''The Marriage Cheat'' is a 1924 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

John Griffith Wray John Griffith Wray (August 30, 1881 – July 15, 1929) was an American stage actor and director who later became a noted Hollywood silent film director. He worked on 19 films between 1913 in film, 1913 and 1929 in film, 1929 that included ''Anna C ...

and written by C. Gardner Sullivan. The film stars

Leatrice Joy Leatrice Joy (born Leatrice Johanna Zeidler; November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era. Early life Joy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to dentist Edward Joseph Zeidler, who was o ...

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley Ku ...

Percy Marmont Percy Marmont (25 November 1883 – 3 March 1977) was an English film actor. Biography Marmont appeared in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1968. A veteran film actor by 1923, he scored a big hit that year in ''If Winter Comes'', later rem ...

Laska Winter Laska Winter (August 28, 1905 – August 8, 1980) was an American film actress active during the silent and early sound era. She was also known as Winter Blossom. Filmography * ''What Ho, the Cook'' (1921) * '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924) * '' ...

, Henry A. Barrows, and

J. P. Lockney John P. Lockney (March 17, 1867, date of death unknown) was an American actor of the silent film era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1937. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Partial filmography * ''The Bride of Hat ...

. The film was released on April 5, 1924, by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Octavia leads an unhappy life with her dissipated husband, Bob Canfield, who is a millionaire. While cruising in the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...

, she leaps overboard. Paul Mayne, a young missionary, finds her on an island beach. Her baby is born before her husband discovers her. In the interval she has learned to love Mayne, but yields to her marital duty's call and prepares to rejoin Canfield. In a storm the yacht is wrecked and the wretched husband drowns. Paul fights his way through the surging waves in a frail canoe and rescues the young mother and her baby. With the death of Canfield, Paul and Octavia face a happy future together.

Cast

Production

Finances and cash flow were always a concern of the independent film studios. When ''The Marriage Cheat'' was set for filming on location at Palm Springs and Palm Canyon,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, in November 1923, the Thomas H. Ince Corporation was able to borrow $200,000 from the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

at an interest rate of 7 percent using the film negative as security.

Preservation

With no copies listed for any film archives,Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Database: ''The Marriage Cheat''
/ref> ''The Marriage Cheat'' is 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 o ...

References

External links

* *
Still
at silenthollywood.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Marriage Cheat, The 1924 films 1920s English-language films Silent American drama films 1924 drama films First National Pictures films Films directed by John Griffith Wray American silent feature films American black-and-white films 1920s American films