Customer Review :
Marital strife the DeMille way : Golden Chance
Before he became known for his epics, Cecil B. DeMille was really good at lighthearted films like these, spotlighting a married couple facing problems and how they come to a resolution of those problems. And while there is a bit of moralising going on, that doesn't totally overwhelm the proceedings. One gets the message through the actions of the characters more than from any preachy intertitles.
Though neither of these two films could be considered classics, I preferred 'Don't Change Your Husband.' Gloria Swanson is so charming and natural as the bored dissatisfied young wife Leila, Elliot Dexter is very good as her husband James, who doesn't realise how much he's alienated his wife, and Lew Cody is good as the rakish upstart Schuyler who seduces Leila away from her husband. Just like with DeMille's similar films 'Why Change Your Wife?' and 'Old Wives for New,' the moral of the story here is to avoid settling into a dull routine and letting yourself go just because you've married your sweetheart. While it's usual to relax and even slack off a little bit once you no longer have to constantly worry about keeping this person's romantic and personal interest before there's been a proposal, it should never be so severe as it is in this film. The man Leila fell in love with and married wasn't a man who forgot their anniversary, had onion breath, smoked cigars so much, and took her for granted so much that he didn't even think another man could sneak into her heart! Of course, Leila discovers that no man is perfect and that this new husband comes with his own set of problems, problems even worse than James's bad habits. There's a wondeful soundtrack by the Mont Alto Orchestra, a lot better than the repetitive one used on the version on the Gloria Swanson boxed set. And if I remember correctly, the version on the boxed set ends right after James tells Leila his home and name are waiting for her if she changes her mind. The ending no longer seems so abrupt here, since there are at least ten more minutes after that scene, and all of the loose ends are tied up!
'The Golden Chance' wasn't that memorable for me, and there were spots I found a bit boring or slow-moving. I suppose films from this early in the history of the feature-length film are an acquired taste. Mary is a judge's daughter who thought with her heart and not her head by running away to marry her boyfriend Steve, who is far below her socioeconomic class. Five years later, they're living deep in poverty, and they don't even have love to bear these troubled times together, since Steve turned out to be an abusive alcoholic jerk (perhaps in response to their dire circumstances, though that doesn't excuse domestic abuse and criminal behavior). Behind her husband's back, Mary goes to work as a seamstress for a very wealthy family, and ends up playing Cinderella. While she's working there, a guest (a very young and handsome pre-accident Wallace Reid) becomes very taken with her, and, it being the movies, falls in love at first sight and already wants to marry her after only meeting her a couple of times. Things take a turn for the worse when Steve finds out what Mary's been up to and tries to take criminal revenge. Perhaps because this was only made in 1915, there are a bunch of plot holes, and a rather abrupt and dramatic ending. It does though do a good job at depicting how the other half lives, and the relations between the different classes in an era when society was a lot more classist than it still is today.
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