The Lunatic (1927)

Samuel Relkin is married to the authoritarian Gertrude who has given him a daughter, the beautiful Frances. She has three suitors. Having to choose, in spite of her mother's disapproval, she opts for Hymie Moses, a scruffy and shy young man, the object of the street children's taunts. When a son is born, Frances, urged on by her mother, begins to complain that she always has to stay at home and look after him. Her recriminations lead Hymie to take care of the child himself while his wife goes off to a wedding. A few years later, with their second child, Gertrude urges her daughter to divorce until she relents. Samuel tells his son-in-law about a man who was so nagged by his wife that he went mad. So when Frances is about to leave with the children, Hymie suddenly starts making unconscious movements, even attempting to jump out of the window. Frances then decides to stay. Hymie confesses to Samuel that his was just a ruse and asks him to inform the doctor to continue the charade. But the doctor who arrives knows nothing about it and takes Hymie to the asylum. Escaping from his room, he runs into a big crazy man whom he calms down by giving him sugar. Having finished the sugar, he dominates him by behaving like a boss. From this experience, Hymie, when he is later released, confides his conclusions to his father-in-law: women, like madmen, love to be dominated by a boss. Frances now returns quietly and confides to her husband that she only wants him. Hymie vows not to give any more space to his mother-in-law's impromptu interventions.