The story of a speed-crazy girl sent to prison by a district attorney who loves her, Manslaughter was greeted in 1922 by the New York Times as “a decidedly good picture, although parts of it have been considerably exaggerated to make a director's holiday.... For its early parts show the very fast set at its business of being terribly fast, and it is here that Mr. De Mille cuts loose... and then, to make it more so, the District Attorney-hero remarks that it was just that sort of thing that caused the fall of Rome - and presto! there is Rome falling around you, with a motion picture orgy going on for fair.
“Manslaughter is too interesting in itself to require this sort of thing... When (the) pampered heroine gets inside prison walls the story is gripping... (and) her reformation seems thoroughly convincing.”
In his autobiography (1959, Donald Hayne, Ed.), De Mille tells this story: “To get the authentic prison atmosphere into her script, (writer) Jeanie Macpherson went to Detroit, stole a fur piece by prearrangement from a friend of hers, was arrested with the goods on her, and sent to jail. Apart from Jeanie's obliging friend, the only person in Detroit who knew the circumstances was one police official. Fortunately he was around when Jeanie came to the conclusion that three days in the Detroit lockup had given her all the atmosphere she needed.”