The Gaucho

Having finally read Jeffrey Vance's marvelous biography DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, it made me realize that roughly half of his 1920s action-adventure films are available in recently restored editions. THE MARK OF ZORRO, THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, THE BLACK PIRATE, & THE IRON MASK have been given the deluxe home video treatment they deserve. What about THE THREE MUSKETEERS, ROBIN HOOD, DON Q, SON OF ZORRO, and THE GAUCHO? Concerning the last title only this 2001 Kino release was available for awhile but now it's been withdrawn hence the high price.

According to Vance, the original film was color tinted with two Technicolor sequences featuring Mary Pickford as The Virgin Mary. This Kino version is in pretty good black & white but the speed transfer is a trifle too fast. Nevertheless it's good enough to show that THE GAUCHO, Fairbanks' penultimate silent film, is actually one of his best. It's only 96 minutes long, has the 44 year old Fairbanks in peak athletic form performing some truly marvelous stunts, and features a star making performance from the 17 year old Lupe Velez. It also gives us a darker, more amoral character than Doug ever played before or would play again.

Set in an unspecified time before the turn of the 20th Century, the movie tells the story of "The Gaucho", a devil-may-care bandit who leads a large group of men and who does as he pleases. His story is juxtaposed with the "Girl of the Shrine" who is clearly patterned after Bernadette of Lourdes. She resides in the City of the Miracle where years before she was restored to life by a vision of the Virgin Mary. The Gaucho comes to rob the city but is mystified by the young woman while engaging in a dalliance with a young villager (Velez). A tyrant, Ruiz, seeks the city's gold and sends his troops to conquer the city and dispose of anyone standing in his way. Add a contagious leper, a religious conversion, and a cattle stampede finale and you have the most intriguing movie Fairbanks ever made.

Also on this Kino release is Fairbanks' strangest film ever, the bizarre 1916 comedy THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH in which he plays "Coke Ennyday" an outrageous parody of Sherlock Holmes who shoots up constantly and drinks cocktails composed of gin, laudanum & prussic acid! Fairbanks intended it to be a spoof of William Gillette's 1915 feature SHERLOCK HOLMES but that reference is lost on modern audiences. The drug usage is not. This print of FISH is the best I've ever seen even better than the one on the Flicker Alley FAIRBANKS set.

So Flicker Alley, The Cohen Group, Kino Lorber, and whoever else out there who specializes in silent film restorations, take note! It is time that THE GAUCHO be given the deluxe treatment that it deserves so that new generations of silent film aficionados can enjoy the movie the way that Douglas Fairbanks intended. Producer Fairbanks never scrimped on production values and he would be dismayed at the many, cheap public domain copies of his films out there...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

The Gaucho (1927) : Brief Review -

An atypical Douglas Fairbanks lavish entertainer with a spiritual zest. Far from Allan Dwan's swashbuckler flicks, Douglas Fairbanks found himself on a spiritual path with this F. Richard Jones's directorial. Counting every Fairbanks trademark right, be it scale, comedy, or surroundings, The Gaucho goes a step ahead with devotional fervour, mainly suitable for believers. The film starts with a young girl falling down from a height and yet getting up alright after the holy power saves her and blesses her with special powers. The girl prays from her heart and does miracles, which convert the place into a sacred shrine, and the place is called the town of miracles. Far up in the north, there is a disreputable leader of a group of bandits, El Gaucho, who is off to invade the sacred shrine and take all the wealth. A local strongman, Ruiz, is also after the same, which puts these two strong men against each other. Gaucho enters the place with his gang, but soon realises that the lady is no regular human. He can feel something but can't express or understand what it is. How fate turns the game against him and how he acknowledges the spiritual path are all you get to see in the film. Like I said, it's an atypical Fairbanks entertainer, so you might miss some of the trademark shots, but not much. He delivers enough for his audience; it's just a little different this time. Lupe Vélez looks beautiful as a Holy Girl, and not even for a moment did she look fake. Nigel De Brulier, Charles Stevens, and Gustav von Seyffertitz were okay, while Albert MacQuarrie left a better impact without showing his face (except once). The F. Richard Jones' movie has drama, comedy, action, and a spiritual message, and that's more than what you'd expect, I guess. "Just follow these; you need no rules."

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Combining the familiar Douglas Fairbanks action scenes with some unexpected material, "The Gaucho" is interesting and pretty good. It might be just a cut below Fairbanks's very best movies, but it has more than enough to satisfy most silent movie fans. The story is involved, and it features some creative turns, while the production is resourceful and quite good for the most part.

Fairbanks's character here is not quite the same as in his usual roles. While the story does give him plenty of action and adventure sequences, his character is not nearly as likable as most of the ones that he played. The way that "The Gaucho" treats the other characters is not at all what you would have expected from his other movies - normally, even when his character is an outlaw in the eyes of the authorities, you get the feeling that you'd have nothing to fear from him unless you deserved it. Not so here.

That does make the character interesting. As with Fairbanks's usual roles, he seeks justice and respect, but unlike most of the others, he also needs redemption in a much deeper sense. And that fits in well with the other unusual aspect of the movie, which is established at the very beginning with the founding of the miraculous shrine. It introduces a supernatural or quasi-religious dimension that is not at all part of movies like "The Black Pirate" or "The Three Musketeers". Yet, for all that it requires a suspension of disbelief, it works pretty well as part of the overall story.

The detailed and sometimes impressive settings, along with the supporting cast, also help out. Lupe Velez has plenty of energy, Gustav von Seyffertitz is a suitable villain, and it's enjoyable to see Mary Pickford's brief appearance. Overall, it's pretty good, despite varying in some respects from time-tested formulas.

Unusual but beautifully made and typically enjoyable Douglas Fairbanks vehicle, which finds the star at his most roguish (while still being his dashing and athletic self); with the Argentine pampas for backdrop, the film – whose full official title is DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AS THE GAUCHO – can be considered a semi-Western. The narrative encompasses romance (supplied by fiery Lupe Velez), religion (via the presence of a miraculous shrine overseen by a saintly shepherdess – we even get a couple of visions of the Madonna herself, played by Fairbanks' own equally popular actress wife, Mary Pickford!) as well as more characteristic action (in the form of The Gaucho's opposition to the rule of tyrannical Gustav von Seyffertitz). A subplot which ties in with the element of faith sees the hero being deliberately contaminated by a carrier of "The Black Doom" whom he had previously slighted, though both are eventually cured. Fairbanks' trademark pioneering spirit in the technical department is also well in evidence here – with matte paintings giving the illusion of a truly elaborate visual design, reversed film for one particularly showy leap by the star onto his faithful steed, and even the wholesale horse-driven transportation of a house at one point!

Of the Douglas Fairbanks films I've seen so far, there is not one that came across as bad. The Gaucho may be my least favourite of them, it does get a tad too heavy-handed at times and the religious stuff sometimes bogs it down and give off an odd feel. But what makes Fairbanks' films as good as they are are most definitely present in The Gaucho. The sets are some of the most exotic and lavish of any Fairbanks film, and the same can be said of the costumes. The photography is equally beautiful, and the music score is appropriately rousing which make the stunts and such even more exciting than they already are. There is a strong sense of humour that is as fresh and current now as it was then, the director handles things deftly and the story cannot be called routine, if anything of all the films Fairbanks did The Gaucho is perhaps his least conventional story-wise. It is also very briskly paced and with a constant sense of fun and energy, as well as memorable scenes like the aftermath of the healing miracle. It's not a Fairbanks film without mentioning the stunts and they are spectacularly choreographed and dazzlingly executed. And with real athleticism that has not been matched much by many films today standards. Fairbanks steals the show, as he should as he is the star, he is charisma personified and clearly looks like he's enjoying every moment. His stunts are athletic and youthful and he does show some expressive acting like in the healing miracle scene and its aftermath. He is very well-supported by the rest of the cast, the standouts being Lupe Velez, who plays with a lot of appealing spunk and is sexy without even trying, and Gustav von Seyffertitz, whose suave charm but very twisted malevolence makes for one of the nastiest villains of any Fairbanks film. All in all, while not one of Douglas Fairbanks' best it is still a treat. 8/10 Bethany Cox