Cecil B. DeMille was one of the most successful filmmakers of all time. He was also one of the most critically reviled. Almost 50 years after his death (he died in 1959), his name is still well known to the public. What a tribute to the staying power of his many films. His career spanned over 40 years from THE SQUAW MAN in 1913 to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in 1956. DeMille was the P.T. Barnum of the movies. He knew all the tricks of the trade and how to use them for the greatest effect. He also knew what his public wanted to see and gave it to them. His skills as a director were such that his films continue to entertain and fascinate us today long after his many negative reviews have been forgotten. While there is much to criticize, there is even more to enjoy. Most of his sound films are well known and are frequently shown on TV but not his silent films which have been unavailable until recently.
This DVD collects 2 films from the silent era which represent the best and worst of early DeMille. MANSLAUGHTER (1922) is making its home video debut. This was the sort of potboiler that DeMille regularly cranked out between his large scale projects such as the first version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923). It features Leatrice Joy (John Gilbert’s wife and DeMille’s replacemnt for Gloria Swanson) as a good time party girl who almost comes to a bad end only to be redeemed at the end. At this stage of his career DeMille loved to throw in historic flashbacks to contrast and compare to contemporary life. This time around it’s Ancient Rome and its decadence. The pompous moralizing of the Thomas Meighan character was only natural in the wake of the Fatty Arbuckle and William Desmond Taylor scandals (both at DeMille’s home studio of Paramount) but neither DeMille nor most of his audience took it seriously. The print used for MANSLAUGHTER which was taken from the Killiam Collection is OK for the most part and is probably the best there is. After all this is certainly no masterpiece but it remains an interesting social document of the time.
THE CHEAT has already been on DVD coupled with DeMille’s CARMEN. Here is a totally different DeMille. Using cutting, lighting, and settings to great effect for such an early film (1915), he manages to turn a routine melodrama of the time into a film which is still gripping today thanks in no small part to the charismatic presence of Sessue Hayakawa who many years later would portray the Camp Commander in BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. This is the same excellent transfer by Film Preservation Associates used for the earlier DVD. A must for the silent film buff and for anyone interested in the early career of one of America’s best known film directors. This is part of Kino International’s VAMPS, VIXENS, & VIRGINS series, a title old C.B. would have loved.
The Capsule Critic 