Summer Bachelors

1926 film by Allan Dwan

December 18, 1926 (1926-12-18)

Running time

70 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Summer Bachelors is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film produced and directed by Allan Dwan. The film is based on the 1926 novel Summer Widowers by Warner Fabian and stars Madge Bellamy, Matt Moore, Allan Forrest, and Hale Hamilton.^[1]^[2]

Plot

After observiing other peoples' bad romantic experiences, Derry Thomas no longer has any faith in men. Not believing in marriage, she organizes a club in which, in the summertime, married men can meet single women. A meeting of the club is also attended by Tony Landor, who, unlike the other male attendants, is still a bachelor. Derry falls in love with him, but hesitates to accept it. Put under hypnosis, she ends up confessing that she loves him. A judge, also a member of the club, makes himself available to the couple to perform a civil marriage.

Cast

Madge Bellamy as Derry Thomas
Allan Forrest as Tony Landor
Matt Moore as Walter Blakely
Hale Hamilton as Beverly Greenway
Leila Hyams as Willowdean French
Charles Winninger as Preston Smith
John Holland as Martin Cole
Olive Tell as Mrs. Preston Smith
Walter Catlett as Bachelor #1
James F. Cullen as Bachelor #2
Cosmo Kyrle Bellew as Bachelor #3
Charles Esdale as Bachelor #4
Barbara Barondess (uncredited)

Production

Interiors shot were filmed at Fox's New York studio, while exteriors were shot on location in Lake Placid, New York.^[2]^[3]

Reception

The film was considered glamorous by an Indiana critic: "Fifth Avenue, Riverside Drive, Long Island Sound, country house parties, dances on fashionable hotel roofs and in Westchester roadhouses - these are a few of the setting for 'Summer Bachelors.'"^[4]

Others were scandalized. American films in 1927 were subject to censorship under local and state law. The operator of the Royal Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa, was arrested and fined $25 for showing Summer Bachelors after a citizen filed a complaint for showing an "improper motion picture." A witness from the local woman's club testified in support of the complaint that the film had objectionable scenes, the first where a woman went for a swim apparently without a bathing suit, and in a hay mowing scene where a young couple were caught in a rainstorm, sought shelter for the night, and went to sleep unchaperoned. In another scene noted in testimony, a married man with a young woman on a yacht forcibly kissed her. After filing an appeal and a $200 bond, the theater owner cut two scenes from the film.^[5]

Preservation

A copy of Summer Bachelors is preserved at a film archive in Prague.^[6]

References

^ Goble, Alan, ed. (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 149. ISBN 3-110-95194-0.
^ ^a ^b Progressive Silent Film List: Summer Bachelors at silentera.com
^ MacKenzie, Mary (2007). "Lake Placid and the Silent Film Industry". In Manchester, Lee (ed.). The Plains of Abraham. A History of North Elba and Lake Placid. Utica, New York. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-9755224-3-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Summer Bachelors Sensational Photo Play Shows Here". Jeffersonville Evening News (Indiana). February 16, 1927. p. 4.
^ "U.S. Censorship Epidemic; Agitation Crops Up Across Nation". Variety. 84 (6). New York City: Variety, Inc.: 1, 28 February 23, 1927. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
^ Vogel, Michelle (2010). Olive Borden: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Joy Girl. McFarland. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-786-45836-3.