Formal Film Study 2-Cecil B. DeMille Films

For my project I decided to watch three films directed by Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille was an American film director and film producer of both silent and sound films. DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved on to writing and directing stage productions. He directed his first film, The Squaw Man, released in 1914 and directed dozens of silent films before transitioning to sound films in 1929. Among his best-known films are Cleopatra (1934); Samson and Delilah(1949); The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture; and The Ten Commandments (1956).  Instead of choosing his most popular films, I chose three of his lesser known films, Male and Female(1919), Don't Change Your Husband (1919) and Why Change Your Wife? (1920). All three films starred Gloria Swanson, one of DeMille's favorite actresses. 

Male and Female-1919

The film centers on the relationship between Lady Mary Loam (Swanson), a British aristocrat, and her butler, Crichton (Meighan). Crichton is in love with Mary, but she disdains him because of his lower social class. When the two and some others are shipwrecked on a desert 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 is in love with Crichton), to marry him, and the two move to the United States.

The theme of this film is gender relations and social class. I think DeMille was trying to make a statement about British aristocracy and that he disagreed with it. What he was trying to say was, it doesn't matter what your social standing was, when it comes down to it, we are all humans and that's what really matters.

 The cinematography( editing, lighting,etc.) of the film really helps tell the story. I find it really interesting how he used the lighting to make it look like day time or night time. I have no idea how he did it but, when it was night time during the film, he made it look like night but you could still see the characters perfectly. He really made everything look realistic. At some point in the film, a scene would end and a black hole would fade out the shot. It would then go to another scene but the color tint of the scene would be different than the previous one, for instance, one would have an orangish tin t to it and the next one would have blue. I'm not sure if DeMille did this on purpose or if it was because the films were so old and the film had some damage. 

In my opinion, the most important scene, is the babylonian sequence. In the scene the main character, Crichton, is fantasizing about being the king of Babylon and Gloria Swanson as the christian slave. It is one of the most famous scenes from the movie. The costumes are awesome and they even have real lions in the scene. DeMille's editing of the scene is really well done. He really showed captured the fear in Gloria Swanson's eyes when she was in the lion pit. 

I even found an interview with Gloria Swanson talking about how they made the lion scene, it's pretty interesting.



Don't Change Your Husband-1919

 Don't Change Your Husband is about a woman named Leila Porter. She comes to dislike her husband James, who is always eating onions and looking sloppy. But after she divorces him and marries two-timing playboy Schuyler Van Sutphen the now-reformed James looks pretty good.

This movie is what would, now a days, be considered a romantic comedy. DeMille's films usually have some provocative things sprinkled in but then he always ends the movie with the characters learning their lessons. And he really makes the women in this film look naive; it really reflects society's view on women at the time.

 There is one memorable scene in which Cody( Schuyler Van Sutphen) is luring Swanson with promises of wealth, pleasure, and love. As he coos to her she imagines the scenes. Pleasure is a fantastic scene of Swanson in a spidery hammock swinging out over a pool while people dance around. It is this amazing choreographed scene with tons of people. Wealth is a scene in which Swanson is gowned like a Babylonian queen as servants bring her chests of jewels, which shes tosses aside. Love is a scene in which she is a wood nymph in a forest glade with a Pan-like character (Ted Shawn). It's truly a really beautiful scene, and unfortunately I can't find a clip of it anywhere but I did find a couple of still s of the scene.


There is also an extravagant party scene where Swanson is dressed as a princess and Cody is dressed as a king. They ended up making Swanson's husband dress as a court jester to show how foolish and oblivious he was. It's cool how DeMille used that symbolically.


Why Change Your Wife? -1920



This movie is sort of a sequel to Don't Change Your Husband- 1919. Robert and Beth Gordon are married but share little. He runs into Sally at a cabaret and the Gordons are soon divorced. Just as he gets bored with Sally's superficiality, Beth strives to improve her looks. The original couple falls in love again at a summer resort. 

Once again DeMille makes the women in this film seem really dumb, like they can't make up their minds about things. It's quite sexist. He also made women look kind of crazy, there is a scene where Swanson is fighting her ex-husbands new wife. Below is a clip from the scene but you have to skip to 8:00. 

The opening scene of the movie shows the unhappily married couple getting ready in the morning. The husband(meighan) is trying to shave in the mirror but Swanson keeps getting things from the medicine cabinet and it really irritates the husband. After their divorce, the husband gets remarried to Sally and once again, while he is shaving in the mirror, Sally needs to grab some things from the medicine cabinet. I thought it was cool how DeMille replicated that scene.The lesson learned in the movie is that all wives are the same and they will all have bad habits no matter what.

 

To be honest there really is only one awesome scene in the movie.It's  another one of DeMille's extravagant scenes with beautiful sets, amazing costumes and tons of people. It is a scene at the summer resort both couples are staying at and it's just beautiful. There people in awesome bathing suits and beautiful pools. Unfortunately I can't find a clip of it.

In conclusion, after watching these three films I discovered that DeMille and Gloria Swanson were an amazing director/actress duo. I also learned that DeMille loved making scenes in his movies that are fantasies which are usually in ancient times. The scenes usually end up being extravagant. He also loved putting some risque innuendos and things in his films as well but he would make up for them by having the  the characters learn lessons.