ROBES OF SIN stars the Australian actress, Sylvia Breamer, who had been in American films since 1917. Here she plays a bored housewife married to a cop (Jack Mower) who is working in an undercover unit. When a gangster's moll (Gertrude Astor) moves in across the hall, the bored Breamer falls in with her and her boyfriend, played by Bruce Gordon. At first, Astor is amused by the housewife, but when Gordon starts to shower her with gifts and dates to a night club, Astor changes her mind and seeks revenge.
Breamer pretty much retired soon after this film (to get married) and appeared in only four more silents that were released through 1926. A 1924 review in Film Daily said that Breamer was "suitable as the wife" but gave higher marks to Jack Mower as the policeman husband and Astor as the "gilded lily."
Here's where it gets weird. An article in Exhibitor's Herald on March 201, 1926 boasted that Herman F. Jans had just completed a film titled THE ROARING FORTIES. This refers to a couple of blocks in New York's theater district. Jans went on to say that "no district in the world can compare" and that it "caters to every sort of individual and where characters of every sort reside." The writer claimed, "It was for this reason that he had a story of this section of New York prepared and made into a motion picture."
It never bothered to explain that Jans has bought ROBES OF SIN and simply retitled it and was releasing it as a new picture. Variety noted in its June 23, 1926 review that "it must have been made some time ago, for the skirts of the female players are down to the ankles, or maybe the producers are modest.' It then states that "Miss Breamer has been idle for over a year. This picture was probably made before that."
Robes of Sin is a good example of the emerging changes in America's lifestyle in the Jazz Age and the restlessness of modern housewives. The night club scenes feature some snappy dancers (although they are unbilled). The film also features William Buckley as the Banjo Kid and Lassie Lou Ahern as the baby. Ahern was one of the last surviving silent players; she died in 2018.