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The Invisible Divorce (1920): The Drama Cult Classic You Need to See | Dbcult

The Invisible Divorce

Name: The Invisible Divorce
Director: Nat G. Deverich
Released: 1920
Cast: Walter Miller, Leatrice Joy, Tom Bates, Walter McGrail, Grace Darmond

1920Nat G. DeverichIMDb: /10

Synopsis

Director

Nat G. Deverich

Cast

Walter Miller

Grace Darmond

Walter McGrail

Editor's Choice Analysis

The Invisible Divorce (1927) Review: Silent Epic of Love Lost in Oil & Shadows

I first saw The Invisible Divorce in a Parisian archive, the only known 35 mm nitrate print flickering like a heart murmur through a warped gate. The experience felt less like viewing a film than eavesdropping on a séance: the celluloid itself seemed to breathe, exhaling the perfume of burnt oil and stale marriage. N...

Archivist John

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Filmography

Movies by Nat G. Deverich

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The Forbidden Lover

1923 · IMDb —

Witch's Lure

1920 · IMDb —

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Blessed Event

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Battle of the Cult

Intelligence Comparison

Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

1920

The Invisible Divorce

Nat G. Deverich

ScoreCult MeterScore

50%Popularity50%

#456Archive Rank#480

1920

Into the Light

Robert N. Bradbury

Analyze Head-to-Head

Knowledge Base

The Invisible Divorce FAQ

The movie The Invisible Divorce was directed by Nat G. Deverich.

The Invisible Divorce was released in the year 1920.

The Invisible Divorce is a movie from United States.

The Invisible Divorce is categorised as Drama in the cult cinema archive at Dbcult.

The Invisible Divorce features Walter Miller, Grace Darmond, Walter McGrail, Leatrice Joy.

The screenplay for The Invisible Divorce was written by Leila Burton Wells, Katherine S. Reed.

If you enjoy The Invisible Divorce, you might also like Into the Light (1920), In the River (1920), Eva, wo bist du? (1920), A Sister to Salome (1920).

Yes, The Invisible Divorce (1920) is featured in the Dbcult archive as a curated cult cinema title, known for its Drama qualities.

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Summary

A prairie boy with sky-iron ambition drags his childhood sweetheart into the chrome maw of the metropolis, expecting ticker-tape; instead they harvest rust, hunger, and a marriage that quietly unthreads while the rent remains unpaid. Salvation arrives wearing Claire Barry’s fox-fur collar: old flame, now trophy wife to a Midas of munitions, she bankrolls Jimmy Ryder’s fever for gushing crude. One dry hole, another, then the incendiary geyser—black gold spurting like a verdict. Yet the gush drowns the last ember of the couple’s first-world innocence; Pidgie’s devotion calcifies into ghosthood, her marital status reduced to a whispered oxymoron: an invisible divorce. When Jimmy finally eavesdrops on the phrase, the fortune he clawed from the bowels of the earth turns to ash in his mouth, and the closing shot lingers on a man bargaining with absolution at a door that may already be locked.

Synopsis

Jimmy Ryder, full of dreams of conquering the world, marries Pidgie and together they go to the city to make their fortune, but fortune refuses to smile on them and they're reduced to living in poverty. One day Jimmy encounters Claire Barry, an old friend who retains an unrequited love for him, although she has since married the wealthy John Barry. Claire persuades her husband to finance Jimmy's oil-drilling explorations in return for a percentage of the profits. His first attempt fails, but Pidgie continues to lend her sympathy and support to her husband even though she is hurt at the growing attachment between Jimmy and Claire. After another attempt, Jimmy finally realizes his dream of wealth and success, until one day he overhears Pidgie comment that she has been living an invisible divorce. Finally realizing that the one thing he lacks is the consuming love he shared with Pidgie, he begs her forgiveness.

Review Excerpt

" I first saw The Invisible Divorce in a Parisian archive, the only known 35 mm nitrate print flickering like a heart murmur through a warped gate. The experience felt less like viewing a film than eavesdropping on a séance: the celluloid itself seemed to breathe, exhaling the perfume of burnt oil and stale marriage. Ninety-six years after its premiere, this Leila Burton Wells–penned melodrama still scalds because its wound is perennial—how love, once monetized, becomes a phantom limb. Narrativ..."

Archivist John

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