Despite a sterling reputation, Cecil B. DeMille had a long career making bad movies. Yes, the looked good--with big budgets and lavish sets. But, the stories themselves were often ridiculously shallow--as if capable writing was unimportant. And, "Manslaughter" is a great example of this!
"Manslaughter" is the story of a nasty rich lady and a district attorney who loves her--though there is not even one reason why he cares about this bad seed. All Lydia cares about is partying, drinking (during Prohibition) and driving with reckless abandon. Yet, despite her violating many laws and being a selfish jerk, the audience is expected to believe D.A. O'Bannon loves her?! And, when she callously kills a cop while joyriding and shows zero remorse, we are expected to believe that the D.A. is racked with guilt for prosecuting her?! And, after she is convicted and given a relatively lite sentence, we are expected to believe the D.A. then resigns because he prosecuted her?! Does any of this make sense? What makes all this worse is the very heavy-handed sermonizing--the way DeMille did in so many films. Lydia's behaviors are REPEATEDLY compared to the decadence of ancient Rome! And, again and again, we see orgy scenes that were meant more to titillate in the grand De Mille fashion instead of helping the story be believable. As for the acting, once again, De Mille blows it--allowing many of the actors to way over-emote--to the point of ridiculousness. And, by 1922 standards, it overdone and lacked subtlety. Silly touches include Lydia becoming so sad in prison that she faints and soon is wasting away in the infirmary!! And to top it off, it is done with sledgehammer symbolism--as she throws a water bottle that hits a sign saying "forgive us our trespasses" and it is caught by a woman who rightfully hates Lydia!!! And only a bit later, Lydia learns from this new friend that the meaning of life is love and service to others (gag!!!)!! Yuck, what bilge! Soon, Lydia is like the new Mary Poppins! And, oddly, the old D.A. has quit his job and is a drunkard!!!! Upon her release, Lydia now is a social worker and not surprisingly finds the old D.A. on the skids! Oh, can it get any worse?! Well, yes..and it does! The bottom line is that I love silents and have most likely reviewed more silents than anyone on IMDb. This has enabled me to know good sentiment and cheap sentimentality--and even by the relatively different standards of the time, "Manslaughter" is bad. It looks nice but is just cheap and silly.
"Manslaughter" is the story of a nasty rich lady and a district attorney who loves her--though there is not even one reason why he cares about this bad seed. All Lydia cares about is partying, drinking (during Prohibition) and driving with reckless abandon. Yet, despite her violating many laws and being a selfish jerk, the audience is expected to believe D.A. O'Bannon loves her?! And, when she callously kills a cop while joyriding and shows zero remorse, we are expected to believe that the D.A. is racked with guilt for prosecuting her?! And, after she is convicted and given a relatively lite sentence, we are expected to believe the D.A. then resigns because he prosecuted her?! Does any of this make sense? What makes all this worse is the very heavy-handed sermonizing--the way DeMille did in so many films. Lydia's behaviors are REPEATEDLY compared to the decadence of ancient Rome! And, again and again, we see orgy scenes that were meant more to titillate in the grand De Mille fashion instead of helping the story be believable. As for the acting, once again, De Mille blows it--allowing many of the actors to way over-emote--to the point of ridiculousness. And, by 1922 standards, it overdone and lacked subtlety. Silly touches include Lydia becoming so sad in prison that she faints and soon is wasting away in the infirmary!! And to top it off, it is done with sledgehammer symbolism--as she throws a water bottle that hits a sign saying "forgive us our trespasses" and it is caught by a woman who rightfully hates Lydia!!! And only a bit later, Lydia learns from this new friend that the meaning of life is love and service to others (gag!!!)!! Yuck, what bilge! Soon, Lydia is like the new Mary Poppins! And, oddly, the old D.A. has quit his job and is a drunkard!!!! Upon her release, Lydia now is a social worker and not surprisingly finds the old D.A. on the skids! Oh, can it get any worse?! Well, yes..and it does! The bottom line is that I love silents and have most likely reviewed more silents than anyone on IMDb. This has enabled me to know good sentiment and cheap sentimentality--and even by the relatively different standards of the time, "Manslaughter" is bad. It looks nice but is just cheap and silly.