Male and Female | |
---|---|
Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille |
Written by | Jeanie MacPherson |
Based on | The Admirable Crichton by J. M. Barrie |
Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille Jesse L. Lasky |
Starring | Gloria Swanson Thomas Meighan |
Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
Edited by | Anne Bauchens |
Music by | Sydney Jill Lehman (1997 version) |
Production company | Famous Players–Lasky/Artcraft |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 116 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Budget | $168,619.28 [1] |
Box office | $1,256,226.59 [1] |
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 .
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.
The film contains two famous scenes, indicative of de Mille's predilections as a filmmaker.
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]
Prints of Male and Female are held by:
Male and Female was released on Region 0 DVD-R by Alpha Video on January 28, 2014. [6]
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American black comedy film noir directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett. It is named after a major street that runs through Hollywood.
Gloria Josephine Mae Swanson was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for her 1950 turn in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which also earned her a Golden Globe Award.
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.
The Admirable Crichton is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie.
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Thomas Meighan was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading-man roles opposite popular actresses of the day, including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 per week.
The Admirable Crichton is a 1957 British south seas adventure comedy romance film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, Diane Cilento, Cecil Parker and Sally Ann Howes. The film was based on J. M. Barrie's 1902 stage comedy of the same name. It was released in the United States as Paradise Lagoon.
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The Admirable Crichton is a 1918 British silent comedy film directed by G. B. Samuelson and starring Basil Gill, Mary Dibley and James Lindsay. It was based on the 1902 play The Admirable Crichton by J. M. Barrie.
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The Admirable Crichton is a 1968 TV movie adaptation of the 1902 play The Admirable Crichton by J. M. Barrie. It stars Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna.