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| Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Film Series at MOMA | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 11 2008, 01:24 PM (398 Views) | |
| Black Tiger | Dec 11 2008, 01:24 PM Post #1 |
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Charter Member
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The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in NYC will be unreeling a series of Douglas Fairbanks films including his adventure and comedy films. This is a rare chance to enjoy these films on the big screen with live piano accompaniment. A link to the MOMA schedule follows: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_exhibitions.php?id=10945&ref=calendar |
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| Black Tiger | Dec 30 2008, 04:43 PM Post #2 |
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Charter Member
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Saw one of the most innovative fight scenes ever today in The Mollycoddle. A descendant of several American heroes, rich wastrel Doug Fairbanks Sr. has a chance to come into his own against evil diamond smuggler Wallace Beery. The finale has Fairbanks and Beery start a fight from the top of a mountain to the top of a giant tree (!), down the tree, halfway down the mountain, into a cottage, through a wall in the cottage down another half of the mountain, and into a raging river. Really great stuff. When I see the amazing choreographed stuntwork of these early Fairbanks films and think of how poorly films are choreographed today (mostly quick camera cuts and some random fists and feet) it really makes me shake my disembodied head in wonder. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Dec 31 2008, 09:46 AM Post #3 |
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Mouth Breather
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I completely agree. It's time Fairbanks got more attention. Incidentally, Grapevine sells DVDs of some of his comedies. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| George Kaplan | Jan 1 2009, 07:43 AM Post #4 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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And the new Flicker Alley box is a pip: Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 1 2009, 10:41 AM Post #5 |
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Mouth Breather
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Woweeee!!!!! That box is more than a pip, it's a heckin' darb. All of Fairbanks' best work except the blockbuster costume pictures. Sight unseen, panzer's highest recommendation. I'm saving my pennies for sure. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 1 2009, 11:02 AM Post #6 |
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Charter Member
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I've seen a few of these films recently at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and can heartily agree with Panzer. Modern Musketeer has some really great swashbuckling antics/stuntwork from several generations of Fairbanks' character. Wild and Wooly is a fun chance to see Fairbanks as a cowboy reliving the old west. When The Clouds Roll By is a bizarre film with a mad doctor trying to drive Fairbanks' insane. Lots of comedy and surreal imagery including Fairbanks climbing up a wall and walking on a ceiling - before Fred Astaire did it in Royal Wedding. The Mollycoddle is a great romance/actioner I've mentioned in another post. Wallace Beery as evil as you've ever seen his brother Noah. The Mystery of the Leaping Fish is a fun short with Fairbanks as deerstalker-wearing detective Coke Anyday on the trail of drug smugglers. Mask of Zorro is one of the great Fairbanks costume actioners. Certainly the most fun Zorro out there. All of these films come with Fairbanks' signature enthusiasm, comedy and amazing stuntwork. And Charles Stevens of course. At MOMA today: Reaching for the Moon and The Three Musketeers. Follow Up: Reaching for the Moon is an unusual film. It shows how Fairbanks' style, so successful in silents, just didn't adapt smoothly to sound. It was originally shot as a musical with songs by Irving Berlin, but at some point before release, it was decided to take all the musical numbers out save one. And that one's a honey with an incredibly young Bing Crosby doing a number on a cruise ship. There is a great performance by Edward Everett Horton as Fairbanks' butler. Some fine pre-code dialogue, too. One memorable line is when Horton is coaching Fairbanks on how to woo wealthy heiress Bebe Daniels. An electrician comes into the apartment to change a lightbulb and sees the two men in the middle of a "love scene". When they realize the electrician is there, Horton says "this way my good man, I'll show you what's up" to which the electrician replies "I'm NOT your good man, and I KNOW what's up." Another scene has aviatrix Daniels cautioning her female flyers to not get into any trouble in town before a big competition: "keep your tanks empty, your landing gear off the ground and no tailspins." Edited by Black Tiger, Jan 1 2009, 07:35 PM.
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6:23 AM Jul 11