Wives Never Know
Cast & Crew
Elliott Nugent
Charles Ruggles
Mary Boland
Adolphe Menjou
Vivienne Osborne
Claude Gillingwater
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Homer and Marcia Bigelow have been married for fifteen years and are devoted to each other's happiness until Marcia invites J. Hugh Ramsay, author of Marriage...The Living Death to stay with them. Ramsay, a devout bachelor who turns out to be a former college mate and rival of Homer, convinces Marcia that she will truly be happy only when she is forced to forgive Homer after he has strayed from fidelity. Likewise, Ramsay convinces Homer that he will have to have an affair in order to cheer up Marcia. Although he is well known at his botanical nursery for his devotion to his wife, Homer sets to work on ruining his reputation by drinking, smoking and propositioning women. One night he sends roses to Renee La Tour, a French actress, and goes backstage to ask her out. She is charmed by him and, eager for romance, agrees to go out with him. As they leave, they are seen by Marcia and her friends, who are shocked when Homer gets into a car with the beautiful actress. Homer and Renee go to a nightclub and are again seen by Marcia's friends, who telephone her. While she rushes to the club, Homer and Renee take a drive, ending up at a farm, where Renee gleefully encourages Homer to wade in the duck pond. While Marcia, who has gone to the club, is evading a police raid, Homer and Renee are caught by a policeman and the farmer who owns the land. They manage to evade arrest because of Homer's good reputation. The next day, Marcia fulfills her duty and forgives Homer, until a garter innocently drops out of his handkerchief. To save face in front of her suspicious friends, Marcia invites Renee to spend the weekend at the house. Ramsay, who had been away, returns to reclaim the love of his life, and Homer is shocked to discover she is Renee. Ramsay, supercilious as always, assumes he is the better of the two men, but Renee will have nothing to do with him when she realizes he still does not intend to marry her. She decides to have a secret rendezvous with Homer to inspire Ramsay's jealousy. Throughout all this, Homer has been miserable and wants only to return to his happily married life. In the meantime, the Gossamers, who own Purity Flowers and want to merge with Homer's company, pay a surprise visit and are shocked by the illicit goings on. Late at night, Ramsay and Homer meet on the window ledge by Renee's room, but she invites only Homer in and throws herself at him. Marcia and the Gossamers angrily storm in, and Homer tries to stand up for himself, but winds up fighting with Ramsay. After they both fall out of the window, Ramsay is sure he is dying, and finally consents to marriage. He and Renee are married, while Homer convalesces and repairs his relationship with Marcia and the Gossamers. Upon learning that he is not dying, Ramsay is furious to find himself entrapped in matrimony.
Director
Elliott Nugent
Cast
Charles Ruggles
Mary Boland
Adolphe Menjou
Vivienne Osborne
Claude Gillingwater
Fay Holden
Louise Beavers
Norma Lee
Constance Bergen
Don Rowan
Arthur Housman
Irving Bacon
Purnell Pratt
Alice Ardell
Edward Gargan
Grace Goodall
Suzanne Kaaren
Edward Earle
Jim Pierce
Gertrude Astor
Phyllis Godfrey
Henry Roquemore
Mildred Booth
Jeanne Perkins
Irene Bennett
Priscilla Lawson
Nick Lukats
Jack Mulhall
Edward Lesaint
Lillian West
Lillian Dean
Leora Thatcher
John Maurice Sullivan
Harry C. Bradley
Sam Flint
John Dilson
Arthur S. Byron
Frank Leigh
Jacques Lory
Arthur Stuart Hull
Agostino Borgato
Carl Schaele
Lee Phelps
Ted Oliver
Jack Kennedy
Paul Barrett
Billy Bletcher
William Irving
Ernie Shields
John Byron
Frank O'connor
Lee Shumway
Tom Kennedy
Clarence L. Sherwood
Roger Gray
Nell Craig
Ben Taggart
Crew
Travis Banton
Dorothy Bennett
Frederick Hazlitt Brennan
George Clemens
John Cope
Richard Currier
Hans Dreier
James Dugan
A. E. Freudeman
John Goodman
Charles Hisserich
William Lebaron
Edwin Justus Mayer
Boris Morros
Harlan Thompson
Keene Thompson
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to copyright records, Verree Teasdale was originally cast as "Renee," but had to cancel due to illness. Mary Boland was also working on Paramount's A Son Comes Home during the filming of this picture.
