Credits

Studio: An Artcraft Picture
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Released: May 19, 1918

Featured Cast: Elliott Dexter, Sylvia Ashton, Florence Vidor

Producer-director: Cecil B. DeMille
Screenwriter: Jeanie Macpherson
Source: the David Graham Phillips novel
Art director: Wilfred Buckland
Cinematographer: Alvin Wyckoff
Editor: Cecil B. DeMille

Theme

A slovenly middle-aged wife drives her husband to another woman.

Reviews

“There are somewhat risqué situations in Old Wives for New, but these have been handled delicately. It is not a story that children will understand, and it is one that the prudes will consider a reflection on themselves.”

– R.E. Pritchard, The Motion Picture News, June 8, 1918

Artist Comment

“Sylvia Ashton was wonderfully disgusting. Not every actress would play the part as realistically as she did.”

– Cecil B. DeMille, Autobiography

Figures

Old Wives for New cost $66,241.31 and grossed $286,504.11.
(These figures have not been adjusted for inflation nor do they include the considerable profits realized from reissues, television syndication, and home entertainment formats.)