Butterflies in the Rain
Lobby card
Directed byEdward Sloman
Written byCharles Kenyon
Based onButterflies in the Rain
by Andrew Soutar
Produced byCarl Laemmle
Starring
CinematographyGilbert Warrenton
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • December 20, 1926 (1926-12-20)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Butterflies in the Rain is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Edward Sloman and starring Laura La Plante, James Kirkwood and Dorothy Cumming.[1][2] The film is set in England and is based on a novel of the same name by the British writer Andrew Soutar.

Plot

As described in a film magazine,[3] Tina Carteret the beautiful daughter of an aristocratic English family, is a believer in the "new freedom" for women, and is an ardent follower of a group of fake bohemians whom she regards as the earth’s elect. When riding she is forced to cross the neighboring estate of John Humphries, a wealthy commoner who has recently purchased the property of a peer, bringing upon himself the bitter resentment of Tina’s snobbish family. Her horse falls. She is picked up by John and upbraids him rudely for having his gates closed, blaming him for her accident. The next day she invites him to dinner, pretending repentance for her hasty words, but takes evident pleasure in gently ridiculing his old fashioned dignity, at the same time taking his part when her brothers contemptuously refer to him as "that commoner." Tina hectors John into taking her to a night club, but he refuses to let her go into a certain club that is especially disreputable. This greatly irks the girl who is accustomed to having everything her own way, but she thanks him in the morning when she reads in the paper that the club was raided the night before. Her confidence in the man of old-fashioned virtue grows into love, and they are married, but with the express understanding that Tina is to have absolute liberty. All goes well until Tina announces her intention of taking a holiday in Spain with the quack Bohemians, who are secretly scheming to blackmail the wealthy pair. One of the men in the party forces his way into her room. She fights him off, throwing a dagger that wounds him just as the man’s wife and her lawyer enter with the rest of the party and place a hideous interpretation on the compromising scene. Hurrying back to England, the "outraged wife" sends one of her companions to Humphries to tell him that his wife is to be named as co-respondent in her divorce suit. Humphries, caught in a falling market and on the brink of ruin, has borrowed 10,000 pounds to retrieve his fortune. To shield his wife’s name he hushes the scandal by giving the last penny he has in the world, even though he believes Tina guilty. He then prepares to leave for America to start life over alone, with never a word of reproach to Tina, whom he considerately avoids. Humphries’ fast friend, Lord Purdon, knows the character of the people they are dealing with and invites them singly to come to the Humphries manse for a "private interview" promising a settlement in money. The whole gang of plotters is brought together in this way. They are recognized by the police as old offenders in the art of blackmail and arrested. Hearing Tina’s story, John strips the shirt from the back of her assailant and bares the scar she made in defending herself, proving to John that she was an unwilling victim and that there are limits to her vaunted claims of liberty. The two are brought together again to start life over, John admitting that women should have more liberty, Tina convinced of the wisdom of old-fashioned virtue.

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of Butterflies in the Rain located in any film arcives,[4] it is a lost film.

References

  1. ↑ Munden p. 730
  2. ↑ Progressive Silent Film List: Butterflies in the Rain at silentera.com
  3. ↑ "Universal Synopses: Butterflies in the Rain". Universal Weekly. New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company. 26 (3): 38. August 27, 1927. Retrieved November 8, 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ↑ Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Butterflies in the Rain

Bibliography

  • Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.
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