Spite Marriage
About Spite Marriage
Elmer, a dry cleaner who pretends to be rich, worships the actress Trilby Drew. She has been dropped by the actor Lionel Benmore for Ethyl Norcrosse, and she marries Elmer to spite him. Her manager wants the marriage annulled when he learns what Elmer does for a living. Elmer fights Benmore and, in the chase, is forced by a gunman to drive a car into the ocean. A ship picks him up. He joins the crew to avoid Trilby, who is aboard with Benmore. A fire in the engine room empties the ship and leaves Trilby unconscious. Elmer puts the fire out. Crooks led by Scarzi take the ship. Elmer fights them off her. Back in port, she stops him from leaving and keeps him.
Cast & crew
More about Spite Marriage
Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton directed. Lew Lipton wrote the story, Ernest Pagano the adaptation, and Robert Hopkins the titles. Richard Schayer is also credited as a writer. Frank Sullivan edited. Shooting began November 14, 1928. MGM distributed it. The New York premiere was March 25, 1929, with an April release in a silent edition and a synchronized edition. It runs 76 minutes, eight reels. There is no recorded dialogue. The track has a score, laughter, applause, and effects. Keaton had wanted a full talkie. Variety reported on September 12, 1928, that dialogue was planned. Irving Thalberg kept it silent: the studio had one recording unit, sound would cost more, and he thought the silent version was worth more.
Themes
Making
Keaton and Sebastian play the long stretch after the fire with the two of them alone on the ship before Scarzi's men come aboard.
Reviews
Abel Green in Variety and Walter R. Greene in Motion Picture News both wrote it up as a laugh picture. The Film Daily of March 31, 1929, called it the funniest film in months and compared Sebastian's playing with Marion Davies.
Audiences
Mordaunt Hall reported the audience at the Capitol Theatre premiere laughing through it.
Music
No dialogue was recorded. The synchronized release carries a score plus laughter, applause, and effects.
Preservation
Prints of the silent and synchronized versions survive. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Dorothy Sebastian plays Trilby Drew. Edward Earle plays Lionel Benmore. Leila Hyams plays Ethyl Norcrosse. William Bechtel plays Frederick Nussbaum. John Byron plays Giovanni Scarzi.
- A newspaper in the film identifies Elmer as Elmer Gantry.
- It is the second film Keaton made at MGM and his last silent.
- Keaton later reused gags from it, some shot for shot, in Red Skelton's I Dood It (1943).
- Mordaunt Hall, in The New York Times, wrote about the laughter at the Capitol Theatre premiere. Abel Green in Variety called it full of belly laughs. Walter R. Greene in Motion Picture News compared it with The Gold Rush.
Scenes
- Trilby marries Elmer so Benmore will see it.
- A gunman makes Elmer drive into the ocean.
- Elmer puts out the engine-room fire and finds he and Trilby are the only ones left.
Influenced
- I Dood It (1943)
Also available
- Internet Archive (spite.-marriage.-1929.1080p)
- Wikimedia Commons (Spite Marriage (1929).webm)
