''Let's Get a Divorce'' is a 1918 American silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Billie Burke Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...

and written for the screen by husband and wife team John Emerson and

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put h ...

. The film was produced by the

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...

company and distributed through

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. The film is based on the popular stage play ''Divorçons'' by

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centu ...

and Émile de Najac.

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, Cyprienne Marcey (Burke), who eats, dreams, and writes romance, picks out Henri (Miltern), the brother of her roommate, as the object of her affections. Following their spectacular elopement, Henri's attempt to return to writing is a jolt to her romantic temperament. Seeing in Henri's cousin Adhemar (Kaliz) the soul of romance, she asks Henri for a divorce so that she might marry Adhemar. Henri agrees, but once the clandestine aspect of her love affair with Adhemar is removed, it soon palls on her. On the night before the day set for her divorce she persuades her husband to take her to dinner and away from Adhemar. When the latter breaks into their private dining room with the police, he is denounced by Cyprienne who emphatically states that Henri, her husband, is the only man she ever loved.

Cast

as Madame Cyprienne Marcey *John Miltern as Henri de Prunelles * Pinna Nesbit as Yvonne de Prunelles *

Armand Kaliz Armand Kali(s)z (October 23, 1882 or 1883 – February 1, 1941) was an American stage and film actor of the silent film and early sound period of the 1930s. Prior to that, he was an actor in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage. Career B ...

as Adhemar *

Rod La Rocque Roderick Ross La Rocque (November 29, 1898 – October 15, 1969) was an American actor. Biography La Rocque was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edmund La Rocque and Ann (née Rice) La Rocque. His father was of French-Canadian descent and his mo ...

as Chauffeur * Helen Tracy as Mother Superior *

John Merkyl Wilmuth John Merkyl (June 2, 1885 – May 1, 1954) was an American stage and screen actor popular in early silent films. On stage he had also been a singer in light operettas. He was born in Iowa and died in California.''Silent Film Necrology'' ...

as Calvignac (credited as Wilmuth Merkyl) *

Cesare Gravina Cesare Gravina (23 January 1858 – 16 September 1954) was an Italian actor of the silent era who appeared in more than 70 films between 1911 and 1929. Born in Naples, Gravina was an orchestra conductor in his native Italy. As the conducto ...

as Head Waiter

Preservation status

''Let's Get a Divorce'' is considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

.The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''Let's Get a Divorce''
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References

External links

*
AllMovie.comLantern slide
an
larger version of samelobby poster
.
#2 lobby posternicely lithographed poster artwork of Billie Burke, descriptive, on yet another lobby poster
HeritageAuctions, ha) 1918 films American silent feature films Lost American films Paramount Pictures films American films based on plays Films based on works by Victorien Sardou Films directed by Charles Giblyn 1918 comedy films American black-and-white films Silent American comedy films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films Lost comedy films {{1910s-comedy-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Preservation status

See also

References

External links