The Affairs of Anatol

1921 DramaComedy 117 minutes Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

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About The Affairs of Anatol

Anatol Spencer (Wallace Reid) is bored with his wife Vivian (Gloria Swanson). He tries to 'rescue' his old flame Emilie Dixon from the theatrical backer Gordon Bronson, sets her up, and wrecks the apartment when he finds Bronson there anyway. At a later party the hypnotist Nazzer Singh puts Vivian in a trance in which she starts to undress, and Anatol takes her to the country. There they pull farmer Abner Elliott's wife Annie from the river after she jumps; she had spent church money on a dress. Anatol's round of rescues ends when he comes back and finds Vivian out with his friend Max.

Cast & crew

More about The Affairs of Anatol

Cecil B. DeMille directed, uncredited on some prints, and produced with Jesse L. Lasky. Jeanie Macpherson adapted Arthur Schnitzler's 1893 play Anatol, with help from Beulah Marie Dix and Elmer Harris. Paul Iribe did the art direction. Anne Bauchens edited. Paramount released it on 21 September 1921. The budget and gross figures are the ones Robert S. Birchard reports.

Themes

  • A husband who calls interference a rescue
  • A wife put on display at her own party
  • The country episode that still will not reform him
  • Anatol Spencer
  • Vivian
  • Emilie Dixon
  • Nazzer Singh
  • Annie Elliott
  • Schnitzler

Making

Macpherson turned Schnitzler's string of dialogues into three American episodes: the mistress, the hypnotist's party, and the country wife. Iribe designed the sets.

Audiences

Birchard gives the gross as $1,200,000 against a cost of $176,508.

Look

Karl Struss and Alvin Wyckoff photographed it, moving from the nightclub and the apartment to the river rescue.

Music

Silent, with English intertitles. Brian Benison's score is for a 2000 DVD, not the original release.

Preservation

A print is on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Karl Struss and Alvin Wyckoff shared the photography.
  • Elliott Dexter, Wanda Hawley, Theodore Roberts, Theodore Kosloff, Agnes Ayres, and Monte Blue are in the cast.
  • A 2000 DVD credits music to Brian Benison, a modern score, not a 1921 composition.
  • DeMille's name is missing from some credit frames even though he directed and produced.
  • A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.

Scenes

  • Anatol wrecks Emilie's apartment after Bronson shows up at the party he forbade.
  • Nazzer Singh hypnotizes Vivian into thinking she is wading, and she begins to undress.
  • Anatol and Vivian pull Annie from the river after she jumps from the bridge.

Influenced by

  • Anatol (play by Arthur Schnitzler, 1893)

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (The Affairs of Anatol (1921).webm)

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