Idle Wives
Cast & Crew
Lois Weber
Lois Weber
Phillips Smalley
Mary Maclaren
Edwin Hearn
Seymour Hastings
Film Details
Synopsis
John Wall meets his new sweetheart and takes her to the movies while Anne, his neglected wife, follows them there. Molly, disobeying her parents, meets her boyfriend at the same theater. A workingman with his wife and children, all of whom are obsessed with the sordidness of their lives, also attend the movie, and so does an unscrupulous young man. They watch a film called Life's Mirror in which they see their own lives turned into dramas, complete with possible "final curtains." In one case, Molly, who refuses to listen to her parents, sees her motion picture surrogate give birth to an illegitmate child after she is abandoned by her boyfriend. In another, Anne Wall, tired of the phoniness of John's wealthy family and friends, deserts him and their children to return to the slums and do charity work for the needy. After the movie, John, sadder but wiser, leaves his sweetheart and goes home with Anne, Molly decides to apologize to her parents, the workingman's family realizes that they must look to the future and the young man promises to lead a less profligate life.
Cast
Lois Weber
Phillips Smalley
Mary Maclaren
Edwin Hearn
Seymour Hastings
Countess Du Cello
Pauline Aster
Cecilia Matthews
Ben Wilson
Maude George
Neva Gerber
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some sources credit only Lois Weber with the direction and scenario. The plot contained in the copyright descriptions differs significantly from the trade review synopses in that the characters are not players in a movie-within-a-movie but are connected in a more conventional way. The copyright plot May have been taken from the Oppenheim novel and altered later to fit the "movie" device.
