Male and Female
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Male and Female | |
---|---|
Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited) |
Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille |
Written by | Jeanie Macpherson J.M. Barrie (orig. play) |
Starring | Lila Lee Theodore Roberts Raymond Hatton |
Music by | Sydney Jill Lehman (1997 alt version) |
Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
Running time | 116 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent Film English intertitles |
All Movie Guide profile |
- for the book by Margaret Mead see Male and Female (book)
Male and Female is a 1919 silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Its main themes are gender relations and social class.
[edit] Plot
The film centers on the relationship between Lady Mary Loam (played by Gloria Swanson), a British aristocrat, and her butler, Crichton. 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 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 had fancied Crichton throughout the film), to marry him, and the two move to the United States.