Douglas Fairbanks Review

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Douglas Fairbanks ReviewJeffrey Vance's new completist biography of film pioneer Douglas Fairbanks is worth a look. A good long look. Well-written and concise, Vance details the amazing life, and all of the movies, of one of the 20th Century's most incredible icons; the first Motion Picture Superstar. Douglas Fairbanks was born in Denver in 1883. He was raised by his southern mother, who had separated from his father, an attorney, when he was only five. His father, an alcoholic, would desert the family. Fairbanks suffered from depression as a child. Insecurity haunted all three of his later marriages, and affected the up-bringing of his son, Douglas Jr.. But young Doug found peace, and surely promise, in the fantasy world of theater, and later...the movies...Douglas Fairbanks began amateur theater at age 12 in Colorado. He made his Broadway debut in 1902. The hit play, "The Lamb", led to a Hollywood contract. Success would follow. He appeared in "The Americano", for D.W. Griffith, in 1916. He was paid $10,000 a week to star in "Flirting With Fate(1916)". Fairbanks would marry an industrialist's daughter. With Marry Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin, he helped form United Artists in 1919. During a Libert Bond tour he fell in love with Mary Pickford. Eventually married, Doug and Mary became the first residents of Beverly Hills, where they built the Pickfair Mansion. Pickfair was erected on top of Summit Drive in Benedict Canyon. It was torn down in 1979 by Pia Zadora. Using their combined assets, Fairbanks and Pickford bought the old Jesse Hampton studio on Formosa Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood in 1922. There they would produce some of their finest films. This studio today is called "The Lot". Here Fairbanks shot many silent epics, including "Robin Hood(1922)", and "The Thief of Bagdad(1924)". As producer and star, Fairbanks was intricately involved in all aspects of his movies. And Fairbanks did his own stunts. He did all his own, with one exception. In one early stunt, he broke his left hand, and twisted his back and wrists. In 1926, Fairbanks starred in the magical two-strip Technicolor "Black Pirate". For many years, this was a lost film. Fairbanks deposited the "Black Pirate" film elements at the Museum of Modern Art in 1938. But by 1959, the nitrate stock was deteriorating. In 1972, a restoration master negative was produced, yielding a remarkable new full-color version of the "Black Pirate". A beautiful time-capsule DVD, once mis-placed, is now available for all. Douglas Fairbanks and Marry Pickford divorced in 1936, but he never stopped calling her, or needing her love. He married an ex-chorus girl and retired from acting. A heavy smoker, Fairbanks died in 1939 at age 56. This book contains 237 pictures, many never seen before. The 1922 "Robin Hood" begins with an intertitle from Charles Kingsley's "Old and New", a poem close to Fairbank's heart since he was a boy: "So fleet the works of men, back to their earth again;/ Ancient and holy things fade like a dream".Douglas Fairbanks OverviewThis deft amalgam of biography, film history, and analysis is a superb portrait of a true pioneer who was critically important to the creation of cinema as the defining art form of the twentieth century. Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) was one of the first film superstars, a screenwriter, a major independent producer during the early studio era, a cofounder of United Artists, a founder and the first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and much more. The optimism, energy, and huge success during the 1920s of his best-remembered films The Mark of Zorro, Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, and The Black Pirate made Fairbanks a popular hero throughout the world and showcased his talents as a creative producer whose work set the standard for excellence. Douglas Fairbanks takes the full measure of Fairbanks's remarkable life. Jeffrey Vance, who had complete access to the star's personal and professional papers and scrapbooks, also incorporates 237 photographs, some unseen for more than seventy-five years. Extensively researched, engagingly written, and sumptuously designed, the book goes behind Fairbanks's public persona to thoroughly explore his art and his far-reaching influence. Copub: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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