Three Women

1924 Drama 83 minutes Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

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About Three Women

Edmund Lamont, deep in debt, courts the rich widow Mabel Wilton and takes her money. When her daughter Jeanne arrives from school, he drops Mabel and marries Jeanne. He then starts an affair with Harriet. Jeanne loves the young doctor Fred Armstrong. Lamont will not give Jeanne a divorce. Mabel kills him and is acquitted. Jeanne is free to go to Fred.

Cast & crew

More about Three Women

Ernst Lubitsch directed and produced. Hanns Kräly wrote the script from the novel Lillis Ehe by Yolande Maree (Iolanthe Mares). Charles Rosher and Charles Van Enger photographed it. Svend Gade was art director. Warner Bros. released it in the United States. UFA released it in Germany. Photography ended June 13, 1924. Copyright LP20479, August 9, 1924. Wikipedia dates the U.S. release September 16, 1924, and the German release October 2. AFI lists August 18, 1924, with a Chicago opening the week of August 26.

Themes

  • a widow's money
  • a daughter who arrives from school
  • a killing that ends a marriage
  • Mabel Wilton
  • Jeanne
  • Harriet
  • Edmund Lamont
  • Lubitsch
  • divorce

Look

Charles Rosher and Charles Van Enger shared the photography.

Preservation

The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database lists the film as extant. A Commons transfer is online.

Notes

  • Pauline Frederick plays Mabel Wilton. May McAvoy plays Jeanne. Marie Prevost plays Harriet.
  • Lew Cody, Willard Louis, and Pierre Gendron are in the cast. The published synopses do not pin those three to Lamont and Fred by name.
  • Wikipedia's plot has Lamont taking $100,000 from Mabel to invest, and a nightclub fight in which he is hit with a champagne bottle.
  • The German title is Die Frau, die Freundin und die Dirne.
  • The Chicago Board of Censors ordered cuts before the Chicago opening. The Chicago Tribune of August 26, 1924 sided with the board.
  • The Library of Congress silent-feature database lists the film as extant.
  • Wikidata also lists Germany as a country of origin.

Scenes

  • Lamont leaves Mabel for Jeanne as soon as the daughter appears.
  • Mabel shoots Lamont after he refuses Jeanne a divorce, and the trial sets Jeanne free.

Influenced by

  • Lillis Ehe, the novel by Yolande Maree

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