MALE AND FEMALE

The great collaboration of Cecil B. DeMille and Gloria Swanson resulted in one of the greatest scandalous films in the history of cinema. In early 20th century London, Lady Mary Lasenby is promised to Lord Brocklhurst in a marriage of interest. Among their servants, Crichton is engaged to the maid Tweeny. Bosses and servants embark on a yacht which is wrecked. They all end up on a deserted island where necessity abolishes class differences. Crichton, who organizes things so that everyone survives, falls in love with Lady Mary, who loves him back. When a ship rescues them, things return to the way they were… The open criticism of conventional morality, the sensuality of the love scenes and the presence of a dream sequence in a Babylonian setting that foreshadows the later kolossals make this film one of DeMille’s greatest masterpieces.