Sound films weren’t working out for Doug Fairbanks. He’d made a splendid farewell to The Silents with THE IRON MASK/’29; and later that year, with wife Mary Pickford, faked his way thru truncated Shakespeare in a stiff TAMING OF THE SHREW. But minus the novelty of a Talkie debut, his up-to-the-minute REACHING FOR THE MOON/’30 failed to connect.* So, after a two-year break, he scaled way back, shooting this pleasantly silly (if commercially unsuccessful) feature as if he were making a home movie. No castle, no pirate ship, no flying carpet, just goofy Rube Goldberg contraptions to ease life on the empty little island he’s jumped ship to play out a Robinson Crusoe fantasy. More like his early knockabout comedy, we’re not so far from a Buster Keaton two-reeler. (Buster’s first lead in THE SAPHEAD/’20 was actually a remake of Fairbanks’ THE LAMB/’15; while Doug’s first release for his own United Artists label, WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY/’19, is loaded with Keatonean ideas.) Hard to know what this film once looked like, subfusc Public Domain prints rule the DVD market. But someone (Fairbanks, megger A. Edward Sutherland?) has quite the eye for composition, if not so much for story construction. But in this penultimate vehicle, Doug’s delight and joie de vivre prove contagious.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Much of the film was shot silent, note the slight under-cranking, with sound elements added on later, no doubt aiding the production’s carefree tone.
DOUBLE-BILL: When the natives show up, in rather non-PC fashion, the spirit, if not the genius, of Buster Keaton’s THE NAVIGATOR/’24 can be felt.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *In REACHING, a really good story gets buried by Early Talkie technology and Doug’s general discomfort. Stock Market whiz who’s put his life on hold to make a success, swears he’ll take a break after finally falling love; then watches helplessly as a panic threatens to wipe him out. Will he hold to love or mammon?
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