The director Cecil B. DeMille is most famous now for his biblical epics, but from 1919 to 1921 he featured the glamorous rising star Gloria Swanson in a flurry of films about modern love and marriage. These pictures presented Swanson tackling moral dilemmas regarding marriage, infidelity, and divorce, all while decked out in spectacular fashions. The titles will give you some idea of their content:
Don’t Change Your Husband
For Better or Worse
Male and Female
Why Change Your Wife?
Something to Think About
The Affairs of Anatol
As they suggest, these films promoted a pretty socially conservative view, but they were also sympathetic to those who stray from the straight and narrow. There was plenty of time to have some fun before doing the right thing in the final reel. (DeMille knew a thing or two about attracting audiences – his biblical epics always included an orgy. You know, to make the moral lesson clearer.)
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