Writing

Sada Cowan

Born — Died

1882-09-08 — 1943-07-31

Place of birth

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Known for

Writing

Credits

24 titles

American playwright and screenwriter.

Known for

Bluebeard's 8th Wife poster
8.0

John Brandon, an American millionaire, has been married seven times but never found love. Then, when he is in Paris, Mona de Briac comes into his life. Mona comes from an noble family who is facing ruin.

Bluebeard's 8th Wife

1923

Don't Doubt Your Husband poster
10.0

Helen continuously looks for reasons to doubt Dick, causing friction in their young marriage. Her jealousy intensifies when Dick seems to pay more attention to Alma's ankles than the curtains she is hanging. A series of misunderstandings continuously fan the flames of Helen’s jealousy. The final straw occurs when Helen walks in and catches Dick and Alma in what looks like an incredibly compromising position. Believing her marriage is over, Helen threatens to file for a divorce. However, Alma’s actual fiancé arrives just in time to clear up the confusion, explain the innocent context of the situation, and completely reconcile the newlyweds.

Don't Doubt Your Husband

1924

Woman in the Dark poster
6.1

A recently released prisoner lives alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back in any more trouble, but his peaceful existence is disrupted when a mysterious woman arrives.

Woman in the Dark

1934

Mismates poster
7.0

"Mismates" is the story of a wealthy youth who, against his mother's wishes, marries a poor girl and is disowned. At first determined to support himself and his wife, he soon craves the accustomed luxury and deserts his wife and child. On false information provided by the boy's mother and substantiated by himself the wife is sent to jail and the child kidnapped by the husband. This is where the drama kicks in.

Mismates

1926

The Trouble With Wives poster
7.0

William Hyatt (Tom Moore) runs an exclusive shoe store, and his happy marriage to Grace (Florence Vidor) is nearly derailed by his well-meaning, but hopelessly gauche pal, Al Hennessy (Sterling). Dagmar, a Parisian shoe designer (Esther Ralston) has come to town to meet with Hyatt and Hennessy, and Hennessy describes the situation to Grace in the worst possible manner, convincing her that her husband is having an affair.

The Trouble With Wives

1925

No artwork available
7.0

Norma Harvey, a newspaperwoman who devotes much of her time to relieving the sufferings of slum children, still loves her childhood sweetheart, Craig Dunlap, a lawyer who tries to cover up his wife's kleptomania by bribing a witness at her trial. Dunlap, however, is exposed and disbarred. While working in the slums, Norma encounters him in a disreputable dive and takes him to her home along with little Mazie, a blind orphan.

What No Man Knows

1921

Behind the camera

Bluebeard's 8th Wife poster
8.0

John Brandon, an American millionaire, has been married seven times but never found love. Then, when he is in Paris, Mona de Briac comes into his life. Mona comes from an noble family who is facing ruin.

Bluebeard's 8th Wife

1923

Don't Doubt Your Husband poster
10.0

Helen continuously looks for reasons to doubt Dick, causing friction in their young marriage. Her jealousy intensifies when Dick seems to pay more attention to Alma's ankles than the curtains she is hanging. A series of misunderstandings continuously fan the flames of Helen’s jealousy. The final straw occurs when Helen walks in and catches Dick and Alma in what looks like an incredibly compromising position. Believing her marriage is over, Helen threatens to file for a divorce. However, Alma’s actual fiancé arrives just in time to clear up the confusion, explain the innocent context of the situation, and completely reconcile the newlyweds.

Don't Doubt Your Husband

1924

Woman in the Dark poster
6.1

A recently released prisoner lives alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back in any more trouble, but his peaceful existence is disrupted when a mysterious woman arrives.

Woman in the Dark

1934

Mismates poster
7.0

"Mismates" is the story of a wealthy youth who, against his mother's wishes, marries a poor girl and is disowned. At first determined to support himself and his wife, he soon craves the accustomed luxury and deserts his wife and child. On false information provided by the boy's mother and substantiated by himself the wife is sent to jail and the child kidnapped by the husband. This is where the drama kicks in.

Mismates

1926

The Trouble With Wives poster
7.0

William Hyatt (Tom Moore) runs an exclusive shoe store, and his happy marriage to Grace (Florence Vidor) is nearly derailed by his well-meaning, but hopelessly gauche pal, Al Hennessy (Sterling). Dagmar, a Parisian shoe designer (Esther Ralston) has come to town to meet with Hyatt and Hennessy, and Hennessy describes the situation to Grace in the worst possible manner, convincing her that her husband is having an affair.

The Trouble With Wives

1925

No artwork available
7.0

Norma Harvey, a newspaperwoman who devotes much of her time to relieving the sufferings of slum children, still loves her childhood sweetheart, Craig Dunlap, a lawyer who tries to cover up his wife's kleptomania by bribing a witness at her trial. Dunlap, however, is exposed and disbarred. While working in the slums, Norma encounters him in a disreputable dive and takes him to her home along with little Mazie, a blind orphan.

What No Man Knows

1921

Why Change Your Wife? poster
5.6

Robert and Beth Bordon are married but share little. He runs into Sally at a cabaret and the Gordons are soon divorced. Just as he gets bored with Sally's superficiality, Beth strives to improve her looks. The original couple falls in love again at a summer resort.

Why Change Your Wife?

1920

Smouldering Fires poster
6.8

A successful businesswoman falls in love with one of her much younger factory workers. She doesn't know that he is in love with her younger sister.

Smouldering Fires

1925

The New Commandment poster
10.0

Billy Morrow (Ben Lyon), who comes from a wealthy family, is sailing to Europe with his father (Holbrook Blinn) on their yacht. Along for the ride is Mrs. Parr (Claire Eames) and her stepdaughter. Near the French coast, Billy discovers that Mrs. Parr wants to arrange a marriage between him and the girl, so he escapes and takes a lifeboat ashore.

The New Commandment

1925

Stop, Look and Love poster
6.5

Daughter has trouble holding onto boyfriends because of her critical mother until understanding father comes to her aid.

Stop, Look and Love

1939

The Woman Under Cover poster
7.0

When the popular Broadway star Jack Rollins tells his wife, dancer Yvonne Leclaire, that he is tired of her, their backstage quarrel ends when she shoots him dead. Because Billy Jordan, a dissolute "chorus man," sees Yvonne hide the gun, she desperately agrees to marry him if he will keep quiet.

The Woman Under Cover

1919

Stand and Deliver poster
6.0

Our heroine, Miss Velez (despite the fact that she seems to be just along for the ride) is much her usual over-eloquent self (how fortunate she has no sound track!), while Warner Oland makes such an impressive and villainously seedy bandit, he needs no sound track at all. We can just imagine his oily, purring accents all too well.

Stand and Deliver

1928

The Rustle of Silk poster
10.0

Lola de Breze loves Lord Arthur Fallaray from afar, though there seems to be no way to bring them together -- he is England's Colonial Secretary and married, while she is merely a working class maiden. But when she is given a maid's position in his household, it brings her that much closer to her idol. She puts on a fancy gown and heads to the Ritz in hopes of getting a formal introduction. After being fired from the household, she follows Fallaray to his country home and nurses him when he falls ill. Lord Fallaray's wife Lady Feo doesn't love him and is having an affair with Paul Chalfont. When it looks like he will be faced with scandal, Fallaray contemplates giving up politics and marrying Lola.

The Rustle of Silk

1923

East of Suez poster
7.0

After being educated in England, Daisy Forbes returns to China, the country of her birth, and discovers that her father has recently died and that she has become a social outcast, owing to the public revelation that the oriental nurse who raised her was actually her mother...

East of Suez

1925

Forbidden Heaven poster
8.0

Charles Farrell stars as a British working stiff named Niba, who hopes one day to attain a Parliamentary seat. Niba's life is permanently altered when he rescues forlorn American girl Ann (Charlotte Henry). Though forced to give up his political dreams, Niba contentedly sets up house with Ann, eventually falling in love with her.

Forbidden Heaven

1935

Changing Husbands poster
7.0

A bored rich housewife wants to go on the stage, but her husband won't let her. When she meets a despairing actress who looks exactly like her, she suggests they swap places for a little while, giving the actress a break while the rich husband is out of town. But the rich husband comes back early, causing havoc for the actress, plus the rich housewife is finding herself attracted to the actress's boyfriend.

Changing Husbands

1924

Charge It poster
8.0

A woman's excessive spending brings difficulty to her family.

Charge It

1921

The Charmer poster
7.0

A wild dancer in a cheap Seville cafe, Mariposa is taken to New York by Señor Sprott, a prominent theatrical producer. Billed as "The Charmer," Mariposa becomes the toast of two continents. Among her most ardent admirers are Ralph Bayne, a millionaire playboy, and his chauffeur, Dan Murray, both of whom first met her in Spain. Madly in love with Bayne, Mrs. Sedgwick invites Mariposa and her mother to a weekend party in a deliberate attempt to humiliate the beautiful dancer. Bayne quickly realizes that Mariposa is out of place in high society, and, determining to make her his mistress, takes her home with him. Mrs. Sedgwick unexpectedly arrives at Bayne's swank suite ( followed by her suspicious husband), and Mariposa protects the society woman's reputation at the cost of her own.

The Charmer

1925

Fool's Paradise poster
6.8

In a Mexican border town Arthur befriends cantina girl Poll. She falls for him but he still loves the dancer Rosa. When the cigar Poll gives him explodes and blinds him, Arthur is duped into thinking Poll is Rosa and marries her. When his vision is surgically restored, he leaves for Siam to find Rosa.

Fool's Paradise

1921

Fashion Row poster
7.0

Two peasant sisters flee Russia during the revolution and sail to America. One, Olga Farinova (Mae Murray), masquerades as a princess, becomes a noted actress, and marries a millionaire's son. Olga repudiates her sister, Zita (Mae Murray), who has no illusions about her past life or present poverty. When Olga is shot by Kaminoff (Elmo Lincoln), a rejected suitor, Zita is adopted into the husband's family.

Fashion Row

1923

Seeds of Vengeance poster
7.0

In the mountains of West Virginia, Alderson Cree is mortally wounded in an ambush by Kip Ryerson, after Kip's wife, Martha, seeks refuge at the Crees's home for herself and her stepdaughter, Eileen. Cree makes his young son, David, promise to avenge his death once he has grown into manhood. As David Cree runs for help, Alderson recants and instructs Martha Ryerson to release his son from his promise. However, to eliminate her brutal spouse, Martha Ryerson remains silent, and George Hedrick, the local storekeeper, leads a crowd to drive Kip out of town. Hedrick later announces Kip's death, relieving David of his obligation to his father. Years pass, and David, now an adult, is engaged to Mary Reddin. When Kip Ryerson returns to town, David's mother demands that he keep his promise to avenge his father.

Seeds of Vengeance

1920

Lucretia Lombard poster
7.0

Lucretia Morgan has been married to an old man for the past seven years. The marriage is loveless but the whole time Lucretia has been a devoted wife. Her husband Allen has been sick for some time. Lucretia thinks Allen is upset with her because she is going out to a charity ball and he has to stay. Allen understands she is young and she needs to socialize he is not upset with her for wanting to go out.

Lucretia Lombard

1923

Hush poster
9.0

A woman finds her marriage on the rocks after she reveals to her husband some but not all the details of her one-time relationship with a current associate of his.

Hush

1921

Straight from Paris poster
10.0

A young man takes a trip to Europe, and when he returns home he brings along the woman he fell in love with and became engaged to. However, his snooty mother finds out that she doesn't come from a "good" family and is, in fact, a clerk in a shoe store, and refuses to sanction the engagement. The young man's uncle disagrees and tries to convince the mother to accept the young girl--but then begins to realize he is developing feelings for her himself.

Straight from Paris

1921