The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

This is one of my favourite silent films, very preachy with sly sexual sub-texts as usual from DeMille but with its tongue firmly in its cheek. And with the passage of time it (presently) reflects back to us a dead world, where people seemed to think, talk and behave in strange ways, and where innocence and sublety are intermixed.Man with honourable knight errant tendencies rescues pretty girls and repeatedly gets burned much to his and his faithful wife's disgust, eventually causing her to paint the town red in revenge. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson are perfect in their respective roles of handsome couple Anatol and Vivian, bringing an old fashioned story not only to life but to a credible and dignified level too. Their staunch friend Max seems to have a lot to think of judging by all the gurning asides he pulls. Of the three distinct sections in the film the third with Bebe Daniels as Madame Satan Synne in her quasi-brothel is the most fascinating, the money shots for me being of her introducing Anatol to her startling companion in her bedroom. What a vamp. You will have to draw your own conclusions at the end with the unanswered question but seeing Max's blissful face I know what I think… But it ill behooves me to talk about any of them after all! There's nice camera-work and also nice tinting throughout which usually helps.It's essential to see if you're a silent film fan, and hopefully still enjoyable if you're not but you'll probably be severely puzzled by all of the moralising.

I know some may find me an oddball for this but I consider The Affairs of Anatol a masterpiece of silent cinema.Gloria Swanson is one of my favorite actresses and she's remarkable as always in this one. But I wouldn't see Affairs for just her alone, her part is rather small compared to the ones she had in Don't Change Your Husband and Why Change Your Wife? However, even though she doesn't get as much screen time, she's still amazing and in my honest opinion, she steals every scene she's in. Her elegant wardrobe and sophisticated aura makes her the star. Wallace Reid is great too and watching him, you never would have guessed he was towards the end of his life. He seemed very strong and handsome to me, although I haven't seen him in much (sadly).Anatol (Reid) and his wife, Vivian (Swanson) are a pretty happy married couple until Anatol starts developing the habit of wanting to rescue women with no morals from their fate. This film is long but it HAS to be to fit it all in! We travel with Anatol and Vivian through many adventures that continuously test their marriage and happiness.The cast is absolutely fabulous! Many, many good actors and actresses here. Obviously, Gloria Swanson and Wallace Reid. Then we have delightful Bebe Daniels as Satan Synne, a vampish woman with a heart of gold deep down. Also, there's the wonderful, unique and sadly underrated Raymond Hatton who has a short appearance as a violin teacher. Pretty and talented Agnes Ayres plays a country "good girl" and the great character actor Theodore Roberts plays a mean ol' millionaire. Others in the cast worth mentioning are Monte Blue, Wanda Hawley, Elliott Dexter and Theodore Kosloff.This movie is stunning visually and is gorgeous to look at. Beautiful tints and a score that works with the film like butter works with bread. The costumes and sets are to die for and the whole thing just screams DeMille. TCM shows this film every now and then but I wouldn't wait that long. For Gloria and DeMille fans this is a MUST.

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.

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.