HE COMES UP SMILING
Sog.: dal romanzo omonimo di Charles Sherman e dall’adattamento teatrale di Byron Ongley ed Emil Nyitray. Scen.: Frances Marion. F.: Joseph August, Hugh McClung. Int.: Douglas Fairbanks (Jerry Martin), Marjorie Daw (Billy Bartlett), Herbert Standing (Mike), Frank Campeau (John Bartlett), Bull Montana (Baron Bean), Albert MacQuarrie (Batchelor), Kathleen Kirkham (Louise), Jay Dwiggins (il generale). Prod.: Douglas Fairbanks per Douglas Fairbanks Pictures. Pri. pro.: 15 settembre 1918 35mm. L.: 500 m. (incompleto). D.: 24’ a 18 f/s. Bn.
Film Notes
The surviving fragment of this 1918 feature – the last of Dwan’s contemporary comedies with Douglas Fairbanks – finds Fairbanks as a bank teller placed in charge of his boss’s pet canary. When the bird escapes, Doug chases it up, down and around the small town where the story is set, in a marvelously dynamic sequence that demonstrates Dwan’s early and complete mastery of match cuts as a way of sustaining a sense of continuous, seamless movement across a series of complex spaces.
Dave Kehr