Men Who Have Made Love to Me

Men Who Have Made Love to Me
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Directed byArthur Berthelet
Written byE. C. Lowe
Mary MacLane
Based onI, Mary MacLane
by Mary McLane
Produced byGeorge K. Spoor
StarringMary MacLane
Ralph Graves
Paul Harvey
Production
company
Perfection Pictures / Essanay Film Manufacturing Company
Distributed byGeorge Kleine System
Release date
  • February 1, 1918 (1918-02-01)
Running time
70 minutes (7 reels)
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Men Who Have Made Love to Me is a 1918 American silent biographical film starring Mary MacLane, based on her book I, Mary MacLane (1917).[1] It was directed by Arthur Berthelet[2][3] and produced by early American filmmaker George K. Spoor.

Cast

Plot

The story of six affairs of the heart, drawn from controversial feminist author Mary MacLane's 1910 syndicated article(s) by the same name, later published in book form in 1917. None of MacLane's affairs - with "the bank clerk," "the prize-fighter," "the husband of another," and so on - last, and in each of them MacLane emerges dominant. Re-enactments of the love affairs are interspersed with MacLane addressing the camera (while smoking), and talking contemplatively with her maid about the meaning and prospects of love.[4]

Technical Innovations

This film represents the earliest recorded breaking of the fourth wall in serious cinema, as the enigmatic author - who portrays herself - interrupts the vignettes onscreen to address the audience directly.[5] This film is also the first in which writer, star, narrator, and subject are unified.

Preservation status

It is not known whether the film currently survives,[6] and Men Who Have Made Love to Me is now thought to be a lost film.

References

  1. ^ MacLane, Mary (August 25, 2013). I, Mary MacLane: A Diary of Human Days – via Project Gutenberg.
  2. ^ From Baltimore to Bohemia: The Letters of H.L. Mencken and George Sterling. Madison NJ [u.a.]: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press. 2001. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8386-3869-9.
  3. ^ "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:Men Who Have Made Love to Me".
  4. ^ MacLane, Mary (January 1918). "The Movies—and Me". Photoplay. Vol. 13, no. 2. Photoplay Magazine Publishing Company. pp. 24–25.
  5. ^ "Mary MacLane – Women Film Pioneers Project".
  6. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Men Who Have Made Love to Me at silentera.com

Media related to Men Who Have Made Love to Me at Wikimedia Commons


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