Das frühe Werk von Hollywood-Showman Cecil B. DeMille bringt die Erwartungen an geschichtlich überlieferte Weiblichkeit in die Bredouille. Das Jeanne-d’Arc-Epos war DeMilles erster historischer Film, für den er die berüchtigte Opernsängerin Geraldine Farrat in der Titelrolle besetzte.
Preceding Ruben Östlund’s splashy Triangle of Sadness by more than a century, Cecil B. DeMille’s prescient satire gleefully turns upper-class snobs into island castaways. Deprived of her luxurious comforts, Gloria Swanson’s snotty yet endearing socialite learns a tough lesson about life—and love.
Considered one of the earliest cinematic examples of the psychological drama, Cecil B. DeMille’s crime-and-punishment parable is a visionary masterwork. Employing then-nascent techniques of superimposition and parallel editing, The Whispering Chorus scales the weight of a guilty conscience.
Based on a play by Arthur Schnitzler, who also penned the source novel behind Eyes Wide Shut, Cecil B. DeMille’s sex comedy fizzes with naughtiness. Delightfully flighty as an upper-class newlywed, Gloria Swanson ushers in the roaring twenties and its carefree attitudes towards love and marriage.