Good start, but then it gets ruined

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The Affairs of Anatol (1921)A long, involved, romantic and slightly moralizing movie about a really good hearted man caught between two women. That's the reason to watch it, that and Gloria Swanson in the lead as the wife. The other woman (Wanda Hawley) is a bit of a siren, and our good fellow is trying to be a charitable fellow with her, and only gets himself in trouble. She plays him like a child.The year, 1921, is just at the point where the silent film is solidifying and getting sophisticated in a modern sense. There is still a lot of static (fixed) camera in this one (even though one of the photographers was the legendary Karl Struss). This puts the emphasis on the acting, which rises to the occasion. The copy I saw had some great hand colored title cards and some scenes that were toned in rich yellows or other colors, which made it all quite fun. The conflict between the two women, and the intrusion of another man or two, make this a classic soap opera kind of drama, well done and clear enough to follow once you get the basic flow. There are sort of two halves, and the second part out in the country is a nice shift even though the theme remains similar.Of interest? The director, Cecil B. De Mille, had a hugely influential and long career, and this is toward the beginning, and it shows his tendency to find the popular themes that audiences would connect with, rather than push technical or aesthetic boundaries. Some might call him a populist, interest above all in success, but he was an expert director who knew how to make a movie really coherent, handling the story and actors with precision and a sympathetic feel. And the subject matter here is actually a bit edgy--a married man hanging out with a woman in her most intimate spaces. The play of the "bad" woman against the "good" one is a little expected, of course, but it's such a heartwrenching problem for this nice guy who just wants to help (or so he says), it's painfully enjoyable to watch.

Checked this rare Cecil B. DeMille silent at my local library intrigued by the premise of seeing a Gloria Swanson silent movie in its entirety for the first time. Turns out she's sort of a supporting character since Anatol is actually a man played by Wallace Reid. He's Anatol, a.k.a. Tony, Spencer whose marriage to Vivian (Swanson) is constantly tested by his involvement in three other women: Emile Dixon (Wanda Hawley), Annie Elliott (Agnes Ayres), and Satan Synne (Bebe Daniels). Emile is an old school friend of Tony's who's now in the company of middle aged rich man Gordon Bronson (Theodore Roberts). Annie is the wife of country pastor Abner (Monte Blue) whose church money she unknowingly stole to buy a dress. Ms. Synne is a nightclub entertainer whose World War I veteran husband is enduring a long hospital stay. About Emile: Tony's just wasting his time trying to get her away from pearls which she loves and is too possessive with her on that front especially since he won't do the same about his wife's picture. And his breaking the furniture that HE bought! Tsk, tsk. That segment's too long anyway, though there's some amusement with Raymond Hatton as a violin teacher. About Annie: I can't believe his kissing her after saving her from a drowning which conveniently happens as his wife shows up with a doctor. And it's obviously a pre-Code movie when Annie gets to keep the stolen money with her husband none the wiser! Short enough in my book. About Satan: This was the most touching segment in the movie with Tony intending to really cheat on his wife (not completely realizing vice versa on Vivian's part) and then finding out the truth about Ms. Synne's husband's illness as he then decides to let her keep the $3000 as charity. Also, Polly Moran is briefly amusing as an orchestra leader. Also liked Elliot Dexter as Max Runyon, friend of the Spencers and Theodore Kosloff as Nazzer Singh, a hypnotist who temporarily casts Vivian under a spell. Not a great movie but it certainly has its merits and DeMille provides some great close-ups in the final segment with some wonderful color tints that took my breath away a little. How "happy" the ending is depends on one's view of how trusting the couple really is but it was satisfactory to my tastes. Worth at least a look for anyone interested in old movies. P.S. Ms. Swanson was born in the same town I was: Chicago, Ill. And the writer of the original story, Arthur Schnitzler, would also pen "Traumnovelle" which would be the source of Stanley Kubrick's final work, Eyes Wide Shut.

"The Affairs of Anatole" is another marriage infidelity film from Producer/Director Cecil B. De Mille. Its a white washed story of a socialite's affairs with three women told in three separate stories.Wealthy socialite Anatole DeWitt Spencer...now there's a moniker (Wallace Reid) has been married to his wife Vivian (Gloria Swanson) for a mere ten weeks and feels that the "honey" is gone from the honeymoon and grows restless.While night clubbing with Vivian and his close friend Max Runyon (Elliott Dexter) he sees an old school sweetheart, Emilie Dixon (Wanda Hawley) in the company of a rich old playboy, Gordon Bronson (Theodore Roberts). Feeling that he needs to "save her soul", he tells Vivian that he must save Emilie from herself. Anatole sets her up in an apartment and tries to turn her into a socialite...a sort of "My Fair Lady" scenario. He tries to get her to throw away the jewelry that Bronson had given her, but she hides the jewels from him. Once a gold digger, always a gold digger, Emilie goes back to Bronson and ..............Anatole goes back to Vivian and the two decide on a second honeymoon. A farmer's wife, Annie Elliot (Agnes Ayres) has just stolen church funds from her husband Abner (Monte Blue) that he had been keeping for the local church. As luck would have it, the despondent Annie is just jumping from a bridge in a suicide attempt as Anatole and Vivian's boat is rowing under the bridge. Anatole saves the woman and brings her ashore to administer first aid. While Vivan goes for help, Annie sees her chance to redeem herself by stealing Anatole's fat wallet that has fallen conveniently to the ground. Playing up to him, she steals the wallet and.............Next Anatole meets "vamp" Satan Synne...there's another name (Bebe Daniels) who is a thinly disguised prostitute whom Anatole decides to save. Satan in reality is Mary Deacon who is living the life to get money to finance her war veteran husband's many operations. Complete with an octopus' tentacled cloak, she puts her coils around Anatole to obtain the $3,000 required for her husband's latest operation and.....................Repentant, Anatole returns to Vivian yet again only to find that she is on an "all nighter" with his best friend Max and...................Even though De Mille tries to paint each of these ladies as pure of heart, there's no doubt what is REALLY going on. The fact that Vivian keeps taking Anatole back after each affair is a little hard to believe. But hey, this was 1921.Wallace Reid was now a major star as was the diminutive Gloria Swanson. Reid, a life long alcoholic, was now addicted to morphine resulting from an accident in 1919. This combination proved lethal and Reid died prematurely at the age of 31 in 1923. Bebe Daniels was just coming into her own as a star after years in Harold Lloyd comedies. Agnes Ayres received a measure of immortality, as the girl carried off by Rudolph Valentino in "The Shiek" (1921).Others in the cast include Theodore Kosloff as an Indian mystic, Raymond Hatton as a music teacher, Polly Moran as an orchestra leader and William (don't call me Hoppy) Boyd as a party guest at the apartment of Emilie.Interesting but..........

In the era from 1910-1928, there were a lot of very melodramatic morality tale movies. The audiences loved them, but to today's viewers, they might seem a bit predictable and silly. As for me, I've seen so many of them that after a while they tend to blend together in my mind. They all seem to involve a husband who begins to wander and ultimately, they return to their good wives by the end of the film.While this one appears to be such a film, at first the husband (Wallace Reid) seems to have the purest of intentions. He meets an old girlfriend from 8th grade and tries to pull her away from a life where she is being supported by rich men. The problem is, she LIKES this sort of life and Reid is already married to Glroia Swanson and his wife naturally resents this! However, because this IS basically a formulaic film, you also know that despite the eventual breakup of the marriage, you know by convention that they MUST be reunited by the final frame! That is my biggest problem with the film--it was generally too predictable and too telegraphed and obvious. For example, when the husband TRIES to be unfaithful, he goes to the home (more of a lair, actually) of Madame Satan Synne (played by Bebe Daniels) to be vamped! This part left me with mixed feelings actually, as the over-the-top home and the octopus outfit she worse was really funny and that deep down she WAS a good woman! But, it all still seemed rather formulaic at the core. Yep,...despite falling in her clutches, only a few minutes later he was back to Gloria.