L'Excentrique

This film is about an eccentric inventor Charlie Johnson (Douglas Fairbanks) who is constantly trying to win the heart of his beloved, Estrell Wynn (Marguerite De La Motte). The film is set in Greenwich Village. This movie should be seen not only because of Fairbanks' funny antics, but also because it conveys a deep sense of chivalry on his part. He will do anything for Estrell's love.

You cannot compare this silent comedy to later films, as they are so different artistically. However, watchability is something I think that is a must for all films--even silent ones. And, by this standard, this is a very good film.

Douglas Fairbanks plays a very eccentric inventor who is in love with a girl. He tries to hard to help her with her little social crusade because he wants to impress her. Exactly how and what occurs, I'll leave it to you.

Mr. Fairbanks has long been associated with silent action pictures involving swashbucklers, adventure and romance. So I was very surprised to see that he actually made a comedy--and a good one to boot. However, if you expect to see "slapstick" with kicking, pratfalls and lots of insane action, this will be a surprise. There are only a few such elements in the film (particularly at the beginning) and the movie really is more plot-based than most silent comedies. Fairbanks shows that he COULD handle such a film and I was engaged from start to finish.

ONE CUTE NOTE ABOUT THE MOVIE--during one segment, Douglas is trying to entertain his guests with impersonations of celebrities. The Charlie Chaplin impersonation REALLY IS CHAPLIN according to IMDb! When I saw him, I thought to myself "hmm,..that guy is obviously NOT Chaplin". Ha--guess I was wrong! Chaplin and Fairbanks were friends and business partners, so I guess it's easy to understand how he got Charlie for this unbilled cameo.

The Nut was a mildly fun, meandering and overly long movie. It starts very strong with clever title cards, some unusual situations, and lots of the Fairbanks personality. Doug is a wealthy inventor whose sometimes clever and sometimes odd devices get plenty of attention. He loves Estrell (Marguerite De La Motte), a wealthy woman who wants to save all of the poor slum children from poverty by placing them with wealthy families.

When it starts to wander away from the main story, and I lost interest in this film. If you're a big fan of the Fairbanks personality, it might see you through but I found it to be tedious. When the story finds its way back to the fold, it is almost too late, but there are a few laughs in between and a sufficient ending.

Prior to releasing his Alexander Dumas-inspired movie, Fairbanks wasn't quite ready to give up his familiar trademark comedies yet. Just before he embarked on "The Three Musketeers," he took one last stab at pure comedy, releasing his March 1921's "The Nut." Fairbanks is a wacky inventor with a love interest two-floors above him who's interested in seeking for indigent kids to be housed in rich people's mansions. The entire plot is his attempt to get real and/or fake millionaires to support her vision.

One scene in "The Nut" caused the public confusion. Fairbanks pretends to dress in several historical characters behind a screen in the blink of the eye to amuse his beau's partygoers. A Charlie Chaplin lookalike emerges as one of the famous people. Remarkably, viewers were convinced he was the real Tramp, despite being taller than the shorter comedian.

Fairbanks most likely got a premonition that he should give up funny motion pictures when filming a stunt that appears towards the end of "The Nut." He's seen jumping out of a window onto a man walking on the sidewalk. But the actor landed on his arm, breaking his hand and injuring his back. Reports had Fairbanks recovering in the hospital for five weeks, but he was seen the next day at the studio posing for photographs with several people. Whatever the truth was, Fairbanks never returned to pure comedy after "The Nut," discovering his new niche in adventure costume movies was geared more to his more mature aspirations.

Douglas Fairbanks made this film between Zorro and The Three Musketeers, and it would be the last time in the silent era he would play such a part.

Charlie Jackson (Fairbanks) is an inventor of things that either don't work exactly right or have limited usefulness or can't be easily reproduced on a mass scale. The film really isn't about him being an inventor though, except when one of his inventions - an automated fireworks display - blows up in a novel fashion and ruins a party he is having for the girl he loves, Estrell Wynn (Marguerite De La Motte). Estrell is devoted to her absurd theory that taking slum kids out of their environment and into "refined homes" for an hour each day will cause them to grow up to be good citizens with no further intervention required. Naturally, this is a real estate intensive theory to work out in practical terms, so Charlie tries to help Estrell in ways that backfire and anger her and cause her to put her trust in the owner of an illegal gambling house who has dishonorable intentions.

There are no big laughs in this one, and it seems at times that Fairbanks' character is trying to emulate Buster Keaton. Fairbanks has his character relying on quick thinking more than physicality and acrobatics. There are some interesting devices, such as shots making it appear that Fairbanks is climbing through the heating vents of the villain's gambling house in order to both ellude police and rescue the girl, and having either a devil or an angel shown as a switchboard operator connecting to Estrell depending on whether it is the gambler or Fairbanks attempting to call her.

This is probably much better than other comedies of the period, even if it is not up to Fairbanks' earlier work. It is therefore worth your time if you are interested in either Fairbanks' body of work or silent film in general.