Lady Windmere's Fan 3/4

Seen in Theater.  Released 1925.
Directed Ernst Lubitsch.
Written by Oscar Wilde (based on play), Julien Josephson (adapted screen play).
With Ronald Colman, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell, Irene Rich, Edward Martindel, Carrie Daumery.

This is a pretty powerful film considering the limitations of the media of that day.  Funny enough it is based on  play, yet it is a silent movie.  That means much of the dialogue has been cut down to its most basic bare bones.   Imagine presenting a play with so few words.  Yes there is titling, but you have to watch the characters move their mouths with out any 'translation'.  It means a lot of watching body language and inferring what the characters are actually saying.    With all those limitations, it is still a relatively powerful film.  I  wonder what seeing the play performed live would be like.

This is the story about a young wife, Lady Windmere who is being pursued from by a 'friend' of the husband.   The husband finds out who the mother of his wife really is, but they decide to keep it a secret so as not to shock the young wife.  But their is a social issue here.  The mom has been ousted from high society and she wants to get back in, partly to pursue a Lord that she is interested in marrying.  But the young wife thinks her husband has a relationship with the mom, and she considers running into the arms of her admirer out of jealousy.  Her mother, tries to stop her from making this mistake.  In so, making the ultimate sacrifice of  her possible repositioning in high society that she has desired so much.

Released in 1925, this film has some interesting styles in clothes and hair.  I also notice that there have been several remakes of the film.

 I was not able to find a trailer, but the whole film as well as large portions of it are available on You Tube.