For someone who has seen Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard in We're Not Dressing you will get a nice musical and comedy treat as Bing sings some nice songs and comedy is nicely handled by Burns&Allen and Leon Errol. But while the broad comedy aspects of The Admirable Crichton are handled well there, the broad range of James M. Barrie's story is done in the Cecil B. DeMille silent film Male And Female. Starring of course DeMille's latest discovery Gloria Swanson.Elliott Dexter a DeMille silent regular was unavailable so Thomas Meighan takes the title role as the butler on Theodore Roberts estate. He has two daughters and a silly sot of a nephew in Raymond Hatton. The daughters are Gloria Swanson and Lila Lee.We have class distinctions in America, but they're not as rigid as they are in the United Kingdom. It's those aspects that are dealt with in Male And Female not the Americanized We're Not Dressing. Meighan has it bad for Swanson, but the rigid class structure makes that union impossible.But when they're shipwrecked on a tropical island while on a cruise the social order is reversed. Theodore Roberts by dint of his title tries to assert his authority. But Meighan as the man with the most knowledge on how to survive upsets that in a hurry. Unlike the Crosby/Lombard film, these folks are here for a few years and thinking even with the social order reversed, it's not like Robinson Crusoe with no one to converse with for years.Barrie both satirizes and deals with the subject class seriously. As for DeMille he gets to do one of his spectacle type sequences in a flashback when the cast imagines they're in ancient Babylon with Meighan as king. In that flashback is a young Bebe Daniels who was getting started and she would shortly being starring in DeMille silent films. DeMille in his autobiography pays compliments to a new member of his team Mitchell Leisen who did the costumes. He would be a DeMille regular until he went out on his own as a director.I liked the film and I'll let you others decide whether there is more Barrie or more DeMille in this film.

Male and Female is a delightful tale of class relationships mixed with a little Gilligan's Island. The story is an old one that shows the relationship between birthed aristocracy and the peasants or in this case the servants.The story starts off showing how shallow and frivolous the family that owns the manor are. The head off the family is a bumbling father type Lord Loam (Theodore Roberts) and his two daughters Marry (Gloria Swanson) and Agatha (Mildred Reardon) both pampered and spoiled and the many servants the two main ones being William Chrichton (Thomas Meighan) and Tweeny (Lila Lee).^The film shows the relationships of the masters and servants with Marry getting ready for her bath and the having breakfast and complaining that nothing is done correctly while Chrichton just stands there and takes it, Tweeny has a real eye for Chrichton but he looks at Marry a relationship that could never be in proper London.Well the family takes a sea voyage on their private yacht and the become shipwrecked. This island is more like Gilligan's Island then a real south seas island. On the Island Chrichton shows himself able to survive and find food, The manor family meanwhile refuses to work until hunger drives them to Chrichton and they are humbled and he assumes a role as leader. In the meanwhile Marry falls in love with Chrichton and this id OK with the more egalitarian social structure of the island. Well the group is rescues and things revert back to the way the were.Cecil B. DeMille did a fine job directing this film. The film has high production value and is well acted and photographed. The story while simplistic is delightful to watch the acting is will done and the characters say a great deal through emoting. This movie gets a grade of B

I am sure my summary got your attention, but this really is accurate. This J.M. Barrie play that was brought to the screen by Cecil B. DeMille is an awful lot like Sherwood Schwartz's "Gilligan's Island" merged with Lina Wertmüller's "Swept Away"...seriously! And, it just goes to show you that these more moderns tales aren't as original as you might have thought.Let's back up a bit. "Swept Away" is a film that satirizes social class. A very demanding and selfish rich snob is knocked overboard from a yacht. A crew member who she'd treated like dirt is also in same predicament. Eventually the two find themselves on a deserted island and she expects the same social class distinctions to continue. However, he's sick of her belly-aching and unwillingness to work, so eventually the much stronger and more capable man beats the snot out of the woman--teaching her that he is now boss. Oddly, over time, they fall in love and the film becomes quite sexual.Well, "Male and Female" is based on J.M. Barrie's "The Admiral Crichton". In this version, the story is almost the same except that instead of one snobby lady, a group of snobs as well as a very snobby lady are stuck on an island with two servants. The same situation results MINUS all the sex in the Lina Wertmüller film. Plus, unfortunately, DeMille handles "Male and Female" in a very, very heavy-handed manner--infusing the story with a very, very, very preachy narration and meaningless Babylonian scenes that were clearly influenced by D.W. Griffith's "Intollerance".For a 1919 film, you have to cut it some slack when it comes to rating it. Yes, it is very preachy and obvious and the intertitle cards are awfully written, but the basic story is excellent and it's a whole lot better than most full-length films you see from the same time period. Well worth seeing.

A fairly ridiculous upstairs downstairs silent film romance/cast-away adventure.There are two parts to this film – the first two hours and the last 20 seconds. Those final 20 second color all which come before it in a most surprising manner.But first, the initial two hours. We begin in Victorian England. Virtuous, intelligent, hard working servants must wait on inept, frivolous and decadent aristocracy. Lady Mary Lasenby, Gloria Swanson's character is the most conceited of them all – haughtily lounging, extravagantly bathing in rose scented water and obnoxiously ridiculing Crichton, the intelligent and industrious butler, about her morning toast.After establishing this social dynamic, De Mille turns everything on its head by having the group's ship wreck on a deserted island while out on a pleasure cruise (a la Gilligan). Castaway on the island the 'law of nature' prevails over Victorian hierarchy and Crichton is soon established as the group's leader because of his bravery, industriousness and intelligence. Crichton is the leopard-skin wearing king, building a little village on the island equipped with numerous contraptions even The Professor would marvel at. Further, previously vain and bratty Lady Lasenby falls in love with Crichton. They are to marry, but mid "I do" a ship arrives to save them. Instantly, before the first English sailor has disembarked to rescue them, the Victorian hierarchy demands all of them return to their previous roles. After years as the leopard-skin king Crichton is instantly the butler again. Victorian social rules supercede Crichton's natural skills and he must return a servant; Victorian social rule supercede Lady Lasenby's love, and she knows they can never marry. To drive home the point of how disastrous their marriage would be despite their love, Lady Lasenby's friend, who stooped to marry her chauffeur, arrives to see Lady Lasenby penny less and shunned, the proof of society's condemnation of those who break the rules.And here is where the first movie ends – a tragic love story about the constraints of Victorian society - not unlike Age of Innocence or many other comedies of manners.But then you have the final scene in the last 20 seconds. Previously we learned Crichton is leaving for America and says marring Tweeny, the maid, to escape the unbearable condition he has returned to in England. Cut to the final scene. There is a startling change of scenery – a little wood house out on the American prairie. Crichton is just coming home from plowing the fields of their farm and Tweeny is out to meet him. They embrace and kiss, the film ends, and the poignancy of De Mille's final statement reworks everything in the previous two hours. De Mille's statement is about the promise of America, and its effect is more powerful than just about any political speech I can recall. Crichton is happy and will be happy because here in America we reward based on natural ability and hard work. We have seen what Crichton is capable of, and De Mille wants us to imagine his accomplishments in a land that will allow him to flourishes. It is American democratic propaganda second only to It's a Wonderful Life in effectiveness. An astounding political accomplishment considering America is not even a thought in this film until the final scene. The single stationary shot of Crichton walking from his field to his wife is a stirring, persuasive tribute to the American dream.Regardless of whether you buy the propaganda or not, it is worth a viewing to see how effectively De Mille presents it.This film is also noteworthy because it is the first time De Mille directed Swanson, a collaboration made famous by Sunset Blvd.Should you see it? If only to compare it with It's a Wonderful Life as an endorsement of the American dream.