Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-12-27
Male and Female to Be
Feature for Entire Week
at the Spencer Square

Il would seem that Cecil B. De
Mile has been working up toward
the production Of Male and Fe-
male" his new Paramount-Artcraft
picture. through 1his entire career.
For this picture, which will be
shown for the first time tomorrow
night at the Spencer Square. rep
resents the contamination Of his
many-sided genius, the finest fruit
OF years Of artistry.
The several excellent qualities
which have distinguished his for
mer productions have reached their
fullest development here. That he
has hitherto done nothing to COM
pare with this is unquestionsble.
In his society dramas. For Better,
For Worse" Don't Change Your
Husband" and the others. he ex-
hibited delicacy Of handling the
luxurious and opulent in drama
such as had never before been dis
played on the screen. The cos
tuning, the setting, the presenta-
tion Of these will not soon be for
gotten. In Carmen" THE Wom-
an God Forgot" and the other cos
tune plays, he showed that he
could handle the spectacular and
the colorful in as mastery a man
ner. And in the matter Of straight
dramatic intensity. who can forget
THE Whispering Chorus?''
Male and Female combines the
Ptasaa~Aoa 80 HnN~sA
Your Husband" with the spectacu-
lar beauty Of 1.-THE Woman God
Forgot" and the dramatic strength
Of "The Whispering Chorus" The
opening scenes, in the London home
Of Lady Mary, are the last words
In luxury. Mr.. De Mile has spent
money on his pictures before. but
1t Is doubtful II he has ever spent
so much, and SO effectively, as in
these scenes. Gloria Swanson has
more wonderful gowns than ever,
and the settings, down to the tin
lest detail, are in keeping with the
stored characters.
Then there is the Babylonian ep-
isode-short, but thrillingly beauti-
full. Here is the spectacular, il
you like. combined with the exqui-
site. Thomas Meighan. who plays
Crichton. is the king in this cpl
sode. Gloria Swanson, more beau
tiful than ever In the barbaric
splendor of the BabylOnian COS
tunes, is the untamed slave. In the
end. she is thrown to the lions
and they're real lions, too.
As everyone knows, J. M. Barrie
wrote the play, 1.-THE Admirable
Crichton," from which Male and
Female" is adapted. Sir James is
one of the last authors to allow his
works to be filmed. He( held of
for a long while. but finally allow
ed De Mile to try his hand. When
the author sees this he will not
be disappointed. The dramatic
strength Of his play. and it's deep
and keen characterizations are en-
Z riched by the presentation De Mile
has given it. The story has not
been changed in the least. -
The cast headed by Thomas
s MclEudu, WIZ uUpllCdt0o LILO CAOCI-
lent work in 1.-THE Miracle Man.
and Gloria Swanson. is uniformly
excellent. Theodore Roberts, Lila
Lee. Raymond Hatton. Maym Kel-
so, Robert Game and Edward Burns
are some of the big names in It
Jeanne Macpherson wrote the seen.
ario.
We spoke Of "The Miracle Man
in the last paragraph. Let us say
that THE Miracle Man" is the only
picture in memory with which
male and Female" can be compar
ed. Which is the better? Well, w
have our private opinion. But t
is amatter Of taste. Male and Fe
male" Is an unusual production
one Of the greatest pictures We
made. the GROWING achievement o
i Mr.. De Miles career.