Cauchemars et Superstitions

Victor Fleming's resume as a director is one of the most stellar in Hollywood history. In 1939 alone, he directed two of the top classics in all of cinema, 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone With The Wind.' As a cinematographer in Tinseltown after his World War One photography service, Fleming rose through the ranks until he earned the head director position in a Douglas Fairbanks vehicle. His talents behind the camera is readily seen in his debut movie, December 1919's comedy "When Clouds Go By." Cited as one of Fairbanks' best early farces, the movie contains a brilliant fantasy-ridden nightmare sequence using all the latest technological tricks up to that time, including the actor walking on walls, floors and ceilings of a room. Fred Astaire's similar trick in 1951's 'Royal Wedding' wowed audiences not familiar with Fairbanks' same trick 32 years before.

"When Clouds Roll By" is a satire on human experiments where a doctor wants to drive Fairbanks so insane he would end his life, verifying his hypothesis that stress, bad eating habits and romantic jealousies put people over the edge. Fairbanks' character unknowingly is a perfect candidate since he's one of the most superstitious individuals in the world--except for the gal he meets in a park, who's just the same. Film historians claim this is one of Fairbanks' most intelligent, funniest comedies in his body of work.

"Executed at a breathless pace, 'When the Clouds Roll By' is a masterful showpiece for the whirling cyclone of energy that was Douglas Fairbanks," wrote the actor's biographer, Jeffrey Vance.

"When Clouds Roll By" had been nominated in American Film Institute's 100 Most Passionate Films Ever Made. This was Fairbanks' second movie released by United Artist Corp., formed earlier in the year by cinema's four top movie makers, Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D. W. Griffith.

Fairbanks was the first of the four to actual have UA money produce and distribute the corporation's first movie, September 1919's "His Majesty, The American." (Griffith's 'Broken Blossom' was UA's first distributed movie earlier in the summer.)The actor displays his athletic prowess as he becomes mixed up in a small European country's political intrigue.

UA's first produced film also marked actor Boris Karloff's debut in a feature film, here as a spy. Known as William Pratt growing up in England, he journeyed to Canada in 1911 to pursue a stage acting career, changing his name to Boris Karloff. Working in theater throughout Canada and the United States, he became an extra and a small bit player in short and serial silent movies in 1918, before his largest role yet in the Fairbanks film.

Daniel Boone Brown, who works for his uncle's investment firm, is the unwitting subject of a psychological experiment by an unscrupulous doctor. Brown has nightmares, phobias, and generally is a nervous wreck. He meets a girl and falls in love, but the town's Mayor, who is also a rat, becomes his romantic rival. Eventually, the doctor's real identity is revealed, Daniel grows a pair, and all ends happily.

Fairbanks is in good form, performing plenty of stunts, including one in slow motion. It is a bit jarring to see him play an insecure character, when one is used to seeing him acting with bravado and confidence. But there are some very funny scenes and plenty of clever photographic effects. The climax involves a flood, which is convincingly filmed. However, the sequence actually seems unnecessary to the plot, except to suggest the film's title and also Fairbanks' recovery from his insecurities.

This was the second film Fairbanks made under the "Big Four" banner (the forerunner of United Artists).

As our story opens, otherwise normal New York gadabout Douglas Fairbanks (as Daniel Boone Brown) has been unknowingly the "guinea pig" in a bizarre experiment. For three months, Mr. Fairbanks has been secretly the subject of possibly mad scientist Herbert Grimwood (as Ulrich Metz). "The power of suggestion can destroy both mind and body," Dr. Metz explains, "But first I weaken the power of resistance in my subject by implanting psychic germs of fear, worry, superstition and kindred annoyances." Fairbanks has become superstitious and frantic, but maintains his good nature...

"When the Clouds Roll By" was a United Artists showcase for its box office star. The plot collapses as episodes lead to a revelation that doesn't exactly fit the (doctor's) introduction; we have been led astray. However, it doesn't matter if you take the story as a surreal fantasy from the opening credits. Also involved are Fairbanks' courtship of conveniently placed Kathleen Clifford (as Lucette "Lucy" Bancroft), plus business intrigue involving his uncle Ralph Lewis (as Curtis Brown) and oily rival Frank Campeau (as Mark Drake). Somehow, Fairbanks and Victor Fleming fit it all together.

******** When the Clouds Roll By (12/28/19) Victor Fleming ~ Douglas Fairbanks, Kathleen Clifford, Frank Campeau, Herbert Grimwood

A superstitious young man does not realize his shrink is trying to drive him to suicide as part of an experiment. This sounds like it could be made into some oddball indie comedy today, but it's the plot of a Douglas Fairbanks vehicle from 1919! That's insane! This movie is as close as Fairbanks got to dabbling in surrealism. The comedy is dark and the visuals get strange-- truly something to be seen to be believed. The best scene is a dream sequence in which the editing blatantly evokes the changing scenery of dreams (touches of the later Sherlock Jr).

It's a mystery why this delightful silent feature isn't better known and more widely appreciated. I've seen several of the comedies Douglas Fairbanks made prior to his switchover to swashbucklers and they're all great fun, but for my money When the Clouds Roll By is the best of the lot: it's funny, fast-paced, action-packed and highly original. To call it "original" is quite an understatement; this movie is absolutely off the wall and constantly surprising, even for buffs. The plot is convoluted enough to keep you guessing, and just when you think you know what's going to happen next, the filmmakers throw you another curve-ball. Speaking of originality, it's worth pointing out that a number of gags and bits of business found here were borrowed by others and used again in later years, so while this movie proved to be a rich source of inspiration for Fairbanks' colleagues who saw it in 1919, the source material itself seems to have been largely forgotten.

Much of the comedy derives from the screenplay's satirical jabs at the still new field of psychology. Doug plays a good-natured young man who is harshly victimized by a sinister psychologist named Metz, who lives nearby. Why the doctor has chosen to treat Doug worse than Pavlov's dog isn't explained until late in the story (and I won't reveal it here), but let it suffice to say that Doug is subjected to a distressing series of "Gaslight"-style mental manipulations intended to convince him that he's losing his mind. The evil Dr. Metz even contrives to invade the world of Doug's dreams by controlling his diet, and the ensuing nightmare is a surreal cinematic highlight, combining such techniques as slow motion, double-exposure, and the very same "wall-walking" stunt Fred Astaire would employ in Royal Wedding in 1951, performed more elaborately in this early rendition. The dream sequence begins inside Doug's body, where we witness a battle between the foodstuffs he's been eating at Metz' behest: an onion, a lobster, Welsh rarebit, a slice of mince pie, etc., each represented by actors dressed in the appropriate costume. They duke it out on a "stomach" stage set, an effect that is both bizarre and hilarious, and a throwback to the early cinematic style of Edwin S. Porter's Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, or the trick films of Georges Méliès. We're reminded of early cinema again later when our hero reaches a crisis and thinks he's finally lost his mind for real; the title card tells us that Doug's Reason is Tottering on Her Throne and his Sense of Humor has been defeated, while his mind is being assailed by Worry and Despair. This struggle is then enacted before our eyes by performers representing these traits, like some kind of Medieval morality pageant.

These quirky comic sequences are a real highlight, but meanwhile there's an earthbound plot involving Doug's relationship with a girl, his conflict with the girl's former suitor (a vulgar crook), and a scheme by the crook to defraud the girl's father. This story-line is more conventional, but greatly boosted by the surrounding craziness and further enhanced by a series of genuinely funny title cards that maintain just the right level of breezy insouciance. There's also a cute series of running gags concerning superstitions that both Doug and the girl believe in, not only still-familiar beliefs involving black cats, ladders, and the number 13, but also more obscure notions involving dropped knives and opal rings. The plot culminates in an impressive storm sequence combining miniature sets with large-scale action, all of which may remind buffs of the finale of Buster Keaton's classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. of 1928. Buster didn't use miniatures, but it looks like he and his crew might have borrowed a gag or two from Doug!

I was fortunate enough to see this film at a recent public screening at the Museum of the City of New York. There was much laughter throughout, and afterward a lot of people were saying "Why haven't I heard of this movie before?" Clearly, this is a silent comedy that deserves to be better known, a movie that cries out for full restoration, more public screenings, broadcasts on TCM and a DVD release.

P.S. December 2008: I'm pleased to add that this film is now available in the newly released Fairbanks DVD box set. Many thanks to the folks responsible!