Male and Female is a 1919 American silent adventure/drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan. Its main themes are gender relations and social class. The film is based on the 1902 J. M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton.
A previous version was filmed the year before in England as The Admirable Crichton.
Plot
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.
Production
The film contains two famous scenes, indicative of de Mille's predilections as a filmmaker. An early scene depicts Gloria Swanson bathing in an elaborate setting, attended by two maids, lavishing her with rosewater and bath salts, silk dressing gown, and luxurious towels. Toward the end of the film, a fantasy sequence about ancient Babylon shows Swanson posed as Gabriel von Max's famous painting The Lion's Bride, which involved her being photographed with an actual lion.
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'".
Cast
Lila Lee as Tweeny, the scullery maid
Theodore Roberts as Lord Loam
Raymond Hatton as Honorable Ernest 'Ernie' Wolley
Mildred Reardon as Lady Agatha 'Aggie' Lasenby
Gloria Swanson as Lady Mary Lasenby
Thomas Meighan as Crichton, the butler
Robert Cain as Lord Brockelhurst
Bebe Daniels as King's Favorite
Julia Faye as Susan, 2nd Maid
Rhy Darby as Lady Eileen Duncraigie
Edmund Burns as Treherne
Henry Woodward as McGuire, Lady Eileen's Chauffeur
Sydney Deane as Thomas
Wesley Barry as Buttons, the Boy
Slats the Lion
Accolades
The film was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2002 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.
DVD release
Male and Female was released on Region 0 DVD-R by Alpha Video on January 28, 2014.
See also
List of American films of 1919
The House That Shadows Built (1931 promotional film by Paramount)