Looking through our vault list late one Friday afternoon, I found many films with titles that refer to married life.   It makes sense since Hollywood has a lot to say about the subject!  

Still from the film "Women Men Marry"

Just reading some of the titles, without knowing the story lines, can send your imagination to the heights of sublime comedy or into the depths of heartbreaking melodrama:

• A Designing Husband’ (1921)
• ‘A Modern Marriage’ (1950)
• ‘Discontented Husbands’ (1924)
• ‘Don’t Change Your Husband’ (1919)
• ‘Her Husband’s Trademark’ (1922)
• ‘Lend Me Your Husband’ (1924)
• ‘Lying Wives’ (1925)
• ‘A Marriage For Convenience’ (1919)
• ‘My Unmarried Wife’ (1918)
• ‘Old Wives For New’ (1918)
• ‘Spite Marriage’ (1929)
• ‘The Fatal Marriage’ (1922)
• ‘The Part-Time Wife’ (1925)
• ‘Wanted: A Husband’ (1906)
• ‘Watch Your Husband’ (1920)
• ‘When Strangers Marry’ (1922)
• ‘When The Wife’s Away’ (1926)
• ‘Whose Husband Are You?’ (1922)
• ‘Why Change Your Wife?’(1920)
• ‘Wife Wanted’ (1946)
• ‘Women Men Marry’ (1922)  

Let’s take a closer look at the last title, WOMEN MEN MARRY.   In the American Film Index I  found a brief synopsis of the film story:   At the encouragement of her aunt, young Emerie is seeking to marry a rich, titled Englishman.

On board an ocean liner she meets and falls for a young man, Dick Clark (no, not that Dick Clark).

When the death of Emerie’s father reveals that she is adopted and left penniless, she is devastated.   However, Emerie finds happiness by meeting her natural parents and discovering Dick still cares for her.   The happy ending concludes when a second will is brought in, giving Emerie the bulk of her adopted father’s estate.  

Donated to the museum in 1992 from the American Film Institute and the Netherlands Film Museum, this nitrate print is now being considered for a preservation project in the future.

Notice that none of the above titles mention the word ‘love.’   That would fill another list.

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