The Divorcee (1919 film)

The Divorceé

Ad for film
Directed by Herbert Blaché
Produced by Metro Pictures
Maxwell Karger
Written by June Mathis (scenario)
Katherine Kavanaugh (scenario)
Based on Lady Frederick
by W. Somerset Maugham
Starring Ethel Barrymore
E. J. Ratcliffe
Holmes Herbert
Cinematography George K. Hollister
Distributed by Metro Pictures
Release dates
  • January 20, 1919 (1919-01-20)
Running time
 5 reels; 4,400 feet
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

The Divorceé is a 1919 American society drama starring Ethel Barrymore in her last silent film. The film is based on a 1908 play, Lady Frederick by young Somerset Maugham, which had starred Barrymore on Broadway.[1] The play was already quite dated when this film was made, but the actress was always comfortable with this kind of soap-operish melodramatic material. Herbert Blaché directed, and June Mathis wrote the scenario based on Maugham's play. The film was produced and distributed by the Metro Pictures company.

It is believed to be a lost film.[2][3] The last known surviving copy perished in the 1967 MGM vault fire.

Plot

As described in a film magazine,[4][5] Betsy O'Hara (Barrymore) marries Lord Frederick Berolles (Ratcliffe) to please her parents, and while now is Lady Frederick, she finds herself miserable when her husband constantly insults her after discovering that she loves another. It does not help that Sir Paradise Fuldes (Herbert), the man she would have married except for his poverty, soon thereafter comes into a fortune. Her sister Kitty (Childers), while married to a man of position, has foolishly compromised herself with Robert Montgomery (Kilgour), a cad who forces her to visit his rooms on threat of disclosure. While assisting her sister in the recovery of some old love letters, she is surprised in the apartments of Montgomery, and assumes the situation to save her sister's reputation. She is then divorced, and sinks in the social scale. Lord Charles Mereston (Entwistle) meets her while gambling in Monte Carlo and falls in love with her. Lady Frederick does not encourage him, but he will not take no for an answer. His wife Lady Mereston (Gordon) appeals to her brother Sir Paradise to intervene, and while Lady Frederick resents the interference, she sends Mereston about his business using an ingenious device, and finds her reward in the arms of Paradise.

Cast

Reception

Like many American films of the time, The Divorcee was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors in reel 3 cut the holdup of a car, in reel 4 cut two holdup scenes except a direction to flash a three foot length showing the bandit riding away, and in reel 5 cut the bandit riding away.[6]

References

  1. ↑ The Divorcee at the Internet Broadway Database
  2. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20, published by The American Film Institute, c. 1988
  3. ↑ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Divorcee". silentera.com.
  4. ↑ "Advertising Aids for Busy Managers: The Divorcee". Moving Picture World. New York City: Chalmers Publishing Company. 39 (4): 542. Jan 25, 1919. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  5. ↑ Wietzel, Edward (Feb 8, 1919). "Critical Reviews and Comments: The Divorcee". Moving Picture World. New York City: Chalmers Publishing Company. 39 (6): 803. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  6. ↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (15): 33. October 6, 1917.
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