Male And Female

2156. MALE AND FEMALE (1919-usa). WITH Thomas Meighan, Gloria Swanson, Lila LEE, BEBE DANIELS, RAYMOND HATTON. Produced by CECIL B. De MILLE. Based on the play “The Admirable Chrichton” by JAMES M. BARRIE. This simple and poignant allegory keenly depicts what might happen if wealthy idlers and their servants were to be placed together in a survival-of- the-fittest situation. It tells the story of an aristocratic clan headed by the Earl of Loam. Lady Agatha Lasenby is the Earl’s vain younger daughter. Lady Mary Lasenby is his stubborn and spoiled elder daughter. The Honorable Ernest Wootley is his lethargic cousin. The household’s lower echelon is represented by Tweeny the scullery maid and Chrichton the “admirable” butler. The scenario follows the manner in which the lives and destinies of all these characters become intertwined when they find themselves shipwrecked on an uninhabited island: a predicament which is sure to serve as a Great Equalizer. For after all, if you eliminate their class distinctions the characters are no longer lords and ladies and servants but merely men and women. Included in the film is the famous sequence in which Gloria Swanson (cast as Lady Mary) bathes naked in a lavish sunken bathtub. The costume designer is MITCHELL LEISEN, who went on to become an important director during the 1930s. This is one of his very first screen credits. “Silent” film with music score. 116 minutes ÒSilentÓ Drama