Her Husband's Trademark: A Review

HER HUSBAND'S TRADEMARK

It is unfortunate that many people think that silent film acting was overwrought and exaggerated. While there were, I figure, silent film actors that did at times go over-the-top, there were some that were quite natural on screen. One of them was Gloria Swanson. Best remembered now as the demented Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, I think more people should be aware of her pre-Sunset Boulevard career. A case in point is Her Husband's Trademark, where Swanson displays a naturalness and beauty that shows how she was one of the leading ladies of early cinema.

James Berkley (Stuart Holmes) appears to be a successful New York financier. However, his business acumen is really a front, his finances a house of cards. He manages to lure investors by using his unsuspecting wife Lois (Swanson) as his "trademark" to trade favors with. Lois knows nothing of James' financial predicaments or how she is being used as bait to charm investors. 

Into their world reenters Allyn Franklin (Richard Wayne), an old college friend to both men who once loved Lois. Allyn has recently received a grant for huge oil rights in Mexico from the government, making him a very wealthy man. James now thinks that if he can dupe Allyn into handing the rights over to his company, he can solve all his problems and have a vast fortune. Under the guise of visiting Allyn on business and seeing Old Mexico in person, he persuades Lois to join him.

Lois herself still has feelings for Allyn, though she remains faithful to her husband. Allyn, for his part, still carries a torch for our beauty. Eventually, he confesses his feelings and betrays them with a kiss. Lois, shocked, at first pushes to return to the United States, unaware that James' deal still has not gone through. She soon learns that James has been using Lois as that trademark and declares that she will leave him for Allyn. The sudden arrival of Mexican bandit and self-proclaimed General Juan Lopez (Clarence Burton) puts them all in danger. Will they manage to escape the Mexican horde storming Don Allyn's hacienda? Will they all survive? Will the gringos manage to make it across the Mexican border to safety? Will true love win out?

In Sunset Boulevard, Swanson as Desmond comments to another character, "We didn't need dialogue, we had faces", adding that perhaps with the exception of Greta Garbo there were no faces that could match Swanson/Desmond. Her Husband's Trademark proves Gloria Swanson right: she does have a face, a beautiful face that conveys much on screen. Contrary to what I think is a common misperception, silent films did not have mugging or exaggerated poses. Her Husband's Trademark at the most has one moment that can be seen as overacted. That is when the Mexican bandits are attempting to take Lois by force, with both James and Allyn defending her. You can see Swanson's body movements being a bit overdone. However, that is a total outlier to her overall performance.

Gloria Swanson is beautiful and charming as Lois. She is quite natural when working with others. Of particular note is her grace and kindness when James' parents (Charles Ogle and Edythe Chapman) unexpectedly come to visit. Holmes' James does his best to hide his displeasure at them coming when he is close to landing a big contract with Allyn. He behaves like a total jerk to his aging parents, which is perfect for the role. Swanson, on the other hand, shows Lois' charm and genuine care and concern for these two nice old people. Swanson is quite natural on screen, eluding charm, grace, beauty and elegance. 

Holmes may be the villain, and he does show in his performance how sleazy he can be. That, however, is nothing in comparison to Lucien Littlefield as the appropriately named Slithy Winters, James' right-hand man. Wayne is appropriately rugged as the true love interest, working well with Swanson.

The program for the Plaza Classic Film Festival notes that Her Husband's Trademark "contains offensive depictions of Mexican bandits". Personally, as a Mexican American, I was more amused than outraged in the images. I think some in the audience had a similar reaction, more chuckles than shock at the bandidos about to take our white woman for their own pleasures. I was neither angered nor pleased to see Burton made up as General Lopez, the Mexican bandit. I do not remember if he had heavy makeup, but I do not think it was as overdone as other times when white actors don brownface. 

As a side note, I struggle with the idea of having inoffensive depictions of Mexican bandits as they are, well, bandits. Yet I digress.

The presentation was elevated by the score specifically written for this presentation. Enrique Ponce wrote a wonderful score for Her Husband's Trademark. It was a nice chamber piece with bits of piano, guitar and trumpet performed by violinists Stephen Nordstrom and Leslee Way, violist Ray Arreola and cellist Michael Andrew Way. 

The film has wonderful location footage, lending to the thrilling climax of the daring escape to the United States. It also shows wonderful title cards that became almost characters of their own. One title card introducing Slithy has an illustration of him as either a puppet or of the puppet master. These little details show character and setting which might be overlooked. 

Her Husband's Trademark shows at least two things. The first is that silent film acting could be natural and not the cartoonish mugging that many imagine it is. The second is that Gloria Swanson was correctly seen as one of the great stars of the silent era. Beautiful and talented, I hope that more of Gloria Swanson's silent work is rediscovered. 

DECISION: B+