Volume II: Filmography

HIS WIFE

Working title: MY WIFE

October 28, 1915 (Thursday)

Length: 5 reels

Character: Drama; Mutual Masterpicture No. 44

Director: George Foster Platt

Scenario: From Charlotte M. Braeme's novel, My Poor Wife

Cameraman: Lawrence E. Williams

Cast: Geraldine O'Brien (Nora), H.E. Herbert (John Dennys, her husband), Lorraine Huling (Edith Danvers), Inda Palmer (Nora's aunt), Theodore von Eltz (Harry, John's brother)

Notes: 1. Some trade schedules and the synopsis in Reel Life, October 16, 1915, give a release date of October 21, 1915 for this film. 2. The cast given above is from Reel Life, October 16, 1916. Other cast listings vary and name Geraldine O'Brien's role as May and Theodore von Eltz's role as Bill. 3. Another Charlotte M. Braeme novel, Dora Thorne, was made into a Thanhouser film, released on May 1, 1912.

ARTICLE, The Morning Telegraph, October 17, 1915:

"It might seem strange that with such a large organization as that of the Thanhouser Company at New Rochelle, to make selections a director should need to look elsewhere for talent, yet that is exactly what happened in the making of the five-act Thanhouser-Mutual Masterpicture, His Wife. It has been read in all the languages of the world. The main character in the story is a very peculiarly erratic type of girl who lives on a desolate coast where men rarely visit. Of course it would have been a simple matter to have any one of the members of the Thanhouser Stock Company play the part, but Mr. Thanhouser called Director George Foster Platt into consultation because he had something on his mind regarding it. 'Somewhere I don't know just where,' he said, 'I saw somebody give a performance which fits precisely the girl in the story. I cannot remember her name or the play I saw her in, but I am positive that that girl was not acting she was just her natural self and I am determined to locate her before this picture starts.' A search followed through all the Broadway productions, for Mr. Thanhouser's unusually retentive memory had played him a prank. When it seemed that Mr. Platt's search would be futile, the unexpected happened, and through a casual conversation with a friend, Mr. Platt located the long-sought-after girl. She was playing the lead at the Astor Theatre in New York, in George M. Cohan's play, The Miracle Man. Mr. Thanhouser quickly made arrangements for her to appear in His Wife. Her name is Geraldine O'Brien. Director George Foster Platt, who is an eminent authority on matters pertaining to the drama, says that he never saw each parallel personalities as that of Miss O'Brien and the character she portrayed in the picture. She is beautiful and temperamental, yet there is a certain indescribable tensity about her which makes up her personality on the stage as well as off. Her work under Mr. Platt's direction more than repays the months of search. This production is to be released as a Mutual Masterpicture on October 28."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, October 16, 1915:

"'Will you marry me, Edith?' John Dennys gazed intently into the face of the beautiful girl whom he had loved since childhood. As boys, he and Harry Dennys had been rivals for Edith Danver's favor. But now the younger brother had abdicated his claim, apparently, by fleeing to Australia. Harry always was a wild one - though John, suddenly returned from four years in the service in India to settle his late father's estate, had known little of his brother's way of life since they had parted in England. Edith drew back, strangely confused. But the next instant she recovered her usual mischievous self-composure.

"'I've always liked you, John,' she said, softly. 'But' - her brown eyes came up to his, brimming with laughter - 'I - I - can't be - your wife.' Early next day, Dennys took the train into Devon. He was determined to bury himself indefinitely in a certain tiny fishing village. The life there was simple, rugged, refreshing - yet, the hamlet held its sorrowful histories. Nora Hughes appealed to John's sense of pity from the moment he first set eyes upon her, scrambling over the rocks, her basket of fish on her back. Suddenly, spying the stranger, she stood still, her wide blue eyes startled and fixed. Dennys sprang up, helped her to the top of the flat rock, and made her sit beside him. The sea breeze, laden with spray, cooled their cheeks. Nora's blue-black hair sparkled with tiny, glittering drops. She answered all Dennys' eager, kindly questions with confiding seriousness, unfolding the story of her lonely, drudging life. After that they met every day by the sea. Her worship of him grew, and, more and more, he came to think of her as the one whom it had been given him to love and protect. At the month's end their marriage was celebrated in the little church at Kelpsea.

"John took his peasant bride home to Dennys Hall. He placed her under the tutelage of Edith, who came to be constantly at the house. Often Nora would surprise her husband and his charming neighbor in intimate tete-a-tetes - and unseen by them, would steal away to cry her heart out. Some secret, which he shared with the other woman, John was keeping from her. She could not guess that that secret was Edith's, and not his, to betray. If Nora might even have divined her suspected rival's misery, she scarcely would have begrudged her opening her heart to her old friend. Edith, six months before, had secretly married the scapegrace, Harry. On the night of Harry's return, unannounced, Nora was the sole witness of his and Edith's reunion in the garden. By the dim light of evening, the wife believed that it was her own husband. That night, at dinner, as Dennys raised his wine glass to his lips, Nora bounded from her place and, rushing to his side, struck the goblet from his hand. Then she fell at his feet in a paroxysm of weeping. It was the first intimation John had had of her nervous, distraught condition. He laid it to the unnaturalness of her new life, and vowed to himself that he would be even more tender, more considerate of her. But Nora, haunted by the terrible memory of how she had put the poison in her husband's wine - though she had herself averted the tragedy - fled the house. All night she wandered delirious. Next morning, on the shore of the lake, Dennys found her cloak and Jim, her dog, guarding it.

"Seven years later, at the small railroad station on Dennys' Downs, a lay sister of St. Agatha's convent was gazing intently upon the happy face of Edith Dennys. Two children clung to Edith's hands. The little lay sister, slipping away from her companion, stole out of the station. Long she wandered aimlessly. Then she found herself in the parish churchyard. It was very still; the deep peace of an English summer afternoon brooded over the silent resting places of the dead. Sweet briar roses twined among the grey, weather-stained stones, and the air was filled with the fragrance of the flowering hedges. From far below, in a field of ripening clover, came distant, drowsy humming of bees. Like an azure tent, the cloudless sky hemmed in that little world of low horizons. The sight of a man, kneeling on a grave, at last roused the sister. She went over and touched his arm. Their eyes met. John Dennys staggered to his feet. The woman's gaze fell on the stone before them - and she read there her own name. 'It's not a spirit! - it's me, Nora!' she cried. And then she was pouring out to him the whole tragic story of her marriage, how the sisters of St. Agatha had found her, after many days, wandering demented, and how she had tried to forget her sorrow in the convent. And today - she had seen Edith - .

"'Edith is - my brother's wife,' whispered Dennys. For an instant she stared at him, like one turned to marble. Then, with a wild cry, she flung herself into his arms."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, October 17, 1915:

"This Mutual Masterpicture commits no serious errors and rises to great heights. It is, however, an attractive presentation of an old Irish romantic drama. It tells a simple story, rather obvious, but nevertheless interesting and human in its appeal. Two unusually attractive actresses in the leading roles give an added charm to the picture. Geraldine O'Brien, who plays the leading role, has a personality which is ideally suited to the screen, but at the same time her work is remarkably free from overworked screen mannerisms. She is an actress who should win recognition in moving pictures. Lorraine Huling, who is seen in the role of Edith, is as attractive an actress as could be desired.

"When the picture opens we are introduced to Edith, a pretty English girl, who lives in Ireland. Two brothers who live on the adjoining estate are in love with her. The younger of the two, heavily in debt, is obliged to leave the country. Before he goes, he and Edith are married secretly. After departure of his brother, Henry proposes to Edith, but is refused. Through a misunderstanding, Edith gives no explanation of her refusal. In his disappointment, Henry [sic] resolves to take a trip and forget his sorrow. He journeys to a remote fishing village and here he meets May [sic], a pretty and ignorant girl. They marry and Henry brings his fisher girl bride home. On meeting Edith, May feels keenly her lack of education. She imagines that her husband prefers Edith to herself. Through a series of misunderstandings, she becomes convinced that her husband is unfaithful to her. She runs away and throws herself over a cliff and into the sea, where she is picked up by smugglers and found to be still alive. Some of her clothes are found by the shore, so her husband believes her dead. She takes refuge in a convent and after several years takes the first vows of a nun. When nurses are called upon to go to a leper colony, May is one of those to volunteer. On her way there she is obliged to wait for a few hours at a station near the home of her husband. She goes for a walk and by chance wanders into the village cemetery. There she finds her husband kneeling beside a grave marked with her name. Misunderstandings are explained and she returns to her husband. Artistic and well photographed settings are a pleasing feature of the picture."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, October 30, 1915:

"The story of a jealous young wife driven to desperation by unfounded suspicions, and reconciled after a lapse of many years. The story starts with great promise, and the treatment is marked by some charming pictures, but interest falls away where it should increase by reach of too much straining for effect. What should have been a powerful ending is merely a weak tapering off in conventional style."

REVIEW by Louis Reeves Harrison, The Moving Picture World, October 30, 1915:

"Said one of the impressionist critics present at the private showing of His Wife: 'It is just like a good, old-fashioned novel.' It is in fact a very careful adaptation of a novel. The care shown in atmosphere and scenery cannot be too highly commended - one scene in the jaunting cart looked as though it might have been taken in Ireland. His Wife is one of those stories dearly beloved by the matinee girl, one of those in which a poor girl of 'no chance' wins a wealthy young lordling. He takes her to his home, and, of course, the question rises as to how far she shall be left to develop her own individuality. The indulgent husband finds an easy way by turning his crude young wife over to the mercies of a former flame, a young lady secretly married to his erring brother.

"The only material crudity that crops out is a violent and not altogether unreasonable jealousy on the part of the intense young wife. Its violence is primitive, but she is scarcely to be blamed when she discovers the other lady resting her head on the husband's bosom and encircling his neck with her arms, all to tell him that his erring brother has come home. This might very well have been done in the ordinary fashion of real life, but old-fashioned novels, especially by authoresses, force situations instead of making them logical, or at least plausible. The young wife finally sees enough to outrage her pride and she attempts suicide. From that moment the story runs wild through some hastily-edited melodrama to an exceedingly inartistic conclusion, although one well-intended. For a widower of five years' standing to be found prostrate before a stone erected to the memory of a wife supposedly drowned at the very moment she strolls, for no visible reason, from a railway station into the graveyard, is one of those strains on human credulity no longer tolerated, even in old-fashioned novels. There was a big dramatic situation possible at the meeting of husband and wife under the circumstances, but it was not only compromised, it was totally lost."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, October 23, 1915:

"His Wife is the story of a great misunderstanding which causes many a tear to be shed and almost wrecks the life of two people. The son of a very rich man returns home from India, where he has been in the British army, to find that the girl he has always loved loves his younger brother, Bill. In reality she has secretly been married to his brother who to escape his creditor has gone to Australia. The man seeks out a small town near the sea and here meets a pretty little fisher girl with whom he falls in love and marries. They go to his home to live. Here his wife, May, comes into contact with Edith. Edith tells the man that she is married to his brother. Many secret meetings are held to talk over what had best be done. May does not understand what the relationship is between the two, and one night sees her husband take Edith in his arms and comfort her. She decides that the only way out of this is to kill herself and leave her husband free to do what he wishes to. She goes to the sea and throws herself into it, but is picked up by some smugglers who take her to a convent. Here she cannot remember what her name is and not until she reads that one of Henry Denny's sons has married Edith does she know who she is. Thinking that it is her husband who is married she determines to take the veil.

"Five years pass and she volunteers to go to a lepers' camp as a nurse. On her way to London she goes to the station of the town where her husband lives, and there she sees the brother, Bill, with his wife, Edith, and their children. She sees her mistake then and goes out for a walk, while waiting for the train, to refresh herself. She wanders through the cemetery and there finds her husband bemoaning her death at a stone he has erected in her honor. They embrace and while they are in each other's arms, the other sister who is going with her, finds them. Then she is told that she has never taken her final vows and that she can give up the veil. The story is stretched about here and there, but yet it seems to gain its point if it has a point. Geraldine O'Brien adds a great deal to the picture. Her only fault seems to be in her emotional scenes, but that seems only to be a lack of experience. Let us hope that she will be seen on the screen again. H.E. Herbert as the husband does very well and makes one feel that he means what he is doing. Lorraine Huling gives a touch here and there to her part, which does more than any big work to show her capability. Theodore von Eltz, as her husband, photographs very well indeed, and even in the small part he takes his personality is predominant. It is fine to see how such a small part, such as his, can be made so much of."

Note: This was the first Thanhouser film to be reviewed in The New York Dramatic Mirror in many months.

REVIEW, Variety, November 5, 1915:

"His Wife is a five-part Thanhouser (Mutual) adapted from the story by Charlotte Braeme, entitled My Poor Wife. The picture seems to have been rather drawn out as far as action is concerned, but, nevertheless, is a feature that will entertain and arouse sympathy for Miss O'Brien by the women who see it. It is essentially a woman's picture, just as the story was intended for women. In its enactment the producer and director have managed to create some real atmosphere and the locations for the exterior scenes are particularly well chosen. The action of the story is supposedly laid in Ireland. At the opening, two brothers are in love with the same girl, the daughter of a neighbor. One, the elder, John Dennys (H. E. Herbert), is to leave the next day to rejoin his regiment in India. The younger brother (Theodore von Eltz) remains behind. When the elder brother returns from service two years after he finds his father is dead and his younger brother has left a few days before and gone to Australia. The elder brother again presses his suit for the hand of the neighbor's daughter, Edith Danvers (Lorraine Huling), only to be refused without reason. He, heartbroken, leaves for the 'lonesomest spot in the world,' and there meets Nora, an orphaned fisher maiden. He falls in love with her and marries her. After the honeymoon he takes his wife to the grand estate of his family, of which he is now the master. Naturally the neighbors call and the ease and familiarity with which the girl from next door conducts herself leads the wife to suspect her husband and her jealousy is aroused. A few days later Edith Danvers confesses to John Dennys that she secretly married his younger brother before the latter sailed for Australia. This confession is made at a meeting which John's wife manages to witness. It causes her to redouble her suspicions of her husband's intimacy with the girl.

"That night the brother returns and John gives him money sufficient to pay his debts, and loaning him one of his overcoats, sends him to see the girl he has married. John's wife watching from an upper window sees the figure of a man leaving the house and go in the direction of the home of Edith. The wife recognizes the coat and thinking it is her husband, leaves the house and tries to commit suicide by throwing herself into the sea. Her unconscious form is picked up by a smuggling vessel and she is taken to a town nearby where she is placed in a hospital conducted by Sisters. Later she becomes a lay member of the order and volunteers for duty in a New Zealand leper colony. Before going she goes to look at her old home, is discovered by her husband who believed her dead and a reconciliation is effected. Thus the story ends happily. As a feature for houses catering to a mixed patronage His Wife will be a great success. - Fred"

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