The Woman Disputed

108 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSound film (Synchronized)

The Woman Disputed is a 1928 American synchronized sound film. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The plot draws in part on the 1880 short story "Boule de Suif" by French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Norma Talmadge stars as a good-hearted Austrian prostitute drawn into a romantic triangle on the eve of World War I. Based on a Denison Clift play, the nationalities of the characters had to be adjusted to satisfy official complaints registered with the MPPDA from the German government.^[1]

This film would be the last film Talmadge made without audible dialogue. After this film was completed she separated from her husband and producer Schenck. Talmadge would spend much of the following year on vocal lessons in preparation for her first talking picture,.^[2] Talmadge appeared in two talking films. The lackluster response to them forced her into an early retirement.

Cast

• Norma Talmadge as Mary Ann Wagner
• Gilbert Roland as Paul Hartman
• Arnold Kent as Nika Turgenov
• Boris de Fast as Passerby
• Michael Vavitch as Father Roche
• Gustav von Seyffertitz as Otto Krueger
• Gladys Brockwell as Countess
• Nicholas Soussanin as Count

Music

The film featured a theme song entitled "Woman Disputed (I Love You)" which was written by Bernie Grossman and Edward Ward.

Preservation

The film is extant at the Library of Congress film archive, and has been exhibited for audiences in recent years.

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References

External links

• The Woman Disputed at IMDb
• The Woman Disputed is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• The Woman Disputed synopsis at AllMovie
• original New York Times review