Don't Change Your Husband

In his autobiography Cecil B. DeMille did not spend time on Don't Change Your Husband. Except to say that this was his first film with a new discovery Gloria Swanson. He then went on for a couple of pages talking about his friendship over the years with her.

Don't Change Your Husband was one of DeMille's silent comedies with a Victorian moral to every one. Here Swanson is a bored wife married to comfortable and stuffy DeMille regular Elliott Dexter. He barely notices the wife any more, keeping his head buried in the newspaper in the morning. He also has a nasty habit of eating raw onions and that will kill romance like nothing else will.

But he's provided for Swanson well including a nice set of jewelry and even though Dorothy Parker hadn't said it yet, diamonds are a girl's best friend.

One day a real Snidely Whiplash type villain Lew Cody starts putting the moves on Swanson. She divorces Dexter and marries Cody. But Cody just wants her jewels for business and to shower on another and badder girl Julia Faye.

DeMille was a child of the Victorian era and this film ends just about as the title suggests. The title itself really gives it all away.

Julia Faye who was one of DeMille's mistresses appeared in most of his feature films right up to the second Ten Commandments. Another was Jeanie MacPherson who was an actress as well as a screenwriter. She did the script for this and many other DeMille films. Lastly there was Gladys Rosson who was his private secretary and on every set right up to The Greatest Show On Earth. He had a regular harem going, but all these women even after the relationship was over were well taken care of work wise.

In fact Faye has one of the more meatier parts in her career as the other woman in Don't Change Your Husband. If this was sound one can only imagine the dialog between Swanson and Faye.

Don't Change Your Husband was the beginning of a fine collaboration between a great director and great star.

Don't Change Your Husband (1919)

** (out of 4)

Second in a semi-trilogy following Old Wives for New, this film tells the story of a husband (Elliott Dexter) who eats onions (?!?!?), neglects his wife (Gloria Swanson) and takes her for granted. The wife gets fed up after he forgets their anniversary so she divorces him for a better looking man (Lew Cody) who she thinks will treat her right but we all know he's going to turn out to be a jerk. This is a rather strange mix of light comedy and melodrama but the two don't mix well together. Whereas Old Wives for New was a pretty strong comment on society, this film just comes off as a tamed down version with the sexes switched. Perhaps my sense of humor just isn't where it should be but the constant running joke of the husband eating onions and then trying to kiss his wife just got boring to me. Perhaps a female would find these jokes funnier but I doubt it. Another problem I had was that the wife really wasn't that sympathetic. I honestly can't say that I cared for her in any way, shape or form and the strange thing is that the husband actually gets the sympathy. With that in mind, it's rather hard for us to want to see the husband take her back after the way she's treated him. This was apparently the film that finally launched Swanson as a star but I really didn't see anything here too special. Her performance here certainly wasn't in the same league as a Gish or Pickford but even if we don't put her up to those standards I still found the performance rather lacking. I wasn't impressed with Cody either as the playboy as he too come off rather stiff and wooden. Dexter on the other hand delivered a fine performance and he's the main reason to watch this film. I wouldn't say his comic timing was overly impressive but he did a fine job in the more dramatic moments. There are a couple interesting sequences here with a couple appearing as fantasy sequences where the wife dreams of what her life will be like with the playboy. The feeding of grapes is something to see but there are very few moments like this one.

This movie was certainly an interesting one to watch. The storyline is one that I can see happening even in today's modern era. All the characters had personality traits that travel through the ages.

For this movie I did not expect how beautiful the setting would be. All the different sculptures, paintings, furniture, rooms and decorations kept your mind thinking and alive as the movie played on. The costumes were beautiful and it was something you don't see often in movies today.

Overall, I would recommend this movie. It was certainly one that kept my interest although it was a bit boring in the beginning. The plot is something that can happen today and it can teach us all a lesson about how to deal with our lives.

No more corned beef and cabbage for her!

This little romantic comedy clips along from scene to scene with a few exotic twists (some imaginary scenes and a costume party). All of this is centered around the wife of the husband(s) who is looking to break out of the doldrums, played by Gloria Swanson (she is twenty here!). Both the leading men have a natural air that is convincing and of course Swanson is perfect in all kinds of moods, from frivolous to worried to hopeful.

Behind all the games and apparent lightheartedness is that old serious problem of staying in love and not straying in love. There's a little corniness, but director DeMille is on top of keeping it snappy and believable in all. As with many films from this period, the subtitles do not just tell what they are saying (or thinking) but often give a kind of philosophical insight, as if to justify the tragedy (or raciness). And there is that higher purpose here, probably better without the instructional text, but it's part of the narrative style, and it's kind of quaint.

If you are looking for visual or formal amazement, you won't find it here. But as a story, well acted, and filmed with precision and economy, it's really a great example. The events might not come as a total surprise, but it's such a modern love story, set almost a hundred years ago, it's a gas. And did I saw Swanson was perfect?

Cecil B. DeMille directed a series of domestic comedy-dramas in the late teens and early 20s. He found his perfect leading lady for these provocative pieces in Gloria Swanson. In Don't Change Your Husband, Swanson plays a bored housewife whose wealthy businessman husband (Elliott Dexter) pays more attention to work than to her. She is chased by a handsome roue (Lew Cody) until she relents and divorces the boring husband for the new lover.

Things soon become familiar and Swanson discovers the new husband is as neglectful as the first. To make matters worse she discovers Cody has a woman on the side (Julia Faye). After several confrontations and convenient meetings, things are resolved.

This was a smash hit in 1919 and helped make Gloria Swanson a major star. Although she was only 20 when she filmed this she is very good as the maybe foolish wife. She looks great and wears some stunning gowns.

There is one memorable scene that is 100% DeMille in which Cody is luring Swanson with promises of wealth, pleasure, and love. As he coos to her she imagines the scenes. Pleasure is a fantastic scene of Swanson in a spidery hammock swinging out over a pool while people dance around. Wealth is a scene in which Swanson is gowned like a Babylonian queen as servants bring her chests of jewels, which shes tosses aside. Love is a scene in which she is a wood nymph making love in a forest glade with a Pan-like character (Ted Shawn). Pure hokum but very entertaining, and Swanson looks great.

Dexter is very good as the bland husband who shaves off his moustache and starts to work out in order to win his wife back. Cody is also good as the fake charmer who is a liar and cheat. Faye is funny as the bitchy other woman--named Toodles no less--who gets hers. Sylvia Ashton plays Mrs. Huckney. Ted Shawn was married to Ruth St. Denis and together they were groundbreaking and influential modern dancers (of the Denishawn School).

Swanson impresses me more every time I see her. She seems to have been such a natural actress and yet there is a way that the camera captures her expressive face that is just mesmerizing. She's a joy to watch.

Very entertaining film with lots of color tints in varying scenes to keep things lively. And a lot of the furnishings are back in style 86 years later.