''The Misleading Widow'' (1919) is a
silent film comedy directed by
John S. Robertson and 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 ...
. The film is based on the play ''
Billeted'' by
F. Tennyson Jesse and
H. M. Harwood
Harold Marsh Harwood (29 March 1874 – 19 April 1959) was a British businessman, playwright, screenwriter and theatre manager. He was the son of the businessman and politician George Harwood and the husband of F. Tennyson Jesse who co-wrote some ...
and was produced by
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 ...
and distributed by
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 ...
.
As it is not known whether the film currently survives,
it is likely that it, similar to most of Burke's silent films, 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 ...
.
Plot
As summarized in an adaptation published in the September 1919 issue of ''Shadowlands'',
Betty Taradine, who lives in a British village near an army base, was abandoned by her husband for her spendthrift ways. She reports that he is dead to obtain insurance money. Later, British officer Captain Peter Rymill is assigned to be billeted at her house, but he turns out to be her husband living under an assumed name. There are various romantic triangles involving other villagers, and the identity of the missing husband and existence of the marriage is revealed after a dinner with the guests gathered in the widow's bedroom.
The setting of the film is in England as the
Third Amendment to the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
prohibits the quartering of soldiers in a person's home without their consent.
Cast
*
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 ...
- Betty Taradine
*
James Crane - Captain Peter Rymill
*
Frank R. Mills - Colonel Preedy (*this Frank Mills, a stage actor died 1921)
*
Madelyn Clare
Madelyn Clare (November 18, 1894 – September 20, 1975; also known as Madelyn Klare or Madelyn Donovan) was an American actress during the early twentieth century. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she was married to writer and director Thomas Dixo ...
- Penelope Moon (billed Madeline Clare)
*Fred Hearn - Reverend Ambrose Liptrott
*Mrs. Priestly Morrison - Tabitha Liptrott (*aka Mary Florence Horne)
Mrs. Priestly Morrison at IBDb.com
/ref>
*Fred Esmelton
Fred Esmelton (22 June 1872 – 23 October 1933) was an Australian-born American film actor, as well as a stage actor and director. He appeared in 30 films, usually in supporting roles, between the years 1916 and 1931. He was born in Melbo ...
- Mr. MacFarland
*Dorothy Walters
Dorothy Walters (1877-1934) was an American stage performer and film actress noted for her work in vaudeville, in Broadway productions for nearly 30 years, and in silent films between 1918 and the mid-1920s.
Early life and stage career
Walte ...
- Rose
See also
*List of lost films
For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films.
Reas ...
References
External links
*
''The Misleading Widow''; allmovie.com
''The Misleading Widow'' theatrical release poster
Wayback Machine)
1919 films
American silent feature films
Famous Players-Lasky films
Films directed by John S. Robertson
American black-and-white films
American films based on plays
Silent American comedy films
1919 comedy films
Films set in England
1910s American films
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