''The Awful Truth'' is a 1925 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
Paul Powell and released by the
Producers Distributing Corporation
Producers Distributing Corporation was a short-lived Hollywood film distribution company, organized in 1924 and dissolved in March 1927. In its brief heyday, film director Cecil B. DeMille was its primary shareholder and major talent.
Corporat ...
. It is based on a 1922 play, ''The Awful Truth'', by Arthur Richman.
Agnes Ayres
Agnes Ayres (born Agnes Henkel; April 4, 1896 – December 25, 1940) was an American actress who rose to fame during the silent film era. She was known for her role as Lady Diana Mayo in '' The Sheik'' opposite Rudolph Valentino.
Career
Ayres b ...
stars in this silent film version of the play. It was
remade in 1937 as the talkie ''
The Awful Truth
''The Awful Truth'' is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Based on the 1923 play ''The Awful Truth'' by Arthur Richman, the film recounts how a distrustful rich couple begins d ...
''.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Lucy suspects her husband Norman of indiscretions of which he is not guilty and secures a divorce. However, she knows that Norman loves her and she loves him. One night he finds his bride on the
fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency th ...
in her night clothes with a wealthy old bachelor who is known to be infatuated with Lucy. He takes the scene as a shock, not waiting to learn the truth that she had taken refuge on the fire escape due to a fire. Lucy, unhappy, has been asked to marry Danny, a callow youth with a fortune. She becomes engaged to him, but his curious aunt determines to air the scandal surrounding the divorcee. Lucy thus must make it appear that nothing stands between her and Norman so that the aunt will not believe there was a scandal. She asks Norman to come to the winter resort where they are spending the months, and he comes out of curtesy. To carry out the plan they join as a team on the toboggan run. The toboggan upsets, sending both into the snow wrapped in each other's arms. The warm embrace shows Norman "the awful truth," that both had been faithful until the last in their marriage.
Cast
Preservation
A print of ''The Awful Truth'' survives in the
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...
.
The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Awful Truth''
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References
External links
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Still with Warner Baxter and Agnes Ayres
1925 films
American silent feature films
American films based on plays
Films directed by Paul Powell (director)
American black-and-white films
Producers Distributing Corporation films
Silent American drama films
1925 drama films
1920s American films
Surviving American silent films
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