S.M. O Americano

A century ago on February 5, United Artists, a studio devoted to empowering filmmakers to make artistic films, was founded. Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford agreed to finance their own films and distribute them. It served to prevent the merger of the top studio conglomerates in their attempt to control booking and exhibition. Newspapers reported that, "The inmates have taken over the asylum." In truth, it was the culmination of power that these big celebrities had been building for years through their favorable reputations with the public. This translated into big box office and rising salaries which they shrewdly negotiated, proving their business acumen. HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN was the first film released by UA. Only Fairbanks was available to make a film for the new company, because the others still owed films to their former studios under their contracts.

HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN opens with Fairbanks greeting the audience directly, saying "Gee whiz, I hope you'll like it!" It is very similar in plot to a stage play he appeared in in 1912 called HAWTHORNE OF THE USA. Bill Brooks is a kidnapped prince, unaware of his royal status, who was raised in luxury in America. He does whatever his heart desires, which has him popping around to various locations. Art director Max Parker was kept busy with the many sets. Fairbanks saves a family from a burning tenement building, tangles with spies in a scene with a cut-away set exposing six rooms and the criminal activities within, and lights a cigarette on the hot ground in Mexico where he has a run-in with Pancho Villa.

HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN is 8 reels, longer than most films released at that time, and lengthier than any other Fairbanks film to date. It was originally even longer before an elaborate nightmare sequence was cut, later to be used in the next Fairbanks movie WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY. (It utilized a revolving room trick that allowed Fred Astaire to dance on the ceiling in ROYAL WEDDING decades later.)

Fairbanks encouraged his co-writer and director Joseph Henabery to write a story that would depict President Wilson's League of Nations idea in a favorable light. The government wanted each of the Fourteen Points included. "The danger was that propaganda could easily overburden the story, unless great care was taken to weave it in subtly," Henabery wrote in his memoirs. It took eight weeks to write and receive approval from Uncle Sam. Unfortunately for the government, much of the political propaganda ended up on the cutting room floor because the Senate voted down America's involvement in the League of Nations before the film was released.

Henabery and cameraman Victor Fleming had only recently returned from WWI when it went into production. Henabery had directed Fairbanks in two features previously, SAY! YOUNG FELLOW and THE MAN FROM PAINTED POST, and had worked as an actor under Griffith before he became a director. Three separate crews worked simultaneously at the Douglas Fairbanks Studios on the W. H. Clune lot, with Henabery directing the first, Arthur Rosen the second and Fleming the third. Shooting completed in August and editing pushed the release date to September 1st.

Albert von Tilzer wrote a song with the same title as the film and advertised it in conjunction with the release, but the song was not written for the film.

This movie was heavily booked even with theaters in close proximity of each other. In New York City, all the Fox and Loews theaters booked HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN. Producer Messmore Kendall chose this film to open the Capitol Theater in New York. The event attracted a packed house filling 4,700 seats on October 24, 1919.

Staff at the Odeon Theater in Hardin, Missouri reported to "Exhibitor's Herald," "Played this picture to capacity house, and everyone more than pleased. Ministers who witnessed it gave their hearty endorsement. It is in class 'A'."

Henabery said, "My feeling about that thing was always that it was a bunch of hash."

Harry Dunn Cabot, movie reviewer for "Picture-Play Magazine" wrote, "The plot is frequently lost, strayed, or stolen, but nobody cares, because its hero has such a good time doing his favorite stunts. It will not make new recruits to the Fairbanks' forces, but it will gain anew the admiration of the old ones."

S.A. Hayman of the Lyda Theater in Grand Island, Nebraska wrote, "If all United Artists productions are as good as this one, my hat is in the ring."

"The polish and confidence of the Fairbanks comedies reached its peak with the release of HIS MAJESTY, THE AMERICAN," Jeanine Basinger wrote in Silent Stars. "It's a perfect title for the Fairbanks franchise: the elevation of an ordinary American go-get-em guy to royal status."

This film was screened at Cinevent in 2019.

When Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith had founded United Artists as a counterweight to the trust the big studios had formed against the small ones, Doug was chosen to make the first step: to realize the first project of the new independent company. And after an introduction explaining the goals of the newly-formed studio, he jumps right 'out of the titles' and declares, with his irresistible smile and his unbreakable optimism, about that first United Artists venture in his most CHARACTERISTICAL way: 'Gee whiz - I hope you'll like it!'

And how could anyone NOT like this hilarious comedy-adventure - with a length of almost two hours, a running time that RARELY keeps the audience from getting bored, except if there is SO much action in it as in this one - and its hero, dynamic and adventure-seeking as always?! He starts out as Bill Brooks from New York, a volunteer fireman and policeman just for adventure's sake (beating up the most dangerous criminals and rescuing a whole family and their cat from the third floor of a building in flames, swinging over with a rope from the opposite building - and happily remarking when he finally takes the little black kitty from the already crumbling house: 'Fine! Nine lives saved on the last trip!'), because he's well off financially, although he doesn't even know where the money comes from...

But then, a new mayor 'cleans up' the city, and Bill finds himself with nothing to do; so he decides to go to Mexico to catch a ruthless rebel named 'Francisco Villa' - while, at the same time, unknown to him, they're waiting for him desperately in a little Central European state called Alaine... There, a good king (strange how Americans always seem to be longing for the monarchy they never had...), although he's just about to introduce a new, more democratic constitution, is being opposed by his scheming Minister of War, who's collaborating with the ruthless ruler of a neighboring country to stir up the people against their king... And here, amidst all the wonderful comedy and action, the film also teaches the audience a lesson about the dangers demagogues pose, and how easily they're able to rouse the people - years before Mussolini and Hitler, unfortunately, made that nightmare a reality! And so, the people of Alaine keep demanding 'new blood' in the royal family; with which the evil Minister of War means the equally evil Prime Minister of the neighboring state, of course - while the old king is still hoping to find the missing young member of his family; and at the same time, our hero Bill keeps hoping to find the ONE thing he never had: his mother...

A most MASTERFUL and immensely faceted movie, part comedy, part adventure, and even containing serious political and social elements - and, of course, a WONDERFUL vehicle for Doug Fairbanks to show ALL his repertory, from his acrobatics to his great comical talent to his romantic side; there surely couldn't have been a better start for the 'newborn' United Artists Corporation!!

William Brooks is a rich adventurer in New York City, fighting fires and chasing down bad guys. When the excitement in the city dries up, heads to Mexico for more intrigue. Then he is summoned to Europe, and finds himself in the middle of a kingdom in turmoil. There, he learns the truth about his lineage.

This film has some historical significance, being the first release of the "Big Four," that is, United Artists: Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith. Fairbanks introduces the film, saying "Gee whiz! - I hope you'll like it." He then winks at the audience (which actually made me wince). The film starts off with plenty of action, featuring Fairbanks rescuing several people (and a kitten) from a fire by swinging back and forth between buildings, a la Tarzan. These scenes, and the ones in Mexico, are enough to hold interest; however, I felt the film bogged down when the locale moved to Europe. There, Fairbanks still performs some great stunt work, but the story seems to drag on. Part of the problem is that some of the title cards were difficult, if not impossible, to read; so this confused me. Oddly, the romantic interest, played by Marjorie Daw, doesn't show up until very late in the film.

There is a cute reference, which involves Smith Brothers cough drops. And at the climax, when Fairbanks discovers he is related to royalty, he is very relieved to discover that Daw is not related to him in any way. Overall, this is probably good entertainment for fans of Fairbanks, but nothing to write home about. I found out after watching the film that Boris Karloff plays a bit role, but I wasn't that interested in running through the film again to spot him.

In a prologue, Douglas Fairbanks tells us that this is the first film produced by the new United Artists studio, so the film has greater historic significance than it might command on its merits. This film is simply a vehicle for Fairbanks to do what he does best: run, jump, leap, dash, bolt and generally bounce around like a rubber ball. The plot, such as it is, revolves around Bill Brooks, a kidnapped European prince raised in luxury in America without any knowledge of who he is or where his lavish support comes from. Not having to work for a living, he spends his time seeking adrenaline rushes as an amateur firefighter and policeman. One of the best sequences in the film is when Fairbanks swings back and forth from the balcony of an adjacent building to a burning tenement to rescue a trapped family and their cat. He then toddles off to Mexico and captures Poncho Villa, just for an afternoon's diversion. All of this is but an excuse to see Fairbanks do his stuff and serves as a prologue to the real story. Traitors and foreign spies are inciting the population of the kingdom to revolt against the aging king (Sam Sothern). The prince is summoned to return home and save the kingdom. Prince Bill outwits the plotters, summons the cavalry and rides to the rescue. What were you expecting? Shakespeare? Tennessee Williams? Anyway, Fairbanks is always worth watching, plot or not plot. If you like Doug Fairbanks (and who doesn't?) you will enjoy this photoplay.

In a review of The Half Breed, I emphasised what a joy it ws to rediscover "the other Fairbanks", the fine comedian of the early films so long obscured by the image of "the swashbuckler". I pointed out in that review that it was the comedian not the swashbuckler who first became the big star and this film, the first United Artists release, could not better underline that fact. Half Bred is a curious sort of halfway house between the two Fairbanks but this film (even if there is already plenty of acrobatics) is still very definitely Douglas the comedian and a very good example of the genre.

It has I suspect not very much to do with the titular author and director, Joseph Henabery, and rather more to do with the mysterious Elton Banks aka Douglas Fairbanks. In fact the film seems very largely to be based on Hawthorne of the U.S.A., a play by James B. Fagan "set in Oberon, the small capital of Borrovina, a small independent state somewhere in the mess of Southeastern Europe" in which Fairbanks had played the central role on Broadway (1912-1913) and which was itself filmed in 1919 by James Cruze with Wallace Reid in the title role. "In one scene" wrote a critic of this play "he punched the Secretary of War, upset much of the army, and kicked a seditious prince in the chest before jumping off a balcony"

It is difficult to place Fairbanks as a comedian. He is clearly not a vaudeville comic in the manner of Arbuckle, Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Langdon and all the plethora of lesser lights. Nor is he a sitcom comedian of which John Bunny, Max Davidson and Sidney Drew were the silent prototypes. I suggested in the other review that there is a stylistic resemblance with the great French comedian Max Linder (I might have added the young Lubitsch) and an affinity, unusual in US comedy, with the more "absurd" style of European comedy.

Surprisingly (but not perhaps as surprising as it might seem) Fairbanks (real name Ullman) has rather more in common with the rather later US tradition of stand-up-based comedians, most of them also of East European Ashkenazi stock - Kubelsky (Benny), Bob Hope (the goy that proves the rule), Kaminsky (Kaye), Levitch (Lewis) and even Komigsberg (Allen). Fairbanks kept his own Jewish origins dark but did not entirely disown them. Jewish humour peeks through at several points in this film.

Compare, for instance this comedy with Bananas (1971) and the similarities are not far to find. Here we have the typical Douglas character of the early comedies, searching for some meaning to his existence (and a mother) while there we have an Allen in eternal search of a suitable soulmate, which, for Allen, comes to much the same thing. Both become embroiled more or less accidentally in a political intrigue in an imaginary foreign kingdom.

Of course there are all the differences one might expect between a drama of the teens and a drama of the seventies (plus the fact that Fairbanks politics are highly reactionary and Allen's leftist) but the two films nevertheless have very similar strengths and very similar weaknesses. There is a strong sense of comic fantasy, often careless (or rather carefree) with regard to continuity and pleasantly oblivious to the normal tenets of US film realism. The celebrated "surreal" nightmare that appears in When the Clouds Roll By was in fact originally shot for this film.

But this is combined with a rather weak and simplistic notion of political satire.... Bananas would later look woefully frivolous in the light of the "real 9/11" of 1973 (the assassination of Allende and establishment of the Pinochet regime in Chile). His Majesty the American, which had government backing and was originally intended to promote Wilson's Fourteen Points had to be hastily rewritten after the non-ratification of the League of Nations and ends up being inadequate either as propaganda or satire. Both films therefore end up in this respect, as Henabery put it, as "a load of hash".

Both films also have subdued subtexts concerning drugs (Allen) and drink (Fairbanks). They were respective subjects on which both men were mildly puritanical. Fairbanks was a teetotaller (see the milk-drinking scene) and Allen has never touched drugs (not even marijuana).

Fairbanks shares also with Allen a taste for sly topical references more or less in propra persona that deliberately break the illusion of the film. Sometimes those references have become difficult to decode. What, for instance, should one make of the impassive man of strange aspect with the prominent apple's apple in the hotel? When someone enters, the man suddenly becomes animated and the two do something that makes Douglas react with mild disgust. I have watched this scene several times on the relatively poor copy available to me but cannot for the life of me work out what is going on.

Then there is the mysterious balding man reading a newspaper in the street to whom Fairbanks addresses the question "Are you stading for President over here?" Logically this should be William Gibbs McAdoo, the lawyer and former Secretary to the Treasury under Woodrow Wilson (and Wilson's son-in-law) who failed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in 1920 since McAdoo was also legal adviser and major shareholder (along with Fairbanks, Pickford, Grifith and Chaplin) in United Artists. But it doesn't look like him.....

If anyone has any information on these two strange little scenes, perhaps they could post it.