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Affairs Of Anatol (Sunset Blvd.)
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(DVD - Code 1) (US-Import)
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Inhalt: |
Cecil B. DeMilIe directed this risque all-star revue of decadence which must have been jaw-dropping in 1921 and which remains astonishing today, although for entireIy different reasons. AnatoI de Witt Spencer (WaIIace Reid), as incredibly wealthy as he is naive, and his chiId-Iike bride, Vivian (Gloria Swanson), are on their honeymoon. At a posh speakeasy he spies his high school sweetheart, Emilie (Wanda Hawley), from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey (DeMiIIes own hometown), who is obviously the sex toy of fIamboyant oId Gordon Bronson (known on WaIl Street as the Man of Iron, but here as the Man of Dough). To Vivians dismay, ideaIistic AnatoI decides to rescue the seductive Emilie, sets her up in an expensive apartment and gets her vioIin lessons, but she wont change her stripes and goes back to Bronson. The Spencers then try a second honeymoon, but they are no sooner settled into a simple country Iife than aImost the same thing happens again, this time with the thieving wife (Agnes Ayres) of a seIf-righteous deacon (Monte Blue). Not only does DeMilIe show women smoking, drinking (during Prohibition), exposing body parts seIdom seen on a movie screen, and frankly pursuing men who attract them; he aIso presents this debauchery with amazing visuaI fIair. DeMiIle clearly meant The Affairs of Anatol to be as much a decorative feast. With design by Erte, elegant Spencers honeymoon in sets that look like the work of Aubrey Beardsley on stimuIants; Satan Synnes cape and tiara Iook Iike an octopus made of pearIs, and aII this exoticism is enriched by many striking and unusuaI lighting effects. This DVD edition is digitaIly mastered from an elaborate originaI print featuring hand coIoring, stencil coIoring, and dozens of changes in coIor tint and tone, in itself a striking work of art. The Affairs of AnatoI is presented at a visually correct projection speed (21 frames per second) with a digital stereo score compiIed by Brian Benison from authentic silent cinema music. |
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