''Cradle Snatchers'' is a 1927 American silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...

. The picture is based on the 1925 Russell Medcraft and Norma Mitchell stage play of the same name that starred Mary Boland,

Edna May Oliver Edna May Oliver (born Edna May Nutter, November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the better-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters. ...

, Raymond Hackett,

Gene Raymond Gene Raymond (born Raymond Guion; August 13, 1908 – May 3, 1998) was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a singer, composer, screenwriter, director, producer, and decorat ...

, and

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

. The film was remade as '' Why Leave Home?'' (1929).

Plot

Three unhappy, middle-aged housewives teach their adulterous husbands a lesson by starting affairs with college-aged men during the

jazz age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...

Cast

* Louise Fazenda as Susan Martin *

Ethel Wales Ethel Wales (April 4, 1878 – February 15, 1952) was an American actress who appeared in more than 130 films during her 30-year career. Biography Born in 1878 in Passaic, New Jersey, Wales graduated from "Wisconsin university". Wales had ...

as Ethel Drake *

Dorothy Phillips Dorothy Phillips (born Dorothy Gwendolyn Strible, October 30, 1889 – March 1, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her emotional performances in melodramas, having played a number of "brow beaten" women on screen, bu ...

as Kitty Ladd * J. Farrell MacDonald as George Martin *

Franklin Pangborn Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films '' Inter ...

as Howard Drake * William B. Davidson as Roy Ladd *

Joseph Striker Joseph Striker (December 23, 1898 – February 24, 1974) was an American actor. He appeared in 28 films between 1920 in film, 1920 and 1929 in film, 1929. Later in the 1930s he appeared on Broadway theatre, Broadway. He was born in New York ...

as Joe Valley *

Nick Stuart Nick Stuart (April 10, 1904 – April 7, 1973) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American actor and bandleader. His career spanned five decades, during which he appeared in over 50 films, more than half of them features, as well as film shorts, ser ...

as Henry Winton * Arthur Lake as Oscar *

Diane Ellis Diane Ellis (December 20, 1909 – December 15, 1930) was an American actress. Biography A native of Los Angeles and the only child of Frank Ellis and Ida Peterson, Diane Ellis graduated from Fairfax High School,Sammy Cohen Sammy Cohen (December 8, 1902– May 30, 1981) was an American film actor and comedian. He was one of several popular Jewish comedians acting in films during the late 1920s.Erens pp. 91-92 He was teamed with Ted McNamara as a comedy duo in the f ...

as Ike Ginsberg *

Tyler Brooke Tyler Brooke (born Victor Hugo de Bierre, June 6, 1886 – March 2, 1943) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1915 and 1943. He was born in New York, New York and died in Los Angeles, California by committin ...

as Osteopath

Preservation

An incomplete print of ''Cradle Snatchers'', missing part of

reel A reel is a tool used to store elongated and flexible objects (e.g. yarns/ cords, ribbons, cables, hoses, etc.) by wrapping the material around a cylindrical core known as a '' spool''. Many reels also have flanges (known as the ''rims'') arou ...

3 and all of reel 4, is in the collection of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

.The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Cradle Snatchers''
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References

External links

*
Press or lobby advertStills and lobby cards
at Howard Hawks Hollywood website * (incomplete version) 1927 films American silent feature films Films directed by Howard Hawks Silent American comedy films American films based on plays Fox Film films 1927 comedy films American black-and-white films 1920s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films English-language comedy films Articles containing video clips {{1920s-silent-comedy-film-stub