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Max Wants a Divorce
(1917) France
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Max Linder
Cast: Max Linder [Max], Martha Early (Martha Mansfield) [Max’s wife], Mathilde Comont [the loony diva], Leo White [the loony dancer], Helen Ferguson, Francine Larrimore, Ernest Maupain
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by K-E-S-E Service. / Scenario by Max Linder. Assistant director, Leo White. Cinematography by Arthur Reeves. / Released 26 March 1917. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Linder’s second American film.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Max gets into trouble at the altar. He has just kissed his bride when he espies over her shoulder a pretty girl sitting in a front pew. Max cannot help giving her a wink. His bride sees him. They continue the battle in their honeymoon apartment. After all the furniture is broken up they decide to break up housekeeping, even before they have started. Mrs. Max agrees that her flirtatious spouse shall compromise himself with the girl in the pew so she can get a divorce. Max leases an apartment, invites the girl to meet him there, then tips off Mrs. Max to raid them with detectives. But Max and the girl mistake the apartment and get into a private sanitarium for lunatics. The professor chucks them into padded cell No. 89 with a dozen crazy people. Mrs. Max and her detectives make the same mistake. All of them come face to face in No. 89. The girl berates Max for getting her into such a mess. Max and his bride look at each other, then at the crazy people. They decide life might be worse and fall into each other’s arms. Max doesn’t want a divorce, after all.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 11 March 2025.
References: ClasIm-220 p. C4 : Website-IMDb : with additional information provided by Joe Moore.
Home video: DVD.
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