Male and Female
1919 film by Cecil B. DeMille
- November 23, 1919 (1919-11-23)
Running time
Male and Female is a 1919 American silent adventure/drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan.[2] Its main themes are gender relations and social class. The film is based on the 1902 J. M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton.[1][3]
A previous version was filmed the year before in England as The Admirable Crichton.
Plot
The film centers on the relationship between Lady Mary Loam (Swanson), a British aristocrat, and her butler, Crichton (Meighan). Crichton fancies a romance with Mary, but she disdains him because of his lower social class. When the two and some others are shipwrecked on a deserted island, they are left to fend for themselves in a state of nature.
The aristocrats' abilities to survive are far worse than those of Crichton, and a role reversal ensues, with the butler becoming a king among the stranded group. Crichton and Mary are about to wed on the island when the group is rescued. Upon returning to Britain, Crichton chooses not to marry Mary; instead, he asks a maid, Tweeny (who was attracted to Crichton throughout the film), to marry him, and the two move to the United States.
Production
The film contains two famous scenes, indicative of de Mille's predilections as a filmmaker.
- An early scene depicts Gloria Swanson bathing in an elaborate setting, attended by two maids, lavishing her with rosewater and bath salts, silk dressing gown, and luxurious towels.
- Toward the end of the film, a fantasy sequence about ancient Babylon shows Swanson posed as Gabriel von Max's famous painting The Lion's Bride, which involved her being photographed with an actual lion.
Kenneth Macgowan stated in his 1965 history of film Behind the Screen that the title was changed because Paramount was concerned that audiences would confuse the words "admirable" and "admiral" and "stay away because 'sea pictures weren't very popular'".[4]
Cast
- Lila Lee as Tweeny, the scullery maid
- Theodore Roberts as Lord Loam
- Raymond Hatton as Honorable Ernest 'Ernie' Wolley
- Mildred Reardon as Lady Agatha 'Aggie' Lasenby
- Gloria Swanson as Lady Mary Lasenby
- Thomas Meighan as Crichton, the butler
- Robert Cain as Lord Brockelhurst
- Bebe Daniels as King's Favorite
- Julia Faye as Susan, 2nd Maid
- Rhy Darby as Lady Eileen Duncraigie
- Edmund Burns as Treherne
- Henry Woodward as McGuire, Lady Eileen's Chauffeur
- Sydney Deane as Thomas
- Wesley Barry as Buttons, the Boy
- Slats the Lion
Preservation
Prints of Male and Female are held by:
- Cinematheque Royale de Belgique
- Cinemateca do Museu de Arte Moderna
- Filmoteka Narodowa in Warsaw
- George Eastman Museum, on 35 mm
- Museum Of Modern Art
- Cineteca Nazionale in Rome, on 35 mm
- Library of Congress, on 35 mm and DVD
- UCLA Film and Television Archive, on 16 mm
- Academy Film Archive[5]
DVD release
Male and Female was released on Region 0 DVD-R by Alpha Video on January 28, 2014.[6]
See also
- List of American films of 1919
- The House That Shadows Built (1931 promotional film by Paramount)
References
- ^ a b c Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p. 144. ISBN 0-813-12324-0.
- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Male and Female at silentera.com
- ^ "Male and Female". afi.com. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
- ^ Behind the Screen, by Kenneth Macgowan; chapter 23, "The Search for Story Material"; p. 339; published 1965 by Delacorte Press
- ^ "American Silent Feature Film Database: Male and Female". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
- ^ "Alpha Video - Male and Female". Retrieved 2014-01-30.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Male and Female (1919 film).
- Male and Female at IMDb
- Male and Female available for free download at Internet Archive
- v
- t
- e
Films directed by Cecil B. DeMille
- The Squaw Man (1914)
- Brewster's Millions (1914)
- The Master Mind (1914)
- The Only Son (1914)
- The Man on the Box (1914)
- The Call of the North (1914)
- The Virginian (1914)
- What's His Name (1914)
- The Man from Home (1914)
- Rose of the Rancho (1914)
- The Ghost Breaker (1914)
- The Girl of the Golden West (1915)
- After Five (1915)
- The Warrens of Virginia (1915)
- The Unafraid (1915)
- The Captive (1915)
- The Wild Goose Chase (1915)
- The Arab (1915)
- Chimmie Fadden (1915)
- Kindling (1915)
- Carmen (1915)
- Chimmie Fadden Out West (1915)
- The Cheat (1915)
- Temptation (1915)
- The Golden Chance (1915)
- The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916)
- The Heart of Nora Flynn (1916)
- Maria Rosa (1916)
- The Dream Girl (1916)
- Joan the Woman (1916)
- A Romance of the Redwoods (1917)
- The Little American (1917)
- The Woman God Forgot (1917)
- Nan of Music Mountain (1917)
- The Devil-Stone (1917)
- The Whispering Chorus (1918)
- Old Wives for New (1918)
- We Can't Have Everything (1918)
- Till I Come Back to You (1918)
- The Squaw Man (1918)
- Don't Change Your Husband (1919)
- For Better, for Worse (1919)
- Male and Female (1919)
- Why Change Your Wife? (1920)
- Something to Think About (1920)
- Forbidden Fruit (1921)
- The Affairs of Anatol (1921)
- Fool's Paradise (1921)
- Saturday Night (1922)
- Manslaughter (1922)
- Adam's Rib (1923)
- The Ten Commandments (1923)
- Triumph (1924)
- Feet of Clay (1924)
- The Golden Bed (1925)
- The Road to Yesterday (1925)
- The Volga Boatman (1926)
- The King of Kings (1927)
- Walking Back (1928)
- The Godless Girl (1928)
- Dynamite (1929)
- Madam Satan (1930)
- The Squaw Man (1931)
- The Sign of the Cross (1932)
- This Day and Age (1933)
- Four Frightened People (1934)
- Cleopatra (1934)
- The Crusades (1935)
- The Plainsman (1936)
- The Buccaneer (1938)
- Union Pacific (1939)
- North West Mounted Police (1940)
- Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
- The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
- Unconquered (1947)
- Samson and Delilah (1949)
- The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
- The Ten Commandments (1956)
