Idle Wives | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lois Weber Phillips Smalley |
Written by | Lois Weber |
Starring | Lois Weber Phillips Smalley Mary MacLaren Maude George |
Cinematography | Allen G. Siegler |
Distributed by | Universal Film Manufacturing Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Idle Wives is a 1916 American silent drama film co-directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley. [1] The film was released by Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Surviving reels of the film are preserved at the Library of Congress. The film was released on DVD/Blu-ray in 2018. [2]
Characters go to the movies to watch Life's Mirror, a film where they see their own lives turned into dramas. A shop girl dating a young man against her parents' wishes watches her onscreen counterpart become pregnant; an impoverished family watches as a family onscreen lives beyond their means; and an unfaithful husband watches as his onscreen wife leaves him and returns to social work. After the film characters have learned their lessons: the shop girl apologizes to her parents; the family decides to live within its means; and the wealthy man leaves his mistress and returns to his wife.
Where Are My Children? is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber and stars Tyrone Power Sr., Juan de la Cruz, Helen Riaume, Marie Walcamp, Cora Drew, A.D. Blake, Rene Rogers, William Haben and C. Norman Hammond. The film tells the story of a district attorney who, while prosecuting a doctor for illegal abortions, finds out that society people, including his wife, used the doctor's services.
Florence Lois Weber was an American silent film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films". Film historian Anthony Slide has also asserted, "Along with D. W. Griffith, Weber was the American cinema's first genuine auteur, a filmmaker involved in all aspects of production and one who utilized the motion picture to put across her own ideas and philosophies".
Wendell Phillips Smalley was an American silent film director and actor.
The Blot is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Lois Weber, who also co-wrote and produced the film. The film tackles the social problem of genteel poverty, focusing on a struggling family. It stars Philip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, Louis Calhern, and Claire Windsor.
Working Girls is a 1986 American independent drama film, written, produced and directed by Lizzie Borden working with cinematographer Judy Irola. Its plot follows a day in the life of several prostitutes in a Manhattan brothel.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is an American silent drama film released in 1917. It was written, produced and directed by the husband and wife team Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber, who also play the lead roles. It was made in Hollywood under the working title Is a Woman a Person?
A Chapter in Her Life is a 1923 American drama film based on the novel Jewel: A Chapter in Her Life by Clara Louise Burnham. The film was directed by Lois Weber. She had previously adapted the same novel as the 1915 film Jewel, which she co-directed (uncredited) with her then-husband and collaborator Phillips Smalley. Weber made this film shortly after her divorce from Smalley.
The Price of a Good Time is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley and starring teen Mildred Harris. It is currently considered a lost film.
Sunshine Molly is an extant 1915 American silent film directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber and written by Lois Weber. The film stars Lois Weber, Phillips Smalley, Adele Farrington, Margaret Edwards, Herbert Standing and Vera Lewis. The film was released on March 18, 1915, by Paramount Pictures. Surviving reels were released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2018.
Too Wise Wives is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Lois Weber, written by Lois Weber and Marion Orth, and starring Louis Calhern, Claire Windsor, Phillips Smalley, and Mona Lisa. It was released on May 22, 1921, by Paramount Pictures. A copy of the film is in the Library of Congress.
Shoes is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Lois Weber and starring Mary MacLaren. It was distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company and produced by Bluebird Photoplays, a subsidiary of Universal based in New York City and with access to Universal's studio facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey as well as in California. Shoes was added to the National Film Registry in 2014.
Hop, the Devil's Brew is a 1916 American silent film directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley. Inspired by an exposé of opium trafficking in the Saturday Evening Post, the semidocumentary film starred Smalley as a Customs official and Weber as his opium-addicted wife.
False Colors, also known as False Colours, is a surviving 1914 American silent drama film directed, written by and starring Lois Weber and her husband Phillips Smalley. Weber plays dual roles of a mother and her daughter.
What Do Men Want? is a 1921 American silent drama film written, produced, and directed by Lois Weber and starring her muse Claire Windsor. Surviving reels were released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2018.
The Merchant of Venice is a lost 1914 American silent film historical drama based on William Shakespeare's play. It was directed by and starred Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber, a husband and wife directing team. It was produced and distributed by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
How Men Propose is a 1913 American silent short comedy film, usually credited to Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley as directors and to Weber as writer and producer, although their definite authorship cannot be confirmed. The film has recently not been included in Weber's filmography by scholars, and the Library of Congress, while listing it as one of Weber's films notes that "the director is unknown, but may be Lois Weber." It was produced by the Crystal Film Company and distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
Marion Orth was an American screenwriter of the silent and sound eras of Hollywood. She was a frequent collaborator of director Lois Weber.
Saving the Family Name is a 1916 American drama film directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley and written by Lois Weber. The film stars Mary MacLaren, Gerard Alexander, Carl von Schiller, Jack Holt, Phillips Smalley, and Harry Depp. The film was released on September 11, 1916, by Bluebird Photoplays, Inc.
The People vs. John Doe is a 1916 silent feature film about capital punishment co-directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley. The film was released by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
The Jew's Christmas is a 1913 silent film. The film was written by Lois Weber, and directed by Weber and her husband Phillips Smalley. The first American film to include a rabbi as a character, it was positively received, and novelized the year after its release. Modern analysts have described the film as encouraging Jewish assimilation and interfaith marriage in Judaism, and as incorporating prejudiced ideas about Jews.