''The Woman Disputed'' is a 1928 American synchronized sound film. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The plot draws in part on the 1880 short story "
Boule de Suif" by French writer
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...
.
Norma Talmadge
Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent film, silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among ...
stars as a good-hearted Austrian
prostitute
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
drawn into a romantic triangle on the eve of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Based on a
Denison Clift
Denison Clift (1885–1961) was an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter and film director. He directed in both America and Great Britain, mainly during the Silent era, Silent Era.
Biography
Clift was educated at Stanford University. He be ...
play, the nationalities of the characters had to be adjusted to satisfy official complaints registered with the
MPPDA from the German government.
This film would be the last film Talmadge made without audible dialogue. After this film was completed she separated from her husband and producer Schenck. Talmadge would spend much of the following year on vocal lessons in preparation for her first talking picture.
[''Silent Stars'' By Jeanine Basinger, page 156] Talmadge appeared in two talking films. The lackluster response to them forced her into an early retirement.
Cast
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Norma Talmadge
Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent film, silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among ...
as Mary Ann Wagner
*
Gilbert Roland
Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso (December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994), known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice no ...
as Paul Hartman
*
Arnold Kent as Nika Turgenov
*
Boris de Fast as Passerby
*
Michael Vavitch
Mikhail Vavich () was a Russian actor, operetta and singer.
Biography
Mikhail first performed in 1905 on stage at St. Petersburg in a private operetta of Petr Tumpakov. He received recognition in 1906 after performing the role of the Viscount Ca ...
as Father Roche
*
Gustav von Seyffertitz
Gustav von Seyffertitz (4 August 1862 – 25 December 1943) was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81.
Biography
Gustav von Seyfferti ...
as Otto Krueger
*
Gladys Brockwell
Gladys Brockwell (née Lindeman; September 26, 1894 – July 2, 1929) was an American actress whose career began during the silent film era.
Early life and career
Brockwell was born Gladys Lindeman in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1894. ...
as Countess
*
Nicholas Soussanin as Count
Music
The film featured a theme song entitled "Woman Disputed (I Love You)" which was written by Bernie Grossman and Edward Ward.
Preservation
The film is extant at 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 ...
film archive, and has been exhibited for audiences in recent years.
See also
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List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
This is a list of early pre-recorded sound and part or full talking feature films made in the United States and Europe during the transition from silent film to sound film, sound, between 1926 and 1929. During this time a variety of recording syst ...
References
External links
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original New York Times review
1928 films
1928 romantic drama films
1920s American films
1920s English-language films
American black-and-white films
American silent feature films
English-language romantic drama films
Films about prostitution in Austria
Films based on Boule de Suif
Films directed by Henry King
Films directed by Sam Taylor
Films produced by Joseph M. Schenck
Films set in the 1910s
Films set in Austria
Films set in Poland
Films set in Ukraine
Silent American romantic drama films
Surviving American silent films
Synchronized sound films
Transitional sound films
United Artists films
World War I films set on the Eastern Front
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