A whole flock of Cecil B. DeMille favorites from the silent era got into The Affairs Of Anatol. Wallace Reid, Elliott Dexter, and Theodore Roberts for the men and Gloria Swanson, Wanda Hawley, Agnes Ayres, and Bebe Daniels for the women. The title role is played by Wallace Reid who after a couple more films would have his career and life end tragically.
This is one terribly dated Victorian era morality play that no doubt before films would have been a staple of the theater. In fact its origins were from the stage, a play by Arthur Schnitzler and the lead that Reid plays here was originated by John Barrymore. It only ran 72 performances so the great Barrymore could do little with it himself.
Which is why we can't totally blame DeMille, Reid and the rest. The whole concept behind the play would leave audiences scratching their heads.
Reid is married to Swanson, but he's a compulsive reformer in the William Gladstone tradition. Even when he got to be Prime Minister Gladstone used to prowl the streets of London looking for women to help from a life of degradation. And even back then he got a few catcalls from his Tory opposition and even from some in his own party.
Reid leaves Swanson looking women he can mold into someone virtuous. In order they're Hawley, Ayres, and Daniels. Each one of them leaves him sadder, but only wiser later on. Adding to insult Swanson is not being ignored by Reid's best friend Elliott Dexter.
Of course this is the movies and more important a DeMille movie. Virtue has to triumph and it inevitably does.
In his autobiography DeMille only says that for some reason W. Somerset Maugham was threatening a lawsuit saying DeMille had plagiarized one of his works. He was talked out of it before going to court.
I'm surprised Maugham would want to claim anything to do with this.
This is one terribly dated Victorian era morality play that no doubt before films would have been a staple of the theater. In fact its origins were from the stage, a play by Arthur Schnitzler and the lead that Reid plays here was originated by John Barrymore. It only ran 72 performances so the great Barrymore could do little with it himself.
Which is why we can't totally blame DeMille, Reid and the rest. The whole concept behind the play would leave audiences scratching their heads.
Reid is married to Swanson, but he's a compulsive reformer in the William Gladstone tradition. Even when he got to be Prime Minister Gladstone used to prowl the streets of London looking for women to help from a life of degradation. And even back then he got a few catcalls from his Tory opposition and even from some in his own party.
Reid leaves Swanson looking women he can mold into someone virtuous. In order they're Hawley, Ayres, and Daniels. Each one of them leaves him sadder, but only wiser later on. Adding to insult Swanson is not being ignored by Reid's best friend Elliott Dexter.
Of course this is the movies and more important a DeMille movie. Virtue has to triumph and it inevitably does.
In his autobiography DeMille only says that for some reason W. Somerset Maugham was threatening a lawsuit saying DeMille had plagiarized one of his works. He was talked out of it before going to court.
I'm surprised Maugham would want to claim anything to do with this.