Be My Wife (1921) User Reviews

A tantalizing glimpse of the great French comic

[wmorrow59 · 7/10 · 24 October 2003]

I should mention up top that I've seen only an excerpt from this feature film, but if the rest of the movie still exists, and is as good as the clip, Be My Wife must surely rank with Max Linder's best work. The excerpt, which runs about 15 minutes or so, can be found in Kino's "Slapstick Encyclopedia" silent comedy box set, and I feel it's one of that collection's most enjoyable highlights; the same sequence is also included with a new release of Linder material from Image Entertainment, and is certainly among the strongest selections in that set. One can only wonder: where is the rest of Be My Wife?

As it is, the available excerpt stands as a self-contained, self-explanatory sequence, practically a two-reeler by itself. The premise is simple: Max doggedly woos a pretty young woman despite the obvious disapproval of her hawk-faced Aunt, who prefers Max's pudgy rival as a more suitable choice for her niece. Banished from the house, Max dons three different disguises in order to pursue the courtship and thwart the Aunt. Viewers familiar with Linder's American contemporaries may be alternately reminded of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Max's determination and high spirits suggest Harold, while the startling sight gags and physicality (not to mention the scarecrow disguise) suggest Buster. Furthermore, the sequence in which Max tricks the Aunt, the girl, and the rival into believing that he has heroically subdued a thuggish intruder -- a sequence in which Max vigorously portrays both himself and the thug -- is worthy of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin called Linder his "Professor," and those who wonder why should watch this great bit.

I've seen a number of Linder's earlier French comedies, and while they are generally amusing and often charming (and sometimes surprisingly gross), none I've encountered is as funny or as skillfully executed as this. Sadly, Max Linder is generally forgotten today, and lingers only as a ghost-like figure in movie history, but the wider availability of his best films could help to restore his reputation as one of the great silent clowns.

P.S. Spring 2014: It's been announced that a complete version of Be My Wife will soon be available in a new Max Linder DVD set. Exciting news for fans of this neglected screen artist!

Brilliant Visuals

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 28 November 2010]

This is my first Max Linder comedy viewed. It is a great example of visual comedy & physical comedy. It is a perfect example of how the romantic love-triangle comedy developed & a short predecessor to Harold Lloyds brilliant "Girl Shy" which would come out a few years later. If you like this, check out Lloyd's feature which long term led to the 1967 Dustin Hoffman classic "The Graduate".

The opening scene is confusion comedy at it's best as it looks like Linder is dumping water on his girlfriends head. While the camera is used brilliantly to convey that impression, we the audience know it is not the case. The mother then wants the girl to marry someone else after witnessing this deception. The other suitor looks a little like Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, but according to the cast, this guy is another person.

The amazing thing in this short is there are some great sequences by Linder including the scare crow sequence in the garden, & the music instructor. A bonus is how much mileage they get out of the dog as the dog is a key component to several sequences as well. When Linder confronts the intruder to show mom how brave he is & win the girl, there are a couple of continuity problems. Still, the film is a very good quality silent comedy worth the effort.

The existing film is considered an "abridged" film which means there might have been more film. Considering this was 1921, it is possible that the only thing missing is the original title & how Linder met & arrived at the girl friends house. If there were any other visuals like in this existing portion, that is a great loss.

The 13-minute excerpt is wonderful; as a feature, not so much

[sno-smari-m · 6/10 · 30 June 2007]

Like my fellow-reviewers, I've only seen a few excerpts from BE MY WIFE, as that's the only available material from the film, the second feature-length film French comedian Max Linder made in Hollywood. That being said, I'd like to second the opinion that this little sequence works perfectly well as a movie in its own right. Here, Max enters as the incurable dandy he always remained on the screen, very much in love with his sweetheart; the girl's aunt, on the other hand, is not very enthusiastic about him and wants her niece to marry another man. The reason for this is not made clear in the little excerpt, but Max is determined to become the husband of the girl and uses his wonderful imagination in order to succeed. He fools the aunt and the other man as well as the girl when he pretends that a burglar is hiding behind a curtain inside the house. He then improvises a wonderful sequence where it appears as if he manages to beat the villain and throw him out, and thus convinces his sweetheart's aunt that the girl is worthy of him. A few years later, Harold Lloyd and Charley Chase --two other slapstick masters who stand as far famous than Linder today-- would perform sequences very similar to this one, Lloyd in DR. JACK (1922) and Chase in MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE (1926). As with the "mirror routine" in SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK, Linder's version probably remains my favorite, although the other variations were very good as well.

To answer my fellow-reviewer William Morrow's question whether the rest of BE MY WIFE survives today, I'm happy to tell that more material from the film (if not the entire print) survives; a few more excerpts may be found in Maud Linder's documentary THE MAN IN THE SILK HAT. Hopefully, one day the genius of Max Linder will be recognized, and more from BE MY WIFE, and more of Linder's work, will be included in the big DVD-box he deserves.

UPDATE (2014)--I have finally been able to watch what appears to be the entire, one-hour long version of BE MY WIFE, and must sadly confess that I found the film in its entirety to be a disappointment. It turns out that the aforementioned, 13-minute excerpt is actually the first reel of the film, and this part still works wonderfully, of course. However, what follows is a series of situations which are not, in my opinion, executed very satisfactorily in the context of a feature-length film. Max Linder's own performance is the thing here that makes it worth watching; I am always intrigued by what an accomplished, expressive pantomimist he truly is. However, all of the characters are completely devoid of depth; granted, all of the silent comedians tended to treat their leading ladies as vessels in their stories, to a degree, but Linder's new wife Mary is hardly even established as a character in the story. The climax should be suspenseful enough, with Linder's wife doing revenge on her husband as she believes he has cheated on her, but as we have been given no opportunity to get to know these characters earlier in the film, one doesn't really care how it turns out. The cartoon-like treatment of characters would not matter so much if the situations and gags made up for it, but other than the first reel, most of the action also tend to drag a whole lot, without really going anywhere. The problem may have been that Linder here performs material too reminiscent of what he had done in short films in France ten years earlier; in the context of a ten-minute Pathé short, much of this stuff would very possibly have worked well, but feature-length films is a very different kind of animal. Granted, slapstick comedy films approaching an hour in length was still fairly new territory in 1921, and I am happy to say that Linder's other two American features, SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK and THE THREE MUST-GET-THERE, work far better.

Very Good Comedy From Linder

[Snow Leopard · 22 July 2004]

There is plenty of good material in this Max Linder comedy, and it compares well with some of the short features made by more well-known silent comedians of the era. There is apparently more footage to it that is now lost, but the film as it stands holds together perfectly well, and it works just fine as it is.

The story has Linder coming up with a series of ruses in his attempts to woo his girlfriend Mary despite her aunt's disapproval. Most of the comic ideas work well, and there is also a good variety of material. There are sight gags and slapstick, some familiar ideas (including some seemingly inspired by other comedians of the era) and some original ideas. It builds up to a manic and very amusing climactic sequence that is certainly the highlight of the movie. It's quite good overall.

A Max Linder Iconic Comedy. A complete course of Structural Engineering of Comedy situations.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

Be My Wife (1921) : Brief Review -

A Max Linder Iconic Comedy. A complete course of Structural Engineering of Comedy situations. This one is not just another regular good comedy flick but an Iconic figure of comedic situations very very smartly engineered. Be My Wife is about Max who is determined to woo Mary, despite her Aunt Agatha's disapproval. His struggle to win her praise, the rival side's attempts to down him and then series of misunderstood events follows. Be My Wife delivered many iconic comedy scenes for the first time. I remember seeing many Bollywood and regional Marathi film stars copying the same style, physical activities and expressions what Max Linder gave in this film in many 80s and 90s movies. That means it took them 7-8 decades to copy this and still they found enough Praise for it despite being so late. Just imagine how iconic and timeless it was then. A big salute to Max Linder, an actor, a writer, a producer and a director for cracking the codes of comedy and nurturing it like his own sons. His writing talent seems like a gift. I mean from where he did he get those ideas of creating such situations which became evergreen in this genre and has been copied again and again for years. With Be My Wife he brings a lovable story and yet makes it so funny like any other storyless mad comedy. A complete hilarious tower where every floor is full of laughter and gags. Even when it is not funny, it is visually stunning. That house structure scene is just outstanding. What a terrific idea it was and how amazingly it is designed, it's all just simply fascinating. Linder and Allen makes a cute chemistry again and we all know how fond were they of each other. Linder as actor is brilliant, Linder as Writer is Great, Linder as Producer is uncompromised and Linder as a Director is sensational. Each and every thing is Linder and each and every thing is Fantastic.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

When Max meets Mary

[guy-bellinger · 8/10 · 15 March 2021]

Max and Mary are in love but Mary's aunt Agatha doesn't like Max and prefers the unattractive Archie. So Max has to resort to a series of tricks to try to get rid of Archie and spend time with Mary. Finally, Max devises a scheme that will allow him to prove to Aunt Agatha that he is more worthy than Archie.

In this second of three films that he made in the United States, Max Linder pulls out all the stops. The man whom Chaplin considered his master shines in almost all the roles (directing, screenplay, production and of course acting). From a simplistic argument as "Max loves Mary; Mary loves Max; aunt Agatha does not want", Linder manages to build a whole complex comic machinery with infernal precision. What a cascade of hilarious gags (the wild dance, Max disguised as a scarecrow); what a flawless sequence of slapstick, the highlight being the hilarious scene of the fight with an imaginary burglar. With so much brilliance deployed to approach her in spite of a surly aunt and a malevolent rival, how could Mary have resisted eternally the proposal of the elegant mustachioed man? To "Be my wife," her answer could only be "Yes!"

A splendid comedy classic

[I_Ailurophile · 8/10 · 21 May 2024]

Max Linder may not be as famous as other iconic silent stars, but he was really just as reliable as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd. It's not even necessarily a question of quantifying how funny one was compared to another - their best works are very consistent and highly enjoyable, lighthearted with just the right touch of earnestness to the story to help the film stick. Linder's 'Be my wife' of 1921 fits very neatly among that terrific company, giving us one swell bit after another amidst a gently amusing and solid narrative of romance. Right from the start this is simply a joy, and anyone who appreciates older cinema is guaranteed to have a great time!

It's fair to say the actual plot is rather light as Linder's protagonist works to win the heart of sweet Mary despite opposition from both her protective aunt and rival Archie. Within that framework, however, the legend treats us to one fantastic scene and gag after another, an indisputable treasure trove of wit, silliness, and vibrant energy. To that end, as Linder writes, directs, and produces this romp in addition to starring, his full creative control means we can be assured that the brilliant humor of the picture shines through at all possible times. In some scenes more than others there are a lot of moving parts, yet the filmmaker deftly ties them all together into a stupendously fun whole.

Commanding the lead role himself Linder naturally stands out most with a wild performance of gleefully exaggerated expression, self-sacrificing physicality, and selective instances of more controlled, nuanced restraint to provide contrast and a sense of dynamics. We would expect no less, of course, given the stature that he ultimately enjoys alongside his contemporaries. To my delight, though, his co-stars in supporting parts all have their own opportunity to share in the frivolities, with Alta Allen, Lincoln Stedman, and even Caroline Rankin, among still others, all getting in on the ridiculousness at one time or another. Moreover, my commendations to the dog trainer for the production, because "Pal" also has his own delightful moments in the spotlight.

Strictly speaking 'Be my wife' may not be a title to change the mind of anyone who has a harder time engaging with silent fare. While it's all in the name of joyful comedy, the acting isn't specifically of the variety that modern viewers are accustomed to; it is perhaps splitting hairs to say that the plot development is a tad gawky at points, but not untrue. Tiresomely, at one point the script reaches for a fat joke that has not aged well, and in a reflection of the time in which it was made, there are sparing instances of language that today we recognize as racist. Still, scrutinize the feature as we may, this wants only to entertain, and far, far more than not it handily succeeds in that goal. Linder may earn the most credit here with the multiple hats he wears, and his co-stars just behind, but all others involved turned in work that was just as outstanding. The sets are superb, with the design of Madame Coralie's being particularly ingenious, and the stunts and effects that are employed are a blast. Even the costume design, hair, and makeup are not just notably sharp but have their own parts to play in the tableau. To whatever extent the flick has its faults, by and large it's marvelously funny, and holds up much better than not.

It has its weaknesses, and it also has unmistakable strengths. On the balance, though, this movie really is just grand, an enduring comedy classic whose value well outweighs any drawbacks. One should be aware of its most distinct flaws, and broadly it won't appeal to all comers, yet if one is receptive to the silent era and its style of film-making, there's not much going wrong with 'Be my wife.' I assumed I would enjoy it and I most certainly did, and I'm pleased to give this my high recommendation!