Frances Irene Reels

Married for 22 years, Mary Emerson treats her husband, John, more like a son than a husband. He is stung by her rebuffs and, therefore, succumbs to the youthful charms of Gloria Sanderson, whom he meets on a business trip. But just after he mails a letter to Mary telling her that he will not return, John finds Gloria in the arms of her fiancé.

A man brings up, on Long Island, the illegitimate daughter of a deceased woman who'd been an art student in love with a married Parisian. Is a French man the daughter, now grown up, attracted to a descendant of that same Parisian as well?

For Husbands and Lovers, John M Stahl pairs devoted wife Florence Vidor with ungrateful husband Lewis Stone for a splendidly nuanced marital comedy that proves his versatility as a filmmaker. When Vidor’s hausfrau transforms into an elegant lady of leisure with an expensive makeover, the quintessentially caddish Lew Cody takes lascivious notice but Stone can only grouse about the bill. A gentle rebuke of a husband’s bad manners and a salute to a wife’s sweet revenge, Husbands and Lovers was a favorite in the trade press. “Here is a comedy-drama that fairly scintillates with humor,” said Exhibitors News, “and then when the laugh is over, salty tears rush unbidden to the eyes. Chided by her husband, James, for not putting effort into her looks, Grace goes for a surprising makeover and lets James struggle to dress himself without her help. Her new look draws James' disdain and the eye of his best friend, Rex.

A woman abandons her husband and baby to look for a better life in the big city. Years later, as an elderly woman, she finds her son living in the big city and tries to make amends by moving in with him without revealing her secret identity.