Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood

40. The Affairs of Anatol

40 Th~ Affairs of Anatol A Famous Players-Lasky Super Production. A Paramount Picture. A Cecil B. DeMille Production. Director: Cecil B. DeMille. Scenario byJeanie Macpherson. Beulah Marie Dix. Lorna Moon. and Elmer Harris. suggested by the play Anatol by Arthur Schnitzler and the paraphrase thereof by Granville Barker. Art director: Paul Iribe. Photography: Alvin Wyckoff and Karl Struss. Film editor: Anne Bauchens Picture started: December 2. 1920. Picture finished: January 25. I921 . Length: 9.002 feet (later cut to 8.813 feet) (nine reels). Cost: $176.508.08. Released: September 25. 1921. Gross: $1.191.789.19 Cast: Wallace Reid (Anatol DeWitt Spencer). Elliott Dexter (Max Runyon). Gloria Swanson (Vivian. Anatol's wife). Wanda Hawley (Emilie Dixon. a jazz girl). Theodore Roberts (Gordon Bronson). Theodore Kosloff (Nazzer Singh. a Hindu). Agnes Ayres (Annie Elliott. a country girl). Monte Blue (Abner. her husband). Bebe Daniels (Satan Synne. the wickedest woman in New York). Polly Moran (orchestra leader). Raymond Hatton (Hoffmeier). Julia Faye (Tibra). Winter Hall (Dr. Johnson). Charles Ogle (Dr. Bowles). Guy Oliver (butler). Ruth Miller (maid). Lucien Littlefield (valet). Zelma Maja (nurse). Shannon Day (chorus girl). Elinor Glyn and Lady Parker (bridge players). William Boyd. Maud Wayne. Fred Huntley. and Alma Bennett Jesse Lasky arranged to acquire Arthur Schnitzler's play Anatol and recommended it to DeMille, suggesting that it serve as "a sort of sentimental farewell appearance of [Gloria] Swanson, [Bebe] Daniels, [Wanda] Hawley, and [Agnes] Ayres" as members of the DeMille stock company. DeMille couldn't have been happy that the studio wanted to break up his unit, and he complained that Schnitzler's play of revolving romances would be difficult to bring to the screen. He lost the battle. Lasky recommended that the title be changed to Five Kisses (for Anatol's five affairs of the heart) and announced it as the next Cecil B. DeMille special production.1 DeMille's adaptation of Anatol was twice removed from the original , for it was freely adapted from Granville Barker's English "paraphrase " of the German-language play and owed more to Jeanie 162 The Affairs of Anatol / 163 Macpherson and Beulah Marie Dix than to Arthur Schnitzler. But if it lacks some of Schnitzler's effervescent bite, the picture is still an engaging entertainment and a fitting climax to DeMille's cycle of films with Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels. With a long-suppressed desire to direct and a dissatisfaction over the modest salary Famous Players-Lasky paid him, Wilfred Buckland quit the studio to join director Allan Dwan's independent company.2 With the cost overruns on Forbidden Fruit, Famous Players-Lasky was probably relieved to see him leave. Buckland's association with Allan Dwan led to his selection as art director on Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood (FairbankslUnited Artists, 1922), which Dwan directed. Dwan signed with Famous Players-Lasky after completing Robin Hood, and Buckland's career went into virtual eclipse. DeMille brought Buckland back to Famous Players-Lasky to design a primeval forest for Adam's Rib. He also hired Buckland when he set up his own studio in 1925, and brought him to M-G-M in 1928. However, despite some co-credits as art director on two DeMille Studio productions in 1927, Buckland worked largely as a production illustrator after 1923.3 The French art nouveau stylist Paul Iribe was selected to replace Buckland. A multifaceted talent, Iribe was an illustrator, fashion designer , interior decorator, and furniture maker. His work came to the attention of Jesse Lasky, who introduced the artist to DeMille. Iribe created one ofGloria Swanson's costumes for Male and Female, and served as art director on the George Fitzmaurice production The Right to Love (Famous Players-Lasky, 1920) before joining the DeMille unit on The Affairs ofAnatol. The artist became a valued member ofDeMille's staff, although costumer Mitchell Leisen accused Iribe of taking the glory and leaving much of the real work to others.4 DeMille thought highly of lribe's work, even though the two men clashed on numerous occasions. Perhaps because Buckland had been denied a real opportunity to direct, DeMille even sponsored Paul Iribe as a director-although he kept the Frenchman on a short leash. As a filmmaker Iribe was invariably partnered with co-director Frank Urson; the pair became known as the "U and I team." Iribe's contribution to the look of DeMille's films was a subtle one. In many ways he simply followed the style and approach Buckland established...