Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

This Cecil B. DeMille film features Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, Wanda Hawley, Agnes Ayres and Bebe Daniels. Another in a series of DeMille’s ‘the grass is always greener’ films, and one where the apparent message is that women are the weaker sex.

This DVD edition has been mastered from 35mm film elements that are partially hand-tinted and partially chemically color-tinted. The picture results are not acceptable by today’s standards. The analog video transfer appears to date to, at least, the early 1990s and may have originally been prepared for VHS videotape release. Some diagonal picture element edges flutter due to a combination of picture jitters within the frame and the coarse standard resolution of analog videotape. Some intertitles have been captured in still frame and letter forms are chopped up by NTSC interlacing. Viewing systems capable of HD upscaling cannot totally eliminate these issues. Some light-to-middle greytones, such as those that render facial details, have a slight greenish hue throughout.

The film is accompanied by a music score performed on synthesizers by Brian Benison.

Given the length of the film, which has been crammed into a single-layered DVD, it is not surprising that there are no supplemental features. While not marked on the packaging as such, this is a Region 1 disc.

Long out-of-print, this is currently our recommended home video edition of the film — just barely — until a new, higher-quality edition is produced. There certainly is room for a new, high-resolution home video edition to be released by someone. Please, please.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print, which is clear enough to reasonable viewing but is still closed up in its shadow details. The disc mastering is the usual low-resolution squeeze to fit three feature-length films on one DVD, with the result that the picture is a little rough on large HD televisions. Compression artifacts will be easy to spot with educated eyes, especially in Agnes Ayres’ splashing water. Also, the narrative intertitles have been reset in a script digital typeface over a short loop of blank filmstock with many speckles to make them look contemporary to the film. Likely an attempt to discourage piracy (ha!), but totally unnecessary.

The film is accompanied by a score of canned orchestral music from a variety of audio sources, some of the selections are quite sappy.

This edition is not recommended, but passible if you’re on a tight collecting budget.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This budget DVD edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print, and this presentation of The Affairs of Anatol is identical to the Cecil B. DeMille Classics Collection noted above. Identifying logomarks are likely superimposed over a lower corner of the picture to discourage video transfer piracy.

The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from dopey preexisting recordings. Annoying, at best.

This edition is now out-of-print. Well, it's not much of a loss.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other silent era CECIL B. DeMILLE films available on home video.

Other silent era BEBE DANIELS films on home video.