When Love Grows Cold is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Harry O. Hoyt, and starring Clive Brook and Natacha Rambova in her only screen starring performance. Rambova was chiefly famous for being the wife of Rudolph Valentino.[1]

When Love Grows Cold
Trade advertisement
Directed byHarry O. Hoyt
Written byHarry O. Hoyt (continuity)
Based on"When Love Grows Cold"
by Laura Jean Libbey
Produced byRobertson-Cole
StarringNatacha Rambova
Clive Brook
CinematographyWilliam Miller
Production
company
Distributed byFilm Booking Offices of America
Release date
  • January 31, 1926 (1926-01-31)
Running time
7 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

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As described in film magazine reviews,[2][3] Margaret Benson gives up her stage career to marry Jerry Benson, a dreamer who fails to put over his plans when he gets his chance before a mammoth oil company board. The wife, however, goes before the board and gets the plans approved. Wealth comes to the family and Jerry becomes a company official. Chorus girl Gloria Trevor becomes a tool of William Graves, president of the firm, in a plot to break up the Benson home by luring the husband away from his wife. Graves covets Margaret, so he ruins Jerry in the stock market. Jerry has become infatuated with Gloria, and one night the husband returns home with the chorus girl, who manages to have herself invited to stay the night. She is caught attempting to put the husband in a compromising position by Margaret but, in the domestic scene which ensues, Jerry sides with Gloria, and the wife leaves. Gloria then reveals the duplicity of Graves and the husband, realizing his wife’s loyalty, returns to her in time to save their child from being run over. With the plot of Graves having failed, a reconciliation follows as Margaret and Jerry are reunited.

Cast

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Production

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During production, When Love Grows Cold had the working title Do Clothes Make the Woman? However, after Rudolph Valentino's 1925 divorce from Natacha Rambova, when the film was released in January 1926 the distributor took the opportunity to prominently credit her as "Mrs. Valentino" on film posters and advertisements and changed the title of the film to When Love Grows Cold. Rambova was greatly offended by this action and never worked in film again.[4]

Preservation

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With no prints of When Love Grows Cold located in any film archives,[5] it is a lost film. Only bit fragments and a trailer survive from this film.[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature films: When Love Grows Cold
  2. ^ Campbell, William (February 13, 1926), "Pre-Release Review of Features: When Love Grows Cold", Motion Picture News, 33 (6), New York City, New York: Motion Picture News, Inc.: 808, retrieved February 8, 2023   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ "New Pictures: When Love Grows Cold". Exhibitors Herald. 25 (8). Chicago, Illinois: Exhibitors Herald Company: 130. May 8, 1926. Retrieved April 12, 2024.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ Rambova, Natacha; Pickford, Hala (2009) [1926]. Rudolph Valentino: A Wife's Memories of an Icon. Hollywood, California: 1921 PVG Publishing. p. 234 (afterward by Pickford). ISBN 978-0-9816440-4-2.
  5. ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: When Love Grows Cold
  6. ^ IMDb.com
  7. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: When Love Grows Cold at silentera.com
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