Summary
Aviator Keith Elliot, freshly repatriated from the soot‑laden trenches of the Great War, arrives at his opulent Long Island manor to discover that his absence has been filled by a cavalcade of revelry orchestrated by his wife, Constance. In a desperate bid to mask her loneliness, Constance has turned the house into a den of intemperance—wine flows like a river, dice clatter on mahogany tables, and a perpetual haze of cigarette smoke drifts through the corridors. The once‑stately rooms now echo with the raucous laughter of guests, each indulgence a thin veneer over a deeper malaise. When Keith, still haunted by the regimented cadence of military life, demands the cessation of these excesses, Constance retorts that the word "obey" in their vows has become a hollow echo, accusing him of imposing a battlefield mentality upon domestic tranquility. Their clash escalates when Keith expels Butler Hayes, a former suitor whose lingering affection for Constance threatens to destabilize the fragile equilibrium. In a dramatic reversal, Constance brands Keith’s intervention as a "social court‑martial," accusing him of authoritarian overreach. Undeterred, Keith abducts Constance, whisking her to a secluded island where his private hunting lodge stands amid craggy pines. There, he imposes a rigid regimen of domestic labor upon her, hoping to restore order through isolation. Constance, however, reaches out to Hayes via telegram, seeking an ally in her confinement. Hayes arrives, only to be rebuffed by a Constance who, despite her earlier flirtations, now spurns his advances with steely resolve. The tension erupts when Keith returns, delivering a brutal thrashing to Hayes, a visceral reminder of his lingering combat instincts. In a final act of defiance, Constance prevents Keith from departing alone, declaring that she has internalized the lesson of restraint. Together they board the aircraft, the plane’s propellers slicing the sky as the couple embarks on a tentative reconciliation, their future hanging in the balance of shared redemption.
Synopsis
Aviator Keith Elliot returns from serving in World War I in France to his Long Island estate to find that his wife Constance has tried to overcome her sorrow at his absence by giving house parties in which she and her guests indulge in drinking, gambling and cigarette smoking. Constance resents Keith's demands that she stop, and when he states that the word "obey" in her marriage vow has no meaning for her, she says that he has absorbed too much military atmosphere. When Keith orders her former suitor, Butler Hayes, who has designs on her, to leave, Constance accuses Keith of attempting a "social court-martial." Keith kidnaps Constance and flies to a small island on which he owns a hunting lodge. After he forces her to keep house there, she contacts Hayes in Keith's absence. Hayes arrives, but Constance repulses his advances, and when Keith returns, he thrashes Hayes. Constance stops Keith from leaving alone, and declares that she has learned her lesson as they fly away together.
Review Excerpt
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A Post‑War Canvas of Disquiet
The moment Keith Elliot steps onto his Long Island estate, the audience is thrust into a tableau that feels less like a homecoming and more like a battlefield of etiquette. The director, whose name has been lost to the annals of early cinema, paints the mansion with a chiaroscuro that mirrors the internal war raging between the protagonists. The lavish interiors, rendered in stark black‑and‑white, become a stage for a social drama that is as much about the ling..."
