Cheap The Affairs of Anatol (DVD) (Cecil B. DeMille) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Affairs of Anatol

The 1920's soap opera king
CB DeMille hit pay dirt as far as I am concerned with this one. It is a soap opera and as soap operas go a very good one. I still in my young mind can not phatom how Gloria Swanson became such a big star under the tuotoship of CB. She is a OK actress though much better than in shifting sands (1918) This will appeal to you if you want to see what a young Gloria looked like before Sunset Blvd. But I wish someone would tell me what was her magnetism. I still prefer Pola Negri to her any ole time

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Witty, Cynical Film But Poor Picture Quality
THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL is one of the great but elusive silents from the early 1920s that turn up only as tantalizing photos in film books. So it is a real joy to discover a tinted and toned print on DVD with a serviceable new music score. The film also provides an opportunity to view the sophisticated work of Cecil B. DeMille when he was still very much of a creative film-maker and before he settled into the "cotton candy" purveyor of comic book-type films of the sound era.

Perhaps the spendid visual quality of some recent DVD silent film releases has spoiled me, but as all silent film buffs know, the flesh tones in silents are crucial. When the actors all look as though their make-up is white flour, you know you're watching a print a few generations removed from a good original. Since the liner notes claim that ANATOL was taken from a 35 mm. original - hence the elaborate stenciling, tinting and toning - I was shocked at the rather muddy pictorial quality and dead white faces of the actors. It's still a wonderful film but the disapponting visual quality will limit its appeal to established silent film buffs. It's tough sledding for others.

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THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL!
Directed by the immortal CECIL B. DeMILLE! Starring the dazzling GLORIA SWANSON! A tawdry little tale of the JAZZ AGE! Swanson plays Vivian, the wife of Anatol DeWitt Spencer, played by WALLACE REID! They are a young married couple who end up CHANGING their HEARTS along with their PARNTERS once they are seduced by the DECADENT PLEASURES of New York City! Featuring BEBA DANIELS as the wickedest woman in the Big Apple, Satan Synne! The story might not be much but the COSTUMES and the SETS are pure DEMILLE! "The Affairs of Anatol" is based on a novel and play by Arthur Schnitzler! In DeMille's hands it becuase a SOPHISTICATED FARCE! This SILENT film is presented with its original COLOR TINTING! This would be a good one to check out before watching GLORIA in "Sunset Blvd"!