Main Cast: Gloria Swanson, Robert Ames, Purnell Pratt, William Holden, Henry B. Walthall
Release Year: 1929
Country: US
Run Time: 70 minutes
Plot
The Trespasser was Gloria Swanson's first all-talking picture. All talk is right. Swanson plays a humble secretary who marries the son (Robert Ames) of a domineering millionaire (William Holden--no, not that William Holden). The father-in-law bullies Swanson into giving up his son; she agrees to step out of his life, proudly withholding the fact that she's about to become a mother. Later, Swanson enters her ex-husband's social class via an inheritance. Unfortunately, he's remarried to Kay Hammond, who is crippled and thus more needful of the man's love and comfort than self-reliant Swanson. Tearfully, Swanson gives up the man she loves, left only with her child and a bulging bank account. When Trespasser was remade by director Edmund Goulding as That Certain Woman with Bette Davis in 1937, a last-minute happy ending was tacked on--if one can call the death of wife number two a joyous event. As for the original film, Gloria Swanson proved (contrary to the popular belief engendered by Sunset Boulevard) that she could have been just as big a star in talkies as she'd been in silents (she even sings well); unfortunately her subsequent judgment in screenplay selection resulted in a string of flops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
It earned an Academy Award nomination for (Gloria Swanson) in her talkie debut. The film was written and directed by Edmund Goulding and was first filmed as a silent film. A talkie version was quickly made and was a smash hit for its superstar, Gloria Swanson. In 1937, Goulding remade the film as That Certain Woman with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda.
Sadly for Swanson, The Trespasser proved to be her one of her only hit talkies, alongside "Sunset Boulevard". Subsequent followups like What a Widow!, Indiscreet, Tonight or Never, Perfect Understanding and Music in the Air all proved to be box-office flops. The Trespasser was nonetheless an important film for Swanson, following the disastrous Queen Kelly and the hit Sadie Thompson. This was Swanson's first Oscar nomination. Despite the disappointments following The Trespasser, Swanson was well remembered by Billy Wilder, a writer on Music in the Air, when he was casting the part of Norma Desmond in his masterpiece Sunset Boulevard (1950).
