This film
follows the tradition of situational comedies by Hal Roach studios, as opposed
to the faster pace and greater emphasis on physical humor and typical of
slapstick comedies of that era. Featuring Australian actor Clyde Cook, a silent
comedian not well known today, the plot deals with the inversion of gender
roles in society. This film was made in the Roaring Twenties and its plot
reflects the values of its time. Indeed, it is no surprise that henpecked
husbands were shown with some frequency in films by Hal Roach's studios back
then.
In 100 years
from now (as the first intertitle says) newlyweds live with the wife being the
prominent member of the family while the husband had his traditional role
dramatically reduced. This has made clear all along even with the bride wearing
more masculine clothes and having a more proactive attitude while the husband
acts shyly, just like a Victoriam “blushing bride” would do.
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Those stereotyped scenes reflect a common misconception theoretically held decades ago that more liberated women would have end up being too masculine, aggressive rather than delicate and motherly, as they were supposed to be. In other words, this “new woman” would also be “anti-virtuous” and “anti-natural”.
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Those stereotyped scenes reflect a common misconception theoretically held decades ago that more liberated women would have end up being too masculine, aggressive rather than delicate and motherly, as they were supposed to be. In other words, this “new woman” would also be “anti-virtuous” and “anti-natural”.
During the wedding ceremony we can notice a mysterious woman named Lieutenant Penelope “casting a sinister shadow over the happy event”. She had a rather masculine look and was watching the wedding from a distance. No further information is given about her in this scene.
Realizing Clyde
has made a fool of himself in front of the whole society, his father arrives
and finds Clyde sitting at home reading, while his wife was away, a complete
inversion of the usual custom of women being involved in domestic activities
while the husband was away for the day as the breadwinner of the family. There
is even a spoof of “Ladies' Home Journal” as “Husband’s Home Journal”. At that
time this journal, having been founded on late XIX century, was already very
popular among American women of the era.
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Then, urged by his father’s words,
Clyde confronts the daily absences of his wife. As soon as they start arguing,
the wife finds out her father-in-law was hiding in the living room and
threatens to leave her husband. However, the argument is cut short by a mouse
who appears out of turn. It is very interesting the brief use of animation in
this scene when the mouse is shown. But the argument does not change the fact
that the woman is away from home, even overnight, and detached from her family
most of time.
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After a while,
the final “insult” happens. Penelope appears out of nowhere, with an even more
masculine appearance than the wife, and she gives to the husband some make up
and a necklace as a present, both of which he is ready to wear as if they were
the most natural items of a typical men’s wardrobe. No reason is provided for
where Penelope came from and why she gave those items to the husband. We can perhaps assume that this character
appeared as if to show that if the wife does not take a good care of her
husband, another woman will propably do. Anyway, this is just an assumption.
When the wife arrives back home and realizes there was another woman there
trying to seduce her husband, a serious fight starts to take place.
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After this
second woman is kicked out of the house, the film reaches its most absurd
point, which is that, while the father in law is helplessly hanging on the
window, a stork appears with a baby, who looks just like his father. We may
assume that it shows the couple had a child and it melted the wife’s heart and
she magically starts being motherly and attached to her family, just like all
“delicate” and “natural” women must be.
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A noteworthy
detail in the film is the background scenery shown outside the house, which
represents a 1920's vision of a futuristic city that helps reinforce the
prediction that women would become liberated like that in the following
century. In the time elapsed since this film, we are able to judge for
ourselves how accurate their predictions were and what was sheer exaggeration.
Although it is
not a slapstick comedy, we can notice some physical gags, including kicks on
the butt of characters, buckets of water being thrown at Clyde, some falls and
even broad gestures by Clyde Cook when, for instance, a mouse hides under his
trousers and he starts jumping and making some over the top gestures that
audiences perhaps would not expect in this sort of comedy. But we must not
forget that the distinction between so-called “broad slapstick” and “subtle
comedy” is not always 100% clear and that some actors, after having acted in
slapstick for a while both in films and vaudeville, had perhaps incorporated
those broad gestures and physical gags to their acting and “old habits die
hard”.
Further reading
and materials:
1. A History of the Hal Roach Studios by Richard
Lewis Ward
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