''Old Wives for New'' is a 1918 American silent
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...
. Prints of the film survive at the International Museum of Photography and Film at
George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
.
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 ...
, disgusted by the unattractive, slovenly appearance of his wife Sophy (Ashton), Charles Murdock (Dexter) goes on a long hunting trip. He meets Juliet Raeburn (Vidor), falls in love with her, and while telling her of his love, he reveals that he is a married man. Upon his return, his wife flies into a frenzy of jealousy. To forget, he goes out with his business partner Tom Berkeley (Roberts), meets Viola Hastings (Manon), who is being provided for by Berkeley, and another woman of the cafes. Viola shoots Berkeley when she finds him in another woman's bedroom and Juliet Raeburn's name is connected to the scandal by a false report. Murdock, to protect Juliet, goes abroad with another woman. After his wife obtains a divorce, Juliet and Murdock meet in Venice, renew their friendship, and marry.
Cast
*
Elliott Dexter
Elliott Dexter (March 29, 1870 – June 21, 1941) was an American film and stage actor. Dexter started his career in vaudeville and did not move to films until he was 45. He retired from acting in 1925.
Biography
Dexter was born in Galves ...
as Charles Murdock
*
Florence Vidor
Florence Vidor (née Cobb, later Arto; July 23, 1895 – November 3, 1977) was an American silent film actress.
Early life
Vidor was born in Houston on July 23, 1895, to John and Ida Cobb. Her parents had married in Houston on March 3, 1894, bu ...
as Juliet Raeburn
*
Sylvia Ashton
Sylvia Ashton (January 26, 1880 – November 18, 1940) was an American film actress of the silent film era.
Ashton was born in Denver, Colorado. She bore a heavyset resemblance to Jane Darwell and like Darwell was playing mother and grand ...
as Sophy Murdock
*
Wanda Hawley
Wanda Hawley (born Selma Wanda Pittack; July 30, 1895 – March 18, 1963) was an American actress during the silent film era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the United States and Can ...
as Sophy in Prologue
*
Theodore Roberts
Theodore Roberts (October 8, 1861 – December 14, 1928) was an American film and stage actor.
Early life
Roberts was born in San Francisco, California. He was a cousin of the stage actress Florence Roberts. His choice of a career disapp ...
as Tom Berkeley
*
Helen Jerome Eddy
Helen Jerome Eddy (February 25, 1897 – January 27, 1990) was a motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1917).
Early years
Edd ...
as Norma Murdock
*
Marcia Manon
Marcia Manon (born Marcia Elizabeth Harrison, October 28, 1896 – April 12, 1973) was a film actress active during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. She was a supporting player who worked with stars Mary Pickford, John Barrymore, Ethel ...
as Viola Hastings
*
Julia Faye
Julia Faye Maloney (September 24, 1892 – April 6, 1966), known professionally as Julia Faye, was an American actress of silent and sound films. She was known for her appearances in more than 30 Cecil B. DeMille productions. Her various roles ...
as Jessie
*
J. Parks Jones
James Parks Jones (1890 – January 11, 1950) was an actor in many silent films in the United States. His roles included many leading and supporting roles over more than a decade.
He was born in Cincinnati.
Jones married Myrtle Gonzalez, a Latin ...
as Charley Murdock
*
Edna Mae Cooper
Edna Mae Cooper (July 19, 1900 – June 27, 1986) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 79 films between 1911 and 1927.
Early life
On July 19, 1900, Cooper was born in Baltimore, Maryland.
Career
Cooper is known f ...
as Bertha
*
Gustav von Seyffertitz
Gustav von Seyffertitz (4 August 1862 – 25 December 1943) was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81.
Biography
Gustav von Seyffertit ...
as Melville Bladen
*
Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...
as Simcox
*
Lillian Leighton as Maid
*
Mayme Kelso
Mayme Kelso (February 28, 1867 – June 5, 1946) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 70 films between 1911 and 1927. She was born in Columbus, Ohio, and died in South Pasadena, California from a heart attac ...
as Housekeeper
*
Alice Terry
Alice Frances Taaffe (July 24, 1899 – December 22, 1987), known professionally as Alice Terry, was an American film actress and director. She began her career during the silent film era, appearing in thirty-nine films between 1916 and 1 ...
as Saleslady (as Alice Taafe)
*
Noah Beery
Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominen ...
as Doctor (uncredited)
*
William Boyd as Extra (uncredited)
*
Edythe Chapman
Edythe Chapman (October 8, 1863 – October 15, 1948) was an American stage and silent film actress.
Career
Born in Rochester, New York, Chapman began her stage career as early as 1898 when she appeared in New York City in ''The Charity Bal ...
as Mrs. Berkeley (uncredited)
*
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Biography
Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...
as Beautician (uncredited)
*
Lloyd Hughes as Reporter (uncredited)
*
Charles Ogle as Bit Role (uncredited)
*
Guy Oliver as Berkeley's Butler (uncredited)
*
Larry Steers
Lawrence Wells Steers (February 14, 1888 – February 15, 1951) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 550 films between 1917 and 1951. He was born in Indiana, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.
Partial filmography
* ...
as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
*
Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Madame Sul-Te-Wan (born Nellie Crawford; March 7, 1873 – February 1, 1959) was the first black actress to sign a film contract and be a featured performer.Lowe, Denise. ''An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films'', Hawo ...
as Viola's Maid (uncredited)
Reception
Like many American films of the time, ''Old Wives for New'' was subject to cuts by
city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors issued an Adults Only permit for the film and cut, in Reel 1, the intertitle "A shrewd sensualist" etc., Reel 3, the two intertitles "With a ribbon and a feather Berkeley pays his debts" and "Suppose he didn't get you the ermine?", the incident of Mrs. Murdock pointing to a place near her in bed, Reel 4, the intertitle "No, I can't forget, I'll take you only to your apartment", all scenes of young woman in man's arms on chair, Reel 5, all scenes of young woman in man's arms on chair, young woman shooting man and all scenes of her on floor after shooting, and the four intertitles "I killed him; he was a beast", "We've got to get him to his hotel", "Hushing it up", and "I won't turn you over to the police yet".
References
External links
*
allmovie/Old Wives for New*Phillips, David Graham (1908),
Old Wives for New; a Novel', New York: D. Appleton and Company, on the Internet Archive
{{Cecil B. DeMille
1918 films
1918 drama films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
Silent American drama films
Articles containing video clips
Films directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Surviving American silent films
1910s American films