Spite Marriage

''Spite Marriage'' is a 1929 American silent comedy film co-directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick and starring Keaton and Dorothy Sebastian. It is the second film Keaton made for MGM and his last silent film, although he had wanted it to be a "talkie" or full sound film. While the production has no recorded dialogue, it does feature an accompanying synchronized score and recorded laughter, applause, and other sound effects. Keaton later wrote gags for some up-and-coming MGM stars like Red Skelton, and recycled many gags from ''Spite Marriage'', some shot-for-shot, for Skelton's 1943 film '' I Dood It.''

Plot

Elmer, always seen at the theater in imposing formal dress, is really a humble worker in a dry cleaning establishment. (Elmer's full name isn't mentioned in the narrative, but a newspaper story near the end identifies him as "Elmer Gantry.") He idolizes stage actress Trilby Drew and goes to see her performances all the time, pretending to be a wealthy admirer.

Trilby is in love with fellow actor Lionel Benmore. When Lionel temporarily spurns her for the younger Ethyl Norcrosse, she impulsively asks Elmer to marry her. Her manager, worried about the damage it would do to her career if it got out that she had married a pants presser, tells Elmer the next day that she wants out of the marriage.

Elmer gets into an altercation with Benmore, eventually punching him. Benmore gets the police to chase him. During the pursuit, Elmer gets into a taxi with an armed gunman. After the driver flees, the crook forces Elmer to drive the taxi into the ocean. He is rescued by a passing ship.

Wanting to have nothing more to do with Trilby, Elmer gets a job on the ship. However, it turns out that she and Benmore are passengers. When the engine room catches fire, the order is given to abandon ship. Trilby is knocked unconscious when Benmore panics, and is left behind. Elmer manages to put out the fire, leaving him and Trilby alone aboard. The ship is then taken over by crooks. When Trilby is discovered by their lecherous leader Scarzi, Elmer has to take on the entire gang to save her. He returns to port in triumph. He sees Trilby home and starts to leave, but she stops him, having seen his true worth.

Cast

* Buster Keaton as Elmer
* Dorothy Sebastian as Trilby Drew
* Edward Earle as Lionel Benmore
* Leila Hyams as Ethyl Norcrosse
* William Bechtel as Frederick Nussbaum
* John Byron as Giovanni Scarzi
* Joe Bordeaux as Rumrunner (uncredited)
* Ray Cooke as The Bellboy (uncredited)
* Mike Donlin as Man in Ship's Engine Room (uncredited)
* Pat Harmon as Tugboat Captain (uncredited)
* Sydney Jarvis as Man in Audience Next to Elmer (uncredited)
* Theodore Lorch as Actor as Union Officer (uncredited)
* Hank Mann as Stage Manager (uncredited)
* Charles Sullivan as Tough Sailor (uncredited)

Pre-production

In its September 12, 1928 issue, the widely read entertainment paper '' Variety'' announced: "Buster Keaton's next, ''Spite Marriage,'' will also have dialog," while ''Exhibitors Daily Review'' also reported the same day that "Buster Keaton will do his initial speaking in ''Spite Marriage.''" Despite those announcements by popular, well-connected trade publications, the film was destined from pre-production to be a silent offering from MGM, at least one without any recorded dialogue.

The studio's head of production, Irving Thalberg, opposed Keaton's plans to make the film his first "talkie."Tatara, Pau
"Articles: Spite Marriage (1928)"
Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved September 18, 2022. Thalberg had both financial and technical reasons for rejecting any proposals by Keaton or others to apply full sound to the planned comedy. First, in the fall of 1928, during that transition period into sound, MGM had at its disposal only one set of recording equipment. Second, Thalberg believed that adding the complications and expense of such a new technology to Keaton's film would significantly increase overall production costs, especially for a performer like Buster whose methods usually involved "time-consuming improvisations" and a high degree of flexibility while shooting. Third, and perhaps most significantly, the finished film would be more valuable to the studio in silent form: it could be shown to advantage in the many theaters, in America and abroad, that had not yet converted to sound. Thus, Thalberg's preference for technical simplicity reduced delays and increased potential profits from the final product.

Production and reception

According to the American Film Institute's catalog, production work on the film started on November 14, 1928, a date generally consistent with a November 27 report in ''Exhibitors Herald'' and ''Motion Picture World,'' which announces that Keaton began work on the film "last week."

News updates about the film in 1928 trade publications indicate that casting was still being finalized in the latter half of November. ''Exhibitors Daily Review'' announced on November 16: "Dorothy Sebastian has been given the feminine lead opposite Buster Keaton," and on November 23, "Edward Earle is playing the heavy in Buster Keaton's picture, ''Spite Marriage."'' A week later, ''The Distributor,'' a paper published by MGM's sales department, confirmed that the studio had assigned Leila Hyams a "big part" in "the forthcoming Buster Keaton vehicle" in part due to her "distinct success" as a lead in the studio's recent crime drama '' Alias Jimmy Valentine,'' which had been released just two weeks earlier. The studio publication in the same news item also confirmed that Sydney Jarvis and Hank Mann had joined the cast, although their roles would be uncredited on the screen.

''Spite Marriage was'' released in April 1929, in two editions: a mute print for silent-only theaters, and a "synchronized" version for sound theaters, with the action accompanied by an orchestra score and sound effects. The feature was generally very well received by critics in leading newspapers, by reviewers in the film industry's major trade journals and papers, as well as by moviegoers. The influential critic for ''The New York Times,'' Mordaunt Hall

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