The Misleading Widow

1919 film by John S. Robertson

July 27, 1919 (1919-07-27) (Los Angeles)
August 31, 1919 (1919-08-31) (New York City)
September 7, 1919 (1919-09-07) (U.S.)

Running time

5 reelsCountryUnited StatesLanguagesSilent film
(English intertitles)

The Misleading Widow (1919) is a silent film comedy directed by John S. Robertson and starring Billie Burke. The film is based on the play Billeted by F. Tennyson Jesse and H. M. Harwood and was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures.^[1]

As it is not known whether the film currently survives,^[2] it is likely that it, similar to most of Burke's silent films, is a lost film.^[3]

Plot

As summarized in an adaptation published in the September 1919 issue of Shadowlands,^[4] Betty Taradine, who lives in a British village near an army base, was abandoned by her husband for her spendthrift ways. She reports that he is dead to obtain insurance money. Later, British officer Captain Peter Rymill is assigned to be billeted at her house, but he turns out to be her husband living under an assumed name. There are various romantic triangles involving other villagers, and the identity of the missing husband and existence of the marriage is revealed after a dinner with the guests gathered in the widow's bedroom.

The setting of the film is in England as the Third Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the quartering of soldiers in a person's home without their consent.

Cast

Billie Burke - Betty Taradine
James Crane - Captain Peter Rymill
Frank R. Mills - Colonel Preedy (*this Frank Mills, a stage actor died 1921)
Madelyn Clare - Penelope Moon (billed Madeline Clare)
Fred Hearn - Reverend Ambrose Liptrott
Mrs. Priestly Morrison - Tabitha Liptrott (*aka Mary Florence Horne)^[5]
Fred Esmelton - Mr. MacFarland
Dorothy Walters - Rose

References

^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:The Misleading Widow(Wayback)
^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Misleading Widow". Silent Era. Retrieved 2014-01-15.
^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Misleading Widow
^ King, Hamilton (September 1919). "The Misleading Widow". Shadowlands. 1 (1). New York: M. P. Publishing Company: 63–66, 77–78. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
^ Mrs. Priestly Morrison at IBDb.com