Fragilità, sei femmina!

The plot and an analysis is elsewhere here well done with Ron Oliver's review. Suffice to say that the hand-tinted titles and the sepia-toned film itself, hinting at reds along with its browns are a real joy to behold. Seeing so many luminaries in one film is also a treat - Reid, Swanson, Moran, Daniels, Ayres.

However, the film could easily have been a half hour shorter with less wear and tear on the viewer and with virtually little loss in the morality tale or sense of the work. It's all enjoyable but it does drag a bit.

Grapevine and Kino both have excellent prints. Important for its director and his non-epic style as well as for the presence of Reid and Swanson, but far from a great or important film.

THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL, which are really only his attempts to help unhappy or wayward women, has left his own marriage in a very precarious predicament.

During the 1920's, director Cecil B. DeMille became famous for two types of film - the lavish historical spectacle & the elaborate, somewhat salacious, social comedy. ANATOL is an example of the latter. While its plot is insignificant (and faintly ludicrous), it is still quite enjoyable to watch, and can boast of fine performances & superior production values.

In the title role, Wallace Reid acquits himself very well as the hapless rich chump whose noble deeds always seem to backfire. Good-natured & affable, he is only too susceptible to damsels in distress. But even this worm can turn, and his violent scenes - laying waste the apartment of a mendacious maiden, crashing into his wife's locked boudoir - show the energy & passion of which this nearly forgotten star was capable.

Gloria Swanson, as Reid's lively spouse; Wanda Hawley as a millionaire's courtesan; Agnes Ayres as a duplicitous country wife; and diabolic Bebe Daniels as the ultimate vamp, all add greatly to the enjoyment of the proceedings, slinking about in fashions (all except Miss Ayres) only crazy movie folk of the 1920's could ever truly get by with.

Movie mavens will have no trouble spotting the irrepressible Polly Moran as a zany nightclub orchestra leader.

A Wallace Reid film is a rather rare & wonderful thing now, as most of them seem to have vanished long ago. Reid, immensely popular in his day, was the epitome of the American Hero. Tragically, his story became a living nightmare. Injuries received while on location in Oregon in 1919 left him seemingly unable to complete his role. The Paramount Studio doctor was dispatched to plug him full of morphine and put him back in front of the cameras. It worked, but already weakened by alcoholism, Reid now became a helpless morphine addict. His problem was an open secret in Hollywood, but instead of the real help he desperately needed, he was given more of the deadly drug. His box office returns were considered too valuable, and the Studio pushed him through an insufferable number of films - 7 in 1921, 8 in 1922. After ANATOL, in which it was becoming obvious that his good looks were beginning to decay, Reid made 11 more films in increasing agony. His death on January 18, 1923, was officially attributed to the influenza which finally overcame the body debilitated by alcohol & drug addiction. Wallace Reid was only 31 years old.

An interesting document of almost one hundred years ago. Your enjoyment of this will obviously depend on whether you like silents or not. As a look way back to the beginnings of narrative film making and a fashion show of what woman wore then this has some interest. Gloria is unquestionably the star and she holds the screen with no problem. A renown clotheshorse her outfits are bizarre in the extreme to the modern eye but were the height of high fashion in their day. It's also a rare chance to see the doomed Wallace Reid in one of his few existing films. He was deep in the throes of the morphine addiction that would kill him within two years when this was made and looks shockingly old when you realize he was only 29 at the time, he appears 50 minimum.

Drawn to this by the irresistable and rare chance of seeing Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson working together on a film, I had heard about it through reference books (and also about Swanson's recollections of the film not being happy due to feeling uncomfortable with Reid at the time), and expected exactly what I got - a fun piece with some nice touches (Gloria's playful mood before she feels slighted by Wanda Hawley's flapper girl; Reid trashing Hawley's apartment when he realises she did not have pure intentions towards him after all; Agnes Ayres and Reid sharing a kiss in the woods while Gloria has gone to fetch a doctor to attend to Ayres, 'half-drowned' when she left; and best of all, Bebe Daniels as the absurdly named Satan Synne who is really a domesticated pussy cat chasing young men for cash to help her sick husband). The Affairs ... also benefits from having a lovely series of colour tints throughout. A little overlong perhaps (and too much focus on Hawley at the expense of the other girls encountered by Tony) but another fascinating early piece from De Mille. Sad to think that Wallace Reid would be dead by early '23. The movies' loss.

Wallace Reid (as Anatol Spencer) is a wealthy newlywed who is oddly attracted to various women other than his wife - specifically: Wanda Hawley (as Emilie), Agnes Ayres (as Annie), and Bebe Daniels (as Satan Synne!). Gloria Swanson (as Vivian) is the wife who seems to develop a roving eye of her own as the running time progresses. BUT, are "The Affairs of Anatol" really affairs, or just a series of titillating temptations?

DeMille's work with mirrors is on display, with the director inserting a skeleton image of Mr. Reid in one scene. Reid was a very big star when this film was released (one of the most popular actors in the world); and, though this isn't really representative, it's nice to see him. Of the leading ladies, I enjoyed Ms. Ayres over the others, because her simple scenes with Monte Blue seem so ORDINARY when contrasted with the rest of the goings-on.

DeMille's unlikely mix of titillation, religiosity, and heavy-handed message is obviously in full flower. While there are no performances for the ages, the scenes with Swanson being hypnotized by Theodore Kosloff are fun. Elliott Dexter (as Max Runyon) is the film's best supporting actor; keep a sharp eye on his closing scenes as he'll reveal, through his performance, the affair you might not have been expecting…

****** The Affairs of Anatol (9/25/21) Cecil B. DeMille ~ Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Elliott Dexter