Mother of His Children

• 1920

• Watchlist

At a Paris exhibition, American sculptor Richard Arnold (William Scott) wins first prize. He also meets a pleasure-loving Oriental woman, Princess Yve (Gladys Brockwell), and falls in love with her. This is ironic, considering that for his award-winning statue called "the Mother of his Children," he used his wife Beatrice (Golda Madden) as a model. Since he doesn't really want to end his marriage, Arnold wisely sends for Beatrice and the kids (Nancy Caswell and Jean Eaton), but the pretty young mother dies on board the ship. The two children are brought to Arnold's Paris home, but he isn't there -- he has been falsely charged with murder and is in prison. Instead, Princess Yve receives her lover's children. Taking charge of them makes her a lot less selfish and frivolous, and when Arnold comes home, he finds a much more domesticated creature waiting for him. The story for this film -- a deeper character study than most of its day -- was written by future silent star Barbara LaMarr, who used her current husband's name and billed herself as Barbara LaMarr Deely.