The Battle of the Sexes

Marie Skinner and her lover Babe Winsor put a scheme together. Their target is William Judson, a middle aged and wealthy property man. Marie moves into the building where he lives and contrives a way to meet him. With compliments, music and attention she binds him to her. When Judson’s wife and their two children see him at a night club with Marie, the household falls apart. The wife confronts her husband and he moves out. Babe, meanwhile, wants Marie to sell Judson worthless bonds. The film makes neither the wronged side ridiculous nor the scheming side attractive; it leaves both exposed. The work belongs to the last years of the silent era. D.W. Griffith’s eighty eight minute American film was completed in 1928.