The Affairs of Anatol
by Cecil B. DeMille
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Elliott Dexter, Gloria Swanson, Theodore Roberts, Wallace Reid, Wanda HawleyDirector: Cecil B. DeMille
Cinematographer: Alvin Wyckoff
Cinematographer: Karl Struss
Producer: Cecil B. DeMille
Editor: Anne Bauchens
Writer: Arthur Schnitzler
Writer: Jeanie Macpherson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Silent
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-09-26
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Affairs of Anatol
Movie Review: Engrossing entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
This film has a lot going for it, even though it's more like fun entertainment as opposed to a heavy classic masterpiece. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, whom most people either love or hate. Though he's largely remembered today for his religious epics, this film is the type of picture he did more of. It still has the feel of a morality play, but overall it's not as heavy-handed as the type of DeMille picture most people associate him with. The print is also beautiful, with a lot of tinted and hand-colored title cards, complete with lovely drawings and ornate letters, tinted scenes, and even one scene towards the end that appears to be in very early Technicolor. Another thing it has going for it is that it has a number of big-name stars; some movies with star-studded casts seem more interested in parading out these big names than on delivering a well-developed storyline, but here there's no sense of being bogged down by a lot of big stars. We have the handsome and ill-fated Wallace Reid in the title role of Anatol DeWitt Spencer, the glamourous Gloria Swanson as his newlywed wife Vivian, the charming Bebe Daniels as the tempting Satan Synne, Agnes Ayres (once a big-name star but largely forgotten today) as Annie Elliott, and even the legendary Russian ballet dancer Theodore Kosloff (né Fyodor Koslov) as an Indian hypnotist. (Interestingly, he's billed as a "Hindu," even though his character's surname is Singh, which as most people should know is a Sikh, not a Hindu, surname.)
Anatol and Vivian are happy newlyweds who are still enjoying the honeymoon phase of their marriage, although Vivian is quite displeased at Anatol's habit of trying to reform what he sees as wicked women. One of these women is his childhood sweetheart Emilie, whom he moves into their house after telling her sugar daddy that he won't have her to exploit and take advantage of anymore. However, as time wears on Emilie gets tired of the straight and narrow path Anatol wants her to be on, and goes back to her life as a kept woman. Anatol feels furious that he was tricked into thinking she wanted to change, and decides he and Vivian will go on a trip to the countryside, where people are still honest, moral, and kind. However, they aren't there very long when he finds himself tricked and taken advantage of by a woman yet again, and by the type of woman he never suspected would be as crafty and scheming as her big-city counterparts. However, Vivian sees him in what she interprets as a compromsing position with this woman, and goes home alone. This sets in motion a chain of events that eventually leads Anatol to the home of Satan Synne, who is not all she seems to be on first glance. Since he caused the problems in his marriage in the first place, however unthinkingly, he must be the one who rights them too. This leads to an interesting dénouement.
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