Summary
"Married in Haste" unfurls a droll examination of inherited privilege and its potential pitfalls, centering on the blithely extravagant millionaire, Sam Morgan. His new bride, Constance Winwood, a woman of pragmatic sensibilities, orchestrates an elaborate charade to cure his profligacy. She enlists Downer, the family trustee, to feign absconding with Sam's entire inheritance. What begins as a honeymoon idyll quickly devolves into a farcical spiral of financial destitution. Sam's meager pocket money vanishes, checks begin to ricochet, and the couple finds themselves stranded with an ever-mounting taxi bill, forced to retain the cab and its somnolent driver after an ignominious expulsion from their hotel. A serendipitous encounter with a benevolent rogue leads Sam to a herring refinery, where his rudimentary grasp of Spanish becomes an unlikely instrument of salvation. He shrewdly negotiates a bulk purchase from a South American dealer, then artfully resells it to the unilingual refinery directors, amassing sufficient capital to settle his now-astronomical debt. Constance, overwhelmed by their unexpected journey through penury, confesses her scheme, only to discover a chilling twist: Downer's disappearance might not have been an act after all. His eventual, dramatic return restores their fortune, culminating in a delightfully eccentric resolution: their bedroom adorned with the very symbols of their arduous financial odyssey – taxi meters and headlights.
Synopsis
Millionaire spendthrift Sam Morgan marries Constance Winwood, who tries to break Sam's spending habits by convincing Downer, the trustee of Sam's inheritance, to pretend to abscond with Sam's money. During their honeymoon, Sam spends his $10.30 pocket money, then discovers that his checks are bouncing. Unable to pay an increasingly-large taxi fare, Sam and Constance keep the cab and its sleepy driver engaged after they are thrown out of a hotel. After a friendly thief gets Sam a job in a herring refinery, Sam uses his rudimentary knowledge of Spanish to buy a shipload of herring from a South American dealer and sell it to the refinery's directors, who know no Spanish, thus making enough profit to pay his now-exorbitant taxi bill. Constance confesses her scheme, and although it seems that Downer really has absconded, he finally returns. Wealthy again, Sam and Constance adorn their bedroom with taxi meters and headlights.
Review Excerpt
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In the annals of silent cinema, where grand gestures and physical comedy often spoke louder than words, J. Searle Dawley's 1923 romp, Married in Haste, emerges as a delightful, if often overlooked, comedic gem. This film, a spirited exploration of wealth, marital dynamics, and the surprising resilience of the human spirit when faced with an unexpected downturn, offers more than just laughs; it provides a fascinating social commentary on the Roaring Twenties' perception of inherited affluenc..."
