"What Every Woman Knows" is an odd sort of romance. It involved two people who were in a one-sided relationship. The woman loved the man, and the man just tolerated the woman.
Maggie Wylie (Helen Hayes) was a plain Scottish woman who couldn't find love. Her father and her two brothers were determined to help her get married even if it meant making a man contractually obligated to do so. And that's what they did.
They entered into a bargain with a young rabble rouser named John Shand (Brian Aherne). They would pay for his schooling for five years and in return, he'd have to marry Maggie should she want him. Maggie was well aware of this bargain, and she didn't mind it at all. After the five years were up, Maggie wanted to marry John, and he agreed to marry her per his word, even though he didn't love her. It was a rare movie in that a man was obligated to marry a woman instead of the other way around. That gave it a different sort of feel.
There have been plenty of movies in which a woman goes through with marrying or being with a man out of a sense of duty, but very few men have ever had to be in that situation. I've always felt a little sorry for the women, I didn't feel sorry at all for John Shand. Maggie gave him the option to be free of her, but he was too principled to back out of an agreement he benefited greatly from.
In some ways it was sad watching Maggie sweat and toil for John's benefit in hopes that he would one day love her as she loved him. John was such a serious man that it seemed he would never love anybody. Such a sentiment was put to the test when Lady Sybil Tenterden (Madge Evans) entered the picture.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Maggie Wylie (Helen Hayes) was a plain Scottish woman who couldn't find love. Her father and her two brothers were determined to help her get married even if it meant making a man contractually obligated to do so. And that's what they did.
They entered into a bargain with a young rabble rouser named John Shand (Brian Aherne). They would pay for his schooling for five years and in return, he'd have to marry Maggie should she want him. Maggie was well aware of this bargain, and she didn't mind it at all. After the five years were up, Maggie wanted to marry John, and he agreed to marry her per his word, even though he didn't love her. It was a rare movie in that a man was obligated to marry a woman instead of the other way around. That gave it a different sort of feel.
There have been plenty of movies in which a woman goes through with marrying or being with a man out of a sense of duty, but very few men have ever had to be in that situation. I've always felt a little sorry for the women, I didn't feel sorry at all for John Shand. Maggie gave him the option to be free of her, but he was too principled to back out of an agreement he benefited greatly from.
In some ways it was sad watching Maggie sweat and toil for John's benefit in hopes that he would one day love her as she loved him. John was such a serious man that it seemed he would never love anybody. Such a sentiment was put to the test when Lady Sybil Tenterden (Madge Evans) entered the picture.
Free on Odnoklassniki.