Zustände wie im Paradies

The silent films of Cecil B DeMille, scripted by his long-time collaborator (and mistress) Jeanie MacPherson were often bizarre, overwrought and sometimes just plain silly. Once in a while however they hit the nail right on the head. Male and Female, heavily adapted from JM Barrie's play The Admirable Crichton, is a powerful drama with some strong performances, DeMille's direction at its most lyrical, and MacPherson's storyline only occasionally veering off the rails.

The majority of DeMille films from this part of his career begin with a lengthy title card with some kind of moral or motto. However, Male and Female opens with images – the crashing sea, a sunset – before getting onto the intertitles. The typical DeMille silent would then follow this up by introducing us to each of the main characters with a title followed by a shot of them. Male and Female is no exception, but it works these introductions into the film's world and draws the audience in by making them point-of-view shots of a young servant peeping through the keyholes into his masters' and mistresses' bedrooms.

The acting style that DeMille had encouraged and developed in his silent pictures since the mid-1910s was largely naturalistic, but with the occasional broad theatrical gesture to highlight a dramatic moment. It was a style that reduced the need for intertitles, without resorting to ridiculous pantomiming. The two leads, Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan are both perfectly suited to this style. Meighan was probably the finest male actor DeMille had worked with since Sessue Hayakawa (in 1915's The Cheat), and his performance here is mesmerising. Swanson is also great as usual, although I have to say that although it was her run of pictures with DeMille that made her name, she didn't do her best work with him. Her talent was put to far better use in later features such as Queen Kelly and Sadie Thompson.

Aside from the performances, it's the dramatic story and its presentation that makes Male and Female so memorable. Only the basic plot of Barrie's play remains, and this is a typical DeMille/MacPherson story of the reversal of fortune and forbidden love – probably the strongest of this kind that they did before the slant in DeMille's films became increasingly moralist (and, of course, religious). Although DeMille loved these tales of class and inequality (he was at that point a socialist as well as a Christian), it is the impossible love between the two leads that is at the heart of this story. The real tragedy of Male and Female has nothing to do with the selfish pomposity of the aristocrats – it is the fact that the love between the rich woman and the poor man can only exist in this fantasy world of the remote island. This is set up from the beginning with the subplot of Swanson's friend who marries her chauffeur and becomes a social outcast. The final scenes in which the various love triangles are resolved are incredibly moving.

The only significant wrong note in Male and Female is a brief and rather pointless flashback to ancient Babylon. These historical inserts had been en vogue since Griffith's Intolerance (a more influential film than some would have us believe), but this one is rather lacklustre and it's hard to see exactly how it fits the main story. It appears more of an excuse for DeMille to work in some epic grandeur (from 1918 to 1922 he only made contemporary dramas and comedies) and MacPherson to explore her interest in reincarnation. The story does need a dramatic highpoint at the stage where the flashback comes in, but they could have done better than the Babylon sequence. Overall however Male and Female is free of much of the preachiness, questionable morality and plot holes that mar many of Jeanie MacPherson's screenplays.

Male and Female was Paramount's highest grossing film of 1919, which is no surprise. DeMille's steady flow of captivating images and his emphasis on acting performances are at their best here. In certain aspects it may appear dated, but as with many of DeMille's films we have to suspend our dependence on realism and plausibility. Of course, the island where the action takes place, with its convenient abundance of edible wildlife, sailing distance from England yet remote enough to be shipwrecked for two years, could never really exist – but it's an unreal place created to serve the story. Taken as the silent melodrama that it is, this is a stunning motion picture.

Male and Female is a delightful tale of class relationships mixed with a little Gilligan's Island. The story is an old one that shows the relationship between birthed aristocracy and the peasants or in this case the servants.

The story starts off showing how shallow and frivolous the family that owns the manor are. The head off the family is a bumbling father type Lord Loam (Theodore Roberts) and his two daughters Marry (Gloria Swanson) and Agatha (Mildred Reardon) both pampered and spoiled and the many servants the two main ones being William Chrichton (Thomas Meighan) and Tweeny (Lila Lee).

^The film shows the relationships of the masters and servants with Marry getting ready for her bath and the having breakfast and complaining that nothing is done correctly while Chrichton just stands there and takes it, Tweeny has a real eye for Chrichton but he looks at Marry a relationship that could never be in proper London.

Well the family takes a sea voyage on their private yacht and the become shipwrecked. This island is more like Gilligan's Island then a real south seas island. On the Island Chrichton shows himself able to survive and find food, The manor family meanwhile refuses to work until hunger drives them to Chrichton and they are humbled and he assumes a role as leader. In the meanwhile Marry falls in love with Chrichton and this id OK with the more egalitarian social structure of the island. Well the group is rescues and things revert back to the way the were.

Cecil B. DeMille did a fine job directing this film. The film has high production value and is well acted and photographed. The story while simplistic is delightful to watch the acting is will done and the characters say a great deal through emoting. This movie gets a grade of B

The scene was one the most dangerous the 20-year-old actress had ever filmed. In Cecil B. DeMille's third movie with Gloria Swanson, November 1919's "Male and Female," the sequence called for a lion to be hovering next to her while she lay prone on the ground. In fact, the director had decided to cancel the act after thinking about how dangerous it potentially could be for the studio's prized actress.

She insisted DeMille film the scene. "Are you menstruating?" the director asked, knowing blood sends lions into a feeding frenzy. "No," she replied. With two trainers and her father just off frame and DeMille ready with his revolver, Swanson spends some time with the lion, who is seen licking his chops. The actress, besides a faster than normal beating heart, ended unscathed and completing one of the more iconic scenes in silent movies. Little did anyone know two weeks later that same lion ended up killing a person before being put down himself.

Such was the Swanson legend born in "Male and Female." In an earlier scene in the movie, the actress, who plays a British aristocrat, enters a luxurious Turkish bath in her mansion with the help of two maids. The exotic image lingered in the minds of the public upon first viewing, and imprinted the icon of Swanson's aura of sophistication surrounded by total opulence for the remainder of her acting career.

Her role in the movie, based on a 1902 J. M. Barrie (yes, the Peter Pan creator) play called 'The Admirable Crichton,' presented a perfect personification of hers to illustrate the class separation of the English and each member's desire to stay within the framework of their class despite others' character, likability, intelligence and ability.

Swanson's selected household, relatives and boyfriend are stranded on a deserted island after their boat runs aground. The distinct societal differences so profound back in civilization evaporate into a Darwinistic survival of the fitness on the island. The butler, Crichton, becomes the leader of the group through his wilderness skills of hunting and construction. A strong love relationship develops between Swanson and Thomas Meighan, playing the butler--so much so they contemplate marriage. Once discovered and rescued, could the two revert back to class differences and be separated, or do they shrug off the artificialness of wealth that previously would constrict their love for each other?

For actress Bebe Daniels, the female sidekick for Harold Floyd since 1916, she had reached out to DeMille for an opportunity to expand her acting chops. He agreed, and she's seen in the Babylonian sequence as the King's Favorite. The movie served as a launching pad for her to star in a variety of roles in fature films well into the late 1950's.

"Male and Female" was a huge hit for Paramount Pictures, earning as much money as DeMille's previous five films together. The movie was nominated for the American Film Institute's 100 Most Passionate Films Ever Made.

Thomas Meighan (as the admirable Crichton) is head butler for an aristocratic British family; he is obviously quite taken with luscious Gloria Swanson (as Lady Mary Lasenby), but unable to cross class barriers. The household's scullery maid Lila Lee (as Tweeny) is in love with Crichton. The threesome, and some others, go out yachting; when cross currents hit, the ensemble is shipwrecked! Turns out, the servant class has far more advanced survival skills. Who knew?

Ms. Swanson is the film's main attraction; her bathing and showering scenes, near the beginning of the film, helped clean-up at the box office. Note that whenever there is nakedness afoot, DeMille has an object cover-up Swanson's figure, however. Though not as famed, Swanson's later wet spot, when she is nearly drowned in the bowel of the sideswiped yacht, is far superior. Swanson and Ms. Lee perform well, actually, with the material given. Loved the "upper crust" lady complaining about limp toast!

Mr. Meighan delivers the movie's finest performance; the other players have moments, but Meighan is outstanding in the pivotal role of Butler Crichton. From the moment he checks the mansion for dust, he is delightful; the actor makes the movie even more interesting when the suppressed desire for Swanson begins registering on his face. A couple of smaller roles are noteworthy: Wesley Barry is great as the peeping Buttons, indicating what Cecil B. DeMille's "Male and Female" is really all about (more or less). You should also keep an eye on Bebe Daniels during the "King of Babylon" imaginary sequence; she is terrific as Meighan's right-hand lady. Silent film veterans Guy Oliver and Clarence Burton inexplicably disappear, after the shipwreck. Theodore Roberts and Raymond Hatton are around much longer, thankfully.

The film is recommended, and DeMille obviously expert - but it's one of the more ludicrously-themed silent era classics preserved for modern scrutiny. Apparently, in adapting "The Admirable Crichton" for DeMilledom, the director substituted sex for satire. AND, he gets his titillating re-title "Male and Female" from no less than God Himself! quoting, "So God created Man in His own image, in the image of God created He him: Male and Female created He them." There is also a oddly placed bow to the good ol' U.S.A. With all its oddities, it's still a fun film.

******** Male and Female (11/23/19) Cecil B. DeMille ~ Thomas Meighan, Gloria Swanson, Lila Lee

For someone who has seen Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard in We're Not Dressing you will get a nice musical and comedy treat as Bing sings some nice songs and comedy is nicely handled by Burns&Allen and Leon Errol. But while the broad comedy aspects of The Admirable Crichton are handled well there, the broad range of James M. Barrie's story is done in the Cecil B. DeMille silent film Male And Female. Starring of course DeMille's latest discovery Gloria Swanson.

Elliott Dexter a DeMille silent regular was unavailable so Thomas Meighan takes the title role as the butler on Theodore Roberts estate. He has two daughters and a silly sot of a nephew in Raymond Hatton. The daughters are Gloria Swanson and Lila Lee.

We have class distinctions in America, but they're not as rigid as they are in the United Kingdom. It's those aspects that are dealt with in Male And Female not the Americanized We're Not Dressing. Meighan has it bad for Swanson, but the rigid class structure makes that union impossible.

But when they're shipwrecked on a tropical island while on a cruise the social order is reversed. Theodore Roberts by dint of his title tries to assert his authority. But Meighan as the man with the most knowledge on how to survive upsets that in a hurry. Unlike the Crosby/Lombard film, these folks are here for a few years and thinking even with the social order reversed, it's not like Robinson Crusoe with no one to converse with for years.

Barrie both satirizes and deals with the subject class seriously. As for DeMille he gets to do one of his spectacle type sequences in a flashback when the cast imagines they're in ancient Babylon with Meighan as king. In that flashback is a young Bebe Daniels who was getting started and she would shortly being starring in DeMille silent films. DeMille in his autobiography pays compliments to a new member of his team Mitchell Leisen who did the costumes. He would be a DeMille regular until he went out on his own as a director.

I liked the film and I'll let you others decide whether there is more Barrie or more DeMille in this film.