Summary
In the labyrinthine domesticity of Jules Furthman’s 'Wives and Other Wives,' a single epistolary misinterpretation spirals into a kaleidoscopic farce. Geoffrey Challoner, a man of mercurial temperament, discovers his bride Robin ensconced in the nostalgic reading of old love letters. Blinded by a flash of green-eyed jealousy, he assumes a phantom rival and abandons the hearth. The vacuum of his absence is filled by Norman Craig, a prospective tenant who inadvertently stumbles into the Challoner residence. In a sequence defined by chiaroscuro tension and slapstick timing, Robin mistakes the interloper for a prowler and discharges a firearm; though the bullet misses, the shock sends the intoxicated Craig into a dead faint. Believing herself a murderess, Robin flees for medical aid, while Geoffrey returns only to find a man seemingly sprawled in his wife's boudoir. The ensuing divorce filing sets the stage for a weekend at Judge Corcoran’s estate—a desperate attempt at reconciliation that instead catalyzes a series of nocturnal misadventures. Between drunken intrusions, compromising positions involving Mrs. Craig, and a tertiary heist plot orchestrated by the domestic staff, the film dismantles the fragility of marital trust before revealing that the incendiary letters were Geoffrey’s own forgotten protestations of love.
Synopsis
When Geoffrey Challoner sees his new wife Robin reading old love letters, he assumes that they have been sent by a rival lover and storms out of the house. In his absence, Norman Craig, who with his wife plans to lease an upstairs apartment owned by Judge Corcoran, wanders into the Challoners' apartment, and Robin, mistaking him for a burglar, shoots him and then runs for a doctor. Returning, Geoffrey sees a man draped across his wife's bed and immediately files for divorce. Mrs. Craig and Norman, who had merely fainted, are invited to Judge Corcoran's weekend home along with the Challoners, whom the judge hopes to reunite. Norman's drunken condition brings him once again into Robin's room, however, while Geoffrey is discovered in a compromising situation with Mrs. Craig. Following a bewildering series of misadventures, including an attempted robbery by the maid and the chauffeur, Geoffrey learns that the love letters actually were his own, and the young couple are reconciled.
