The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

Cecil B. DeMille returns with star Gloria Swanson in The Affairs of Anatol, yet another one of DeMille's battle-of-the-sexes picture where the an aspect of marriage, as well as the boundaries of early censorship, are tested.

Though the film headlines Swanson (in the role of Vivian Spencer) as the star, the story follows Anatol Spencer (Wallace Reid), a rich, young, and chivalrous man that believes in the goodness of people and cannot help but reach out to aid a damsel in distress. And as this film goes, there are a few he will try to save.

Anatol and Vivian are newlyweds, when one evening at a nightclub Anatol spots an old sweetheart of his, Emilie (Wanda Hawley), who is with a much older, wealthy man. Anatol feels he must "rescue" her from going down the wrong road in life. Despite Vivian's clear opposition, Anatol puts Emilie up in an apartment he owns and tries to teach her the finer things in life, including violin lessons. It becomes clear that Emilie is trying to steal Anatol from his wife, therefore he defects her advances and pushes her away, which lands her back with the older, wealthy man she was with before, making Anatol feel to be the fool.

Anatol returns to his wife asking for forgiveness. Vivian forgives him and from there they decide to get away and go on excursion in the country where they happen across a young lady who after stealing money from her church tries to drown herself. Anatol and and Vivian revive her. Vivian would find the girl and Anatol kissing. Anatol is ashamed, and the girl runs off. Anatol discovers the truth of the girl's advances was that she stole his wallet. This time Vivian is not going to forgive Anatol as easily.

Anatol, in a fit over his wife not willing to reconcile, decides to go out on the town alone in attempt to settle his nerves. He seeks out a seductive nightclub entertainer, Satan Synne (Bebe Daniels). Once at Synne's apartment Anatol learns that Satan is in fact an honest, married woman that cares deeply for her sick husband and the reason she is entertaining Anatol is to ask him to help pay for an operation she needs for her husband, which make Anatol rethink his values and what he was attempting to to by coming to her. He rushes back to his apartment, realizing he is happily married, only to discover that his wife went out to forget him, along with Anatol's best friend. The movie concludes with this twist on a once happy marriage.

All in all, the film seems to be on the surface yet another DeMille/Swanson picture, but put into proper perspective, we realize that this film pushed some boundaries with how relationship where presented on the screen. Anatol is an honest loving man, who's naiveté gets him into trouble. When his wife refuses to reconcile easily, he throws his morals out the window and tries to have a real affair with the most seductive woman he could find. To put on the screen the idea that he consciously is trying to have an affair would have been very racy in a heavily censored world of movies during the early part of the 20th century. That along with the two women in the story that use Anatol's feelings to steal from him, as well as Vivian going out to essential cheat on Anatol as well, make this a film of failure and unfaithfulness in the marriage. These ideas where not ones that you would see in movies of the period, and it was DeMille that pushed these boundaries to see how far he could take relationship issues on the big screen.

To watch this film now, it is rather unassuming, but it was a picture, a well received one at that, that tested where mainstream movies could go with issues. Time has made the picture less impactful, but is was yet another step in how we would tell stories in motion pictures.