script written by William DeMille, Cecil's brother. While Thomas shaves, Gloria pesters him into buttoning the back of her dress. It's a humorous modern day problem and both leads are funny as they frustrate each other.

She won't even let him listen to HINDISTAN - A FOX TROT on a vintage 78 and forces him to listen to A DYING POET instead. By the way, Hindistan is another name for India. There is throughout a condescending tone to non-whites. but it's not as bad as some other films. In fact, DeMille would be guilty of that throughout his career but I do bear in mind he wasn't alone and many were worse. More fun to watch, though, is what passed for high fashion in 1920. I don't think anyone would be caught dead today wearing what passed for bathing suits back then.

It is at the store where Meighan meets Daniels who gets to play a total vamp, even comically putting a heart size mole on her arm. She literally seduces him on the spot. While they go out, poor Gloria has her violin recital playing A DYING POET without her husband. Later on, straight laced Gloria Swanson reads about their marriage following her divorce. Well, two can play this game. Gloria goes to the store herself and gets herself some outrageous clothes and has several admirers follow her to a rich resort that has a great swimming pool where guests can sit. Somehow, Meighan and Swanson get back together while Daniels gets the violin player.

I really doubt people really lived like this in 1920, but romantic escapist films are made today. A fun little picture.

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.