This needs restoring to improve the sound quality but then a lot of old movies need that so I don't take off stars for something that wasn't part of the original film. The directing is like a stage production which makes it seem more silent movie-ish than it really is. This was clearly from a studio with money for beautiful clothes and a lush set for a one-reeler.
I should point out that "making love" then meant being romantic and flirtatious, not having sex. The game wasn't about swapping spouses in the modern sense but of each person believing someone else was having a lot more fun and wanting in on that, envying the good times the others were supposedly having, as well as making the boring spouse jealous and willing to change his or her dull ways. But the woman who proposed the game and set the rules didn't like the way it was going from the start, obviously envisioning platonic joys.
Unfortunately, both couples were alike so mixing it up was futile, which was part of the humor. Amusingly both men had the same limited repertoire on the piano, and we saw that the one would-be Lothario thought he didn't have to say "I love you" to a wife. After that wreck of an evening, they parted with the same totally false conviviality with which they had begun, something not unknown in some social circles today. So the point was, in my view, that these people were useless socialites of no depth or inner resources with more money than brains, which we see in media-created celebs today. And keeping in mind that this was made in the Great Depression, anyone who envies THEM is a fool because this is what passes for the good life for these parasites. They weren't capable of learning any lessons from this but the audience might be--at least let's hope so!
If you don't expect much from this you will probably like it better. I found the final few minutes funny. Nice little twist there.
I'm guessing one-reelers were some sort of test movies for those involved, trying them out on a small scale before letting them do it on the large scale. But I could be wrong.
I should point out that "making love" then meant being romantic and flirtatious, not having sex. The game wasn't about swapping spouses in the modern sense but of each person believing someone else was having a lot more fun and wanting in on that, envying the good times the others were supposedly having, as well as making the boring spouse jealous and willing to change his or her dull ways. But the woman who proposed the game and set the rules didn't like the way it was going from the start, obviously envisioning platonic joys.
Unfortunately, both couples were alike so mixing it up was futile, which was part of the humor. Amusingly both men had the same limited repertoire on the piano, and we saw that the one would-be Lothario thought he didn't have to say "I love you" to a wife. After that wreck of an evening, they parted with the same totally false conviviality with which they had begun, something not unknown in some social circles today. So the point was, in my view, that these people were useless socialites of no depth or inner resources with more money than brains, which we see in media-created celebs today. And keeping in mind that this was made in the Great Depression, anyone who envies THEM is a fool because this is what passes for the good life for these parasites. They weren't capable of learning any lessons from this but the audience might be--at least let's hope so!
If you don't expect much from this you will probably like it better. I found the final few minutes funny. Nice little twist there.
I'm guessing one-reelers were some sort of test movies for those involved, trying them out on a small scale before letting them do it on the large scale. But I could be wrong.