Male and Female

Very solid Cecil B. DeMille production of JM Barrie's play, "The Admirable Crichton" with a few DeMille flourishes.

Crichton (Thomas Meighan) is a very proper butler in a staid British home. Of course he has a distant crush on Lady Mary (Gloria Swanson), a very pampered and spoiled young lady. Tweeny the household maid (Lila Lee) has a crush on Crichton.

The family, headed by a silly old man (Theodore Roberts) decides to take a sailing trip to the South Seas and gathers up a party of family and friends. Of course they run the yacht into a rock and are washed ashore on a deserted island. The rich are all nitwits and haven't a clue how to do anything for themselves. They assume Meighan and Lee will continue to wait on them. Wrong.

Slowly it occurs to everyone that there is a new order on the island. The crafty and self-sufficient Meighan sets out to build a shelter, a fire, harvest food, etc. while the rich sit and watch. Their attempts to copy him are sadly disastrous. Eventually they "join" the former butler's group with Meighan as a sort of king.

Among the items that have washed ashore after the wreck is a book of poems that talks about a Babylonian king. In a typical DeMille moment, Swanson daydreams about her life in a Babylonian court. The sequence that follows ranks among the most famous in silent film history as Meighan becomes the Babylonian king who sentences the reluctant maiden (Swanson) to the lions' den as his jealous courtesan (Bebe Daniels) gleefully watches. The scene is much shorter than I remembered as the fabulously gowned Swanson walks in among the lions. The famous scene of the bare-backed Swanson with the roaring lion atop her was very real (no double).

And so the merry band of islanders, under King Crichton, goes on for a few years until, just before the marriage of Swanson and Meighan), they are "rescued" and returned to their former lives (and stations).

Meighan and Swanson are terrific. Roberts is funny as the old man. The supporting cast includes Julia Faye (as a maid), Robert Cain (as Swanson's boring suitor), Edmund Burns (as the vicar), Raymond Hatton (as the silly ass Ernie), Mildred Reardon (as Lady Agatha), and Rhy Darby (as the pitiful Lady Duncraigie who marries her chauffeur).

Logic aside, this is a stylish and solid film and features a ravishing 20-year-old Gloria Swanson in one of her first big hits for DeMille. Another famous scene is early in the film as Swanson prepares to taker her morning bath, a ritual that includes several maids, gallons of rose water, and another of DeMille's groundbreaking interior designs.

A must see for fans of silent films.

Sir J. M. Barrie was still very much alive and kicking when this well crafted adaptation of his "Admirable Crichton" (1902) story was made and I wonder if he ever saw it... It is the story of the "Earl of Loam" (Theodore Roberts) who decides to take his entirely spoiled, aristocratic family on his yacht for a cruise on the South Seas. It's up to the butler "Crichton" (Thomas Meighan) to organise it all before the mollycoddled bunch all set sail... It's all, well, plain sailing until their boat runs aground on a desert island and their whole, nicely ordered, lives are thrown asunder... In order to survive, let alone thrive, in this outwardly hostile place, they must forget the protocols and deferences that bound their hitherto formal relationships and it isn't soon before roles are reversed and the butler is in charge... The original story offers a whimsical swipe at the landed gentry - amiably exemplified here by Roberts, Robert Cain ("Lord Brocklehurst") and the feisty "Lady Mary" (Gloria Swanson) - but it is also a bit of a love story that demonstrates how their lives might progress without the social restrictions placed on them - indeed, until the timely arrival of a rescue ship - their new meritocracy might just have prevailed!. The characters are exactly that, they add a richness to the story that is well developed here by the likes of the delightful scullery maid Lila Lee and "Lady Agatha" - who has about as much common sense as a teabag (Mildred Reardon) as well as Mayme Kelso ensuring due propriety at the end... This is a thoroughly enjoyable film that looks great, flows well and makes us all think, just a little about the things we all take for granted.

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