Friday, March 6, 2020

American Aristocracy (1916)

The age old story: boy meets girl, boy has to fight pirate arms smugglers. Cassius (Douglas Fairbanks) is an entomologist who stumbles into the 1910s high society in a US port, which basically consists of a lot of rich men and their bored wives and daughters. Geraldine (Jewel Carmen) is one of those bored gals, she is looking for a real man...

Cassius becomes infatuated with Geraldine but he lacks the vital ingredient to get into her high society circle: a lot of cash. His new friend Percy (Albert Parker) however offers to help him pretend to be dashing and loaded. However Cassius then discovers Percy is a gun runner supplying arms to the Central Powers in WWI...

A light action comedy with the usual incredible athleticism from Fairbanks. The film is a bit slow to get started (though has some interesting satire on American society of the period) but soon warms up, maybe a bit predictably but it is enjoyable enough. The film is notable for being the first film outing of a very young Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who has a bit part as a paper boy.