The Enchanted Cottage

6/6/2022

Richard Barthelmess ("Oliver") returns, seriously wounded, from WWI and after a time with his rather, shall we say overwhelming, family and after watching his childhood sweetheart marry a more able-bodied gentleman, he retreats to a small cottage on their estate where he just wants to be left in peace. His neighbour is a plain and simple woman "Laura" (Mary McCoy), who chats occasionally, hoping to gee him from his melancholy. Initially he is unresponsive, for the most part, until he is threatened by his rather overpowering sister "Ethel" (Florence Short) who decides that she is going to move in with him... Horrified (as any of us would have been, frankly!) but the thought of this prospect, he suggests to "Laura" that they marry and that she move in with him. At this stage in the film, the