Too Wise Wives

Lois Weber directs Louis Calhern for the second time in his second movie, and Claire Windsor in her third or fourth. I had seen this movie some time ago, but had no memory of it, and wondered why I had considered it competent but boring. This viewing reminded me.

Mr. Calhern is newly married to Miss Windsor She is a pretty little thing, but a bit of a nitwit and very clinging. Other Woman Mona Lisa -- yes, that's the name of the actress, so don't blame me -- is married to Phillip Smalley. He adores her, but she doesn't love him. She is smart enough to do everything right -- except when she threw over Mr. Calhern; instead of rushing back to propose, he had found consolation with Miss Windsor. However, Miss Lisa is willing to forgive him for that and begin an affair while Smalley is out of town.

This was Weber's first release through Paramount, and suddenly, everything is conventional and neat: too neat. the situations mirror themselves perfectly, the one interesting visual gloss is the way some of the titles take up the right three-quarters of the screen, allowing one of the players to pose. There is a bit of a fashion show; Miss Windsor wears a hat that in a high wind might carry her back to Kansas.

As much as I admire Miss Weber's movies of five years earlier, this one lacks the cinematic daring she had offered back then. All that's left is the preaching, and the fight over Calhern who, at this stage, is a long drink of water, but not much else.

In this film about two women, one supposedly unselfish and the other selfish, Lois Weber shows greater cinematic storytelling technique than some of her earlier films. But, the self-indulgence of the writer is exceeded only by the self-indulgence of the director. Unfortunately, they are the same person: Lois Weber. For a silent screen writer to overdo titles is a common failing. To say one thing in the titles and portray another in the film is a literary crime. A martyr is most certainly selfish, crying out indirectly for all to "pay attention to me." It is, however, a silent director's crime to show ongoing conversations without titles in lieu of acting and other filmic portrayal. Sometimes, the audience's intelligence is insulted by titles explaining the obvious, which flies in the face of Weber's quoted (see Taylorology) respect for that intelligence. But in this film is a well-produced narrative, having something to say about wives unwilling to look beyond themselves and about husbands inattentive enough to not see their wives' needs. This film's comment on both marriage partners' requirements by Weber, an acknowledged silent film moralist, is engaging when one overlooks the contradictory titles and director's unwillingness to cut lip flapping.

The four feature-length films I've seen by Lois Weber are different in many and important ways. They're all similar, however, in that they deliver a message. This time it's on marital manners and female behaviour. I consider her messages an obstacle, which she has greatly overcome in two of the films I've seen: this and "Hypocrites" (1915).

Weber wants us to contrast the two couples--and to learn from that, I suppose. The couples form a doppelgänger theme. Weber makes this clear via reflections: reflections from mirrors, windows and water. Weber uses reflections slyly throughout the film. They demonstrate the doppelgänger theme with the doubled images, and they remind us to also reflect upon the messages, which is the purpose of the whole construction. It's a clever self-reference, and I find it wholly more interesting than the film's messages. Mirrors also represent vanity: the vanity of the women here, especially of Mrs. Daly; additionally, they reflect the self-consciousness--the poor self-image of Mrs. Graham.

Weber was an intelligent filmmaker; "Too Wise Wives" is also well made. There isn't much camera movement, but the shots are hardly static. The shot succession is quick enough, and the continuity editing is apt, with scene dissection between long shots and closer looks. A shot of a sunset stands out as pictorially lovely. The sets and, more importantly, the use of them are the standout, though.

The sets are rich looking--very upscale. William Carr furnishes them nicely. Weber and cinematographer William C. Foster use the sets effectively, first, by cutting between close shots and long shots, which take in the scenes more fully. Second, there are many shots through doorways and looking through doorways, leading one to think there's a point to that similar to the use of reflections. The low-angle shots revealing ceilings are the best, though. A willingness to show ceilings has been rare in film history. It also adds some credibility of honesty to the picture.

Far from being static, the film demonstrates a good use of architecture, and the filmmakers position the camera rather than the actors. For me, Calhern stands out--he has a memorable, handsome face. It's no wonder he would become a fine character actor. Lastly, the intertitles, while perhaps being too many, with too much commentary and messages, are notable for the simultaneous moving images alongside some of them. "Too Wise Wives" is blunt in its lecturing, but subtle in its artistry.

A rather pallid retread of the sort of marital comedy set among the well-heeled that Cecil B. DeMille was currently making a speciality. It looks good - with the usual immaculately dressed cast and palatial sets of the era - movement throughout which is well staged by pioneer woman director Lois Weber, making good use of doorways and the like; with visual dynamism provided by characters moving not just laterally, but away from, towards and past the camera. But it's extremely routine compared to her remarkable 'Where Are My Children?', made five years earlier.

One advantage silent films had over talkies was that the inter-titles could tip you off what was about to happen and was motivating the characters, as frequently happens here. Considering that it's both written and directed by women, the film gives remarkably short shrift towards Other Woman Mona Lisa, who the titles bluntly announce only does the right thing for selfish reasons, yet is rather at a loss to explain what her sweetly bossy rival Claire Windsor - charming as she is - is actually doing right by comparison. (The 19th amendment granting American women the right to vote having only been ratified by Congress just months earlier, the women attending a political meeting are also treated with surprising condescension: more comfortable discussing clothes than exercising their hard-won right to influence the democratic process.)

I was disappointed that Lois Weber's "Too Wise Wives" promotes the idea that husbands need to teach their misdirected wives how to behave. Also, I agree with Larry R's comments about the intertitles being too long and dull--actually, the whole film is quite slow to a modern viewer. Most of the performances are fairly realistic and the actors engaging--Weber has an eye for elegant, handsome players, and launched the careers of some--but the story of two marriages, each of which could use improvement, is not exactly riveting. 20's and costume buffs will be interested in the shots of Hollywood bungalows and a lengthy visit to an upscale women's clothing store. Also, many of the period details, such as fried chicken for breakfast*, will be novel to 21st-century dwellers. I'm glad this film was preserved for historians, but most regular folk won't miss anything by not seeing it. I'm hoping for better things from "The Blot".

*not typical in the San Francisco Bay Area, anyway.