Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Movies
American actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was the son of film star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Fairbanks Jr. made his acting debut in 1923's Stephen Steps Out, which was remarkable only in how quickly it went out of circulation. Young Fairbanks was more impressive as Lois Moran's fiancé in 1926's Stella Dallas, though it did give Fairbanks Sr. pause to see his teenaged son sporting a Fairbanksian mustache. Even as a youth, Fairbanks' restlessness would not be satisfied by mere film work; before he was 20 he'd written an amusing article about the Hollywood scene for Vanity Fair magazine. In 1927, Fairbanks appeared in a stage play, Young Woodley, which convinced detractors that he truly had talent and was not merely an appendage to his father's fame. When talking pictures came in, he demonstrated a well-modulated speaking voice and as a result worked steadily in the early 1930s. Married at that time to actress Joan Crawford, Fairbanks was a fixture of the Tinseltown social whirl, but he had a lot more going for him than suspected; in 1935 he offered the earliest evidence of his sharp business savvy by setting up his own production company, Criterion Films--the first of six such companies created under the Fairbanks imprimatur.Fairbanks had his best role in 1937's The Prisoner of Zenda, in which he was alternately charming and cold-blooded as the villainous Rupert of Hentzau. Upon his father's death in 1939, Fairbanks began to extend his activities into politics and service to his country. He helped to organize the Hollywood branch of the William Allen White Committee, designed to aid the allied cause in the European war. From 1939 through 1944, Fairbanks, ever an Anglophile, headed London's Douglas Voluntary Hospitals, which took special care of war refugees. Fairbanks was appointed by President Roosevelt to act as envoy for the Special Mission to South America in 1940, and one year later was commissioned as a lieutenant j.g. in the Navy. In 1942 he was chief officer of Special Operations, and in 1943 participated in the allied invasion of Sicily and Elba. Fairbanks worked his way up from Navy lieutenant to commander and finally, in 1954 to captain.
After the war's end, the actor spent five years as chairman of CARE, sending food and aid to war-torn countries. How he had time to resume his acting career is anybody's guess, but Fairbanks was back before the cameras in 1947 with Sinbad the Sailor, taking up scriptwriting with 1948's The Exile; both films were swashbucklers, a genre he'd stayed away from while his father was alive (Fairbanks Sr. had invented the swashbuckler; it wouldn't have been right for his son to bank on that achievement during the elder Fairbanks' lifetime). Out of films as an actor by 1951 (except for a welcome return in 1981's Ghost Story), Fairbanks concentrated on the production end for the next decade; he also produced and starred in a high-quality TV anthology, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents (1952-55), which belied its tiny budget with excellent scripts and superior actors. Evidently the only setback suffered by Fairbanks in the last forty years was his poorly received appearance as Henry Higgins in a 1968 revival of My Fair Lady; otherwise, the actor managed to retain his status as a respected and concerned citizen of the world, sitting in with the U.S. delegation at SEATO in 1971 and accruing many military and humanitarian awards. He also published two autobiographies, The Salad Days in 1988 and A Hell of a War in 1993. Fairbanks, Jr. died on May 7, 2000, of natural causes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Paramount gave their newest star, an adolescent Douglas Fairbanks Jr., every advantage in his film debut. As support, young Fairbanks had some of the best talent from the studio's stock company, including renowned scene-stealer Theodore Roberts and Harry Myers, who had recently impressed in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The young actor himself received polite notices for his performance as Stephen Harlow Jr., who fails a class in Turkish history, and, as a result, can't graduate from college. His irate father, Stephen Sr. (Roberts), who has endowed the college, sends his boy to Turkey to learn some history firsthand and fires the professor, Mr. Gilman (James O. Barrows). When he discovers that professor Gilman has been discharged, Stephen Jr. becomes determined to get him his job back -- but first he gets involved in a Turkish revolution, led by the villainous Muley Pasha (Noah Beery Sr.), and rescues the sultan's son (Pat Moore). For his heroic acts, Stephen Jr. receives the Grand Cross of the Crescent, and he sends it to Gilman, claiming that it is for books he wrote on Turkish history. The college, seeing that Gilman is a man of prominence and distinction, reinstates him, and Stephen returns home to a proud father. This film was based on Richard Harding Davis' adventure story The Grand Cross of the Crescent. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Theodore Roberts, (more)
- 1925
Square-jawed Jack Holt and ornery Noah Beery were the stars of Paramount's popular Zane Grey adaptations. Their best efforts were probably their first two films, the epic Wanderer of the Wasteland and North of 36 (both in 1924). Although lesser in scope, Wild Horse Mesa was filmed on breathtaking locations in Colorado and featured a herd of beautiful wild horses. Holt plays Chayne Weymer, who is obsessed with capturing Panguitch, king of the wild stallions. He is opposed to the local ranchers' use of barbed wire, and an epic fight ensues. Wild Horse Mesa is best known today for featuring a brief performance by Gary Cooper, who also appeared, again very briefly, in Paramount's following Grey Western, The Enchanted Hill (1926). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Noah Beery, Sr., (more)
- 1925
One of the silent era's most popular tearjerkers, this soapy melodrama was adapted by legendary screenwriter Frances Marion from the 1923 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. Belle Bennett stars as Stella Dallas, a small town girl who is devastated by her father's death and quickly marries the upper class Stephen Dallas (Ronald Colman), with whom she has nothing in common. After the birth of a daughter, Laurel, the Dallases go their separate ways, Stephen returning to New York. As Laurel (Lois Moran) grows into a spirited young woman, Stella realizes that Stephen can provide their daughter countless opportunities she'll never have while living with a destitute single mother, and so Stella makes a selfless sacrifice and sends Laurel to live with Stephen and his new family. Stella Dallas (1925) would later be remade at least twice, its most beloved and famous version being the 1937 King Vidor classic starring Barbara Stanwyck in the title role. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belle Bennett, Ronald Colman, (more)
- 1925
By using a borrowed medal, Russ Kane, a crook (Warner Baxter), is able to get a job as an air mail pilot. His plan is to steal some valuable cargo, but soon enough the job begins to have a positive effect on him. When his plane has to make a force landing, he meets Alice Rendon (Billie Dove, who was also the wife of director Irvin Willat). His love for Alice encourages him to go straight. When Alice's invalid father (George Irving) needs medicine, Kane flies to get it, but on his return the craft is pursued by two renegade airplanes. Kane's young friend, Sandy (a very fresh-faced Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), saves the valuable cargo by parachuting out of the plane while holding it. On the ground, three escaped prisoners have taken over Alice's home. The sheriff's posse wipes out the bad guys while Kane destroys the outlaw planes, and Sandy achieves his dream by flying the mail to the next station. Back in 1924 and 1925, the concept of air mail was still very novel (it only took three days to get the mail across country instead of six -- an impressive feat in those days). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Billie Dove, (more)
- 1926
The physical attributes of lovely leading lady Esther Ralston are amply displayed in American Venus. This satire of beauty contests gets under way when two competing cosmetic companies seek the endorsement of the winner of the American Venus pageant (Ralston, of course). Complication ensue when it appears that our heroine's contest win was rigged. This plot point mirrored a real-life occurrence in 1925, when it was alleged that the Miss America pageant had been fixed; apparently it hadn't, since Miss America herself, Fay Lanphier, makes a cameo appearance in American Venus. Of more interest historically is the presence in the supporting cast of cult favorite Louise Brooks, not to mention the Technicolor bathing-beauty scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Lawrence Gray, (more)
- 1926
The titular "man bait" is svelte shopgirl Madge Dreyer (Marie Prevost), who can't convince her customers and male co-workers to keep their hands to themselves. When she rebuffs the advances of her boss, Madge is fired, whereupon she finds work at a dime-a-dance joint. Here she meets and falls in love with young Jeff Sanford (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), who -- surprise! -- turns out to be the son of Madge's ex-boss. Though the rest of Jeff's family disapproves of his choice in women, his brother Gerald (Kenneth Thomson) is delighted -- he'd like to spend some quality time with Madge himself. In a wholly expected development, Madge ends up with Gerald, while Jeff dutifully returns to his society fiancee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Prevost, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1926
Warner Brothers' Broken Hearts of Hollywood is still another of the "mother love" dramas that festooned the silent era. Louise Dresser plays a selfish woman who deserts her child in pursuit of movie stardom. The years pass, and the girl grows up to be Patsy Ruth Miller. With no mother to guide her, Patsy falls in with the wrong crowd and gets mixed up in a murder. Louise nobly takes the blame for the killing, facing execution on behalf of the daughter who doesn't even know her. Featured in the cast is 18-year-old Douglas Fairbanks Jr., as well as two "regular" cast members of the films of Douglas Fairbanks Sr: Anders Randolf and Sam DeGrasse, cast respectively as the prosecuting and defense attorney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller, Louise Dresser, (more)
- 1926
Padlocked began as a serial for Cosmopolitan magazine, written by Rex Beach. After only a couple of chapters were published, Famous Players Lasky bought the rights to the story, reportedly for $100,000. Why the studio would pay so much for this utterly common (at least for its era) narrative is a mystery. It involves a minister/reformer (Noah Beery) who is so self-righteous that he sends his own daughter (Lois Moran) to a reformatory. Rebelling against her father's unreasonable strictness, she runs off to the big city and becomes a cabaret performer. The reformer has to reform himself if he wants to save his daughter from perdition and big-city womanizers. This is not one of director Allan Dwan's more distinguished films. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Moran, Noah Beery, Sr., (more)
- 1927
Also known as Women Love Diamonds, this MGM picture was to have been a Greta Garbo vehicle, but when Garbo went on strike for a higher salary the film was deferred to contractee Pauline Starke. The story concerns the beautiful mistress (Starke) of an elderly millionaire (Lionel Barrymore), who falls in love with younger, handsomer Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Upon announcing his intention to marry Starke, Moore is told flatly that such a union is impossible: it turns out that the girl is of illegitimate birth. But Starke proves that she has more inner nobility than anyone else in the family when she selflessly acts as surrogate mother to the children of mortally injured chauffeur Owen Moore. It seems fairly certain that, by refusing to appear in Women Love Diamonds, Garbo didn't hurt her career one teeny bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Starke, Owen Moore, (more)
- 1927
Though Will Rogers was still packing 'em in on Broadway, he was considered a Hollywood has-been when he starred in the independently produced A Texas Steer. Rogers also wrote the screenplay of this "topical comedy," in which he plays Texas rancher Maverick Brander, who is maneuvered into politics by his status-seeking wife Ma (Louise Fazenda). Unfortunately, Maverick finds himself at the mercy of a trio of corrupt political hacks who want our hero to use his influence to push through a piece of questionable legislation. The opponents of the bill contrive to abduct Maverick, but he escapes in time to strike a blow for honesty in Washington. The level of humor in the film can be gauged by such character names as "Bossy Brander," "Dixie Style" and "Fairleigh Bright." A Texas Steer had its moments, but Will Rogers would have to wait until talkies arrived to fully blossom as a film star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1927
Though Is Zat So? was playwright/actor James Gleason's Broadway breakthrough, Gleason himself did not appear in the first film version. The stars of this 7-reel silent are George O'Brien as boxer Ed Chick Cowan, Edmund Lowe as Cowan's manager Hap Hurley (the Gleason part) and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as young millionaire G. Clinton Blackburn. Befriending the naïve Blackburn, Cowan and Hurley save the young man from the mercenary machinations of his brother-in-law (Cyril Chadwick). While the stage version relied upon snappy patter for most of its laughs, the screen version concentrates on visual humor (as indeed it had to). As for James Gleason, he would not step before the cameras until the advent of talkies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1928
The "modern" mother in this modest melodrama released by Columbia was played by Helene Chadwick, a minor screen vamp of the later silent era. Chadwick played Adele Dayton, a Broadway star whose daughter, Mildred (Barbara Kent), is reared in rural Massachusetts by Maizie and John (Ethel Grey Terry and Alan Roscoe). Adele often visits but is prohibited from telling Mildred the truth of her parentage. On one such visit, Adele becomes infatuated with Mildred's handsome boyfriend, struggling playwright David Starke (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), who she brings to New York. On opening night of David's new play, Mildred blithely walks in on a romantic embrace between Adele and David and is both shocked and hurt. Realizing she is ruining her daughter's happiness, Adele sacrifices her own love by suddenly acting cold and indifferent toward the young man who soon returns, older but wiser, to Mildred. A dreary potboiler, Modern Mothers was written by Peter Milne, a former film reviewer who should have known better. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Helene Chadwick, (more)
- 1928
Based on the oft-filmed play by Kenyon Nicholson, The Barker represented the talking-picture debut of silent-screen favorite Milton Sills (the film itself is a part-talkie, containing 38 minutes' worth of dialogue). Sills is cast as Nifty Miller, veteran sideshow barker for a cheap carnival. Miller is determined that his young son Chris (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) will not follow in his footsteps but will instead attend law school. But Chris cannot help but be drawn to carnival life -- especially when he meets pretty "carney" Lou (Dorothy Mackaill). The film ran into some state-by-state censorship problems due to the scanty costumes worn by the female cast members. Herman Mankiewicz was among the screenwriters of The Barker, which received a latter-day fame of sorts when its crowded opening-credit title was reproduced in the pages of Kevin Brownlow's silent-film retrospective The Parade's Gone By. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill, (more)
- 1928
Presently unavailable for public reappraisal, the biting and cynical melodrama Power of the Press would seem to be a precursor to such Frank Capra talkies as Platinum Blonde and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Cub reporter Clem Rogers (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) wants a "big scoop" more than anything else in life. Alas, he stumbles onto a hot news story that implicates his sweetheart Jane Atwill (Jobyna Ralston), daughter of mayor candidate Atwill (Edwards Davis), in a murder. Putting his job and his future on the line, Clem endeavors to help Jane prove her innocence, and together they begin to see a connection between the murder of the district attorney and the political ambitions of her father's political rival. Curiously, Capra never mentions Power of the Press in his autobiography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jobyna Ralston, (more)
- 1928
No, Dead Man's Curve does not star Jan and Dean-mainly because it was filmed before either one of them was born. The film does star two of Hollywood's youngest and prettiest stars of 1928, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Sally Blane (sister of Loretta Young). Fairbanks plays a grease monkey who discovers a defect in an auto engine being turned out by his employer. But since our hero discovers this only after losing an important race, his boss chalks up the loss to Fairbanks' supposed cowardice. Thus it is that Doug Jr. spends the rest of the film clearing himself, with surreptitious aid from his sweetheart Sally, who happens to be the boss' daughter. Magnificently photographed, especially during the Big Race finale, Dead Man's Curve was scripted by Ewart Adamson, a man usually associated with slapstick comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Kit Guard, (more)
- 1928
The titular "toilers" are three coal-mining pals: Steve (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), Toby (Wade Boteler), and Butch (Robert Ryan -- and no, not that Robert Ryan). While Toby and Butch fritter away their paychecks on booze and dames, Steve settles down when he falls in love with Mary (Jobyna Ralston). Alas, on the day of his wedding, Steve and his two buddies are among the dozen or so miners trapped in a cave-in. In addition to its well-staged "underground" scenes, The Toilers boasted an impressive musical score, courtesy of the RCA Photophone recording process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jobyna Ralston, (more)
- 1928
Michael Arlen's notorious novel The Green Hat was considered such a hot potato censor-wise that the property's title could not be used when it was adapted to film. Retitled A Woman of Affairs, this tale of a woman destroyed by syphilis was heavily laundered for the screen. Greta Garbo plays an impulsive British lass who, when denied permission to marry John Gilbert, hops from bed to bed with various partners. She marries a man who turns out to be a thief. When her husband commits suicide, Garbo is again wooed by Gilbert, who in the meantime has acquired a spouse of his own. Though she passionately loves Gilbert, Garbo sends him away, rather than ruin his life as she's ruined her own. With that classic enigmatic half-smile on her face, Garbo suicidally crashes her expensive automobile into the tree under which she sat with Gilbert the day he first declared his love for her. Outside of the always fascinating Greta Garbo, the best performance in Woman of Affairs is offered by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Garbo's drunken, dissipated younger brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1929
This college musical chronicles the travails of a college football star who wants to quit playing. To stop him, the conniving coach enlists the aid of a flirtatious co-ed who tries to use her many charms to coerce the lad into staying on the team. She succeeds and the boy falls deeply in love with her. When she realizes that he is serious, she stops seeing her latest beau, and the professes her love to the football player. This inspires him to go on and win the big game. Songs include: "One Minute Of Heaven," "I Gotta Have You," "Hello Baby," "Huddlin'." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, (more)
- 1929
Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 and Paramount on Parade, due mainly to the film's master of ceremonies, the insufferable Frank Fay. Some of the individual acts seen in Show of Shows were pretty good, notably Winnie Lightner's delightful Singing in the Bathtub (a spoof of Hollywood Revue of 1929's Singin' in the Rain) and John Barrymore's brilliant rendition of Richard III's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry VI. Also easy to take was "Floradora Sextette," featuring such luminaries as Myrna Loy, Patsy Ruth Miller and cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, and "Eight Sister Acts," including such Hollywood siblings as Dolores and Helene Costello, Sally Blane and Loretta Young and Shirley Mason and Viola Dana (also teamed in this number are Ann Sothern and Marion Byron, who were not sisters). But for the most part, the acts are on a par with "Skull and Crossbones," a boring production number showcasing entertainer Ted Lewis, and "Recitations," a one-joke affair in which three different anecdotes (related by Frank Fay, Louis Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Bea Lillie) are melded into one. Show of Shows was originally released in two-color Technicolor but now exists only in black in white, save for the "Chinese Fantasy" number featuring crooner Nick Lucas and Warner Bros. contractee Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1929
In this courtroom drama, a man is sentenced to death for jealously murdering the man who flirted with his wife. Unfortunately, the condemned man is innocent. He is saved from the chair by the revelation that the real murderer is the governor's son. The innocent man and his wife are soon reunited. Unfortunately for the killer, his father is so devastated by his son's action that he kills him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1929
In this crime drama, the girls of an escort service get into trouble with the police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1929
The Careless Age was based on Diversion, a play by John Van Druten. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays Wyn, a headstrong young British aristocrat whose escapades cause no end of headaches for his father Sir John (Holmes Herbert). Although married to Muriel (Loretta Young), Wyn begins courting a gold-digging musical comedy actress named Ray (Carmel Myers). But when our hero is falsely accused of murder, Muriel stands nobly by his side. The film suffers from the usual early-talkie deficiencies, but the performances -- especially from the younger members of the cast -- are vibrant and enthusiastic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, (more)
- 1929
This follow-up to MGM's 1928 hit Our Dancing Daughters reunites the female stars of the earlier film: Joan Crawford (in her last silent film) and Anita Page. Crawford is engaged to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (her real-life husband at the time), but both she and her fiance fall in love with other people before the wedding takes place. Fairbanks Jr. renders Anita Page pregnant, but goes through with his wedding to Crawford all the same. Meanwhile, Crawford romances diplomat Rod La Rocque, partly in the hopes of advancing Doug's career, but mostly out of boredom. At any other studio, the romantic intrigues of Our Modern Maidens would be played out in small living rooms and cozy apartment houses. But MGM had a positive mania for placing its stars in the biggest, draftiest mansions possible, then dressing them to the nines in expensive costumes designed by the studio's own fashion arbiter Adrian. Our Modern Maidens proved successful, spawning a third in this loosely constructed series, Our Blushing Brides (one contemporary critic wondered aloud if the next film would be Our Dizzy Divorcees). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Rod La Rocque, (more)
- 1929
In this mostly silent drama, an overprotective brother tries to keep his sister from getting further involved with a group suspicious characters. Meanwhile he falls in love with a jazz-lover whose father is his father's mortal enemy. At the film's climax, the brother races his car against a trolley car. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Marceline Day, (more)
- 1930
Based on a play by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell, Little Accident stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as bridegroom-to-be Norman Overbeck. On the eve of his wedding to Madge (Sally Blane), Norman is visited by his first wife Isabel (Anita Page), who tells him that he's just become a father. Stuck with a kid on his hands, our hero is forced to postpone the wedding and "play daddy." He comes to like the job so much that he ends up marrying Isabel all over again -- but not before a long and drawn-out custody battle. Considerably toned down from the original play (in which the baby was illegitimate), Little Accident is a bit too antiseptic for its own good. The film was remade under the same title as a "Baby Sandy" vehicle in 1939, then again as the Gary Cooper starrer Casanova Brown in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anita Page, (more)
