A Modern Musketeer

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a sequence in which D'Artagnan (Douglas Fairbanks) rides up to a tavern on horseback and ends up brawling with sword and fist with the patrons inside in his haste to approach a fair young stranger. After triumphing, he morphs into modern day Ned Thacker (also played by Fairbanks).
Ned is born and raised in Kansas by a mother who passes along to him her love of D'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers, despite his father's concern that it is not good for him. In fact, Ned does get into trouble with his (sometimes unwanted) chivalrous attempts to help women. Finally, Ned can stand it no more; he decides to leave dull Kansas. In mirroring scenes, D'Artagnan is astride a somewhat less-than-noble steed, a present from his father for his departure from home, while Ned's father gives him the modern equivalent: a car.
While driving in the desert, he comes upon a chauffeur-driven automobile stopped because the road ahead has been washed away. Unimpressed with one passenger, the middle-aged Forrest Vandeteer (the "richest man in Yonkers"), Ned is quite taken with the lovely "Park Avenue flapper" Elsie Dodge. Her mother, the third passenger, sees her only daughter's marriage to Vandeteer as the solution to their dire financial straits. Vandeteer buys what he wants, and he wants Elsie. She, however, loathes her suitor; she much prefers young Ned.
Ned comes up with the idea to put his car on railroad tracks. He takes the party (with Elsie in the front seat beside him) to their Grand Canyon resort hotel. There, Vandeteer tells Ned to stay away from the ladies. John Blabb, who works for "Town Topics", informs Ned that Vandeteer already has three wives hidden away somewhere.
Meanwhile, Chin-de-dah, the Native American leader of an outlaw gang hiding in a tributary canyon, is bored. He decides to kidnap a white woman to be his wife (his last "wife" is shown to have committed suicide). He goes to the resort, pretending to be a guide, and selects Elsie as his target. Ned is suspicious, but Vandeteer hires him. Vandeteer and Elsie set out for a horse ride down the canyon with their guide. Ned uses the time to persuade Mrs. Dodge that her daughter's happiness should take priority over their financial security.
James Brown, a member of the gang who knows and hates Vandeteer, gleefully tells Ned about the man's impending demise and Chin-de-dah's intentions toward Elsie. Ned shames him into helping with a rescue. They reach the camp in time to free Elsie and Vandeteer, but remain in peril. Vandeteer offers Ned $100,000 to save his life; Ned makes him put it in writing. Then they are lifted up the sheer cliff by a rope pulled by a horse. Once they are safe, Brown wants to kill Vandeteer, who falsely incriminated him in Vandeteer's own scam and stole his wife and children. Vandeteer ends up clinging to the cliffside, kept from falling to his death only by Ned's grip. Under Ned's direction, he writes a note exonerating Brown. Ned persuades Brown to let Vandeteer live, and promises to split the reward with him. Once they are alone, Elsie kisses her rescuer.

Tags: murder, violence, flashback, action, melodrama, revenge

Review:
Danish Film Archive's Complete Print of "A Modern Musketeer" Shown On TCM.
Turner Classic Movies showed a complete print of "A Modern Musketeer" last night, March 20, 2008.
The credit at the end identified the movie as a 2006 Danish Film Archive restoration.
His playing a role set in the present does not stop him from doing a handstand at the edge of a precipice, getting onto a horse by leaping onto the saddle without using a stirrup (Steve McQueen did that too in his western TV series, but Fairbanks does the leap further from the saddle) and sliding in and out of cut stone windows at every opportunity.This movie shows that in 1917 Hollywood art directors were on the ball.
At the end, the movie's interior action takes place in a set that represents an Anasazi cave dwelling.
The director Alan Dwan later said that in a Fairbanks movie everything was arranged to make it look as if Fairbanks was not exerting himself as he performed his stunts.
Outside of this set, much of the action seems to take place on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, not far from the El Tovar hotel.If the El Tovar hotel gave the cast and crew of this movie free or discounted accommodations, I would not be surprised.
Thanks to the Danish film archive and TCM, this Fairbanks star vehicle is again available for viewing (when TCM shows it again).
---Addition (26 July 2009): I finally bought on sale A Modern Musketeer on DVD as part of the Douglas Fairbanks 5 DVD movie box set of the same name.
For a 1917 movie, you expect and usually get interior scenes that are static with the camera too far from the actors, as if filming a stage play.
Not in the case in A Modern Musketeer, where director Dwan keeps the camera much closer to the actors, even when the Grand Canyon is the backdrop, varying the shot selection a lot, just like in movies made decades later.
On the commentary track, the film experts mentioned how many scenes in the movie were shot at less than 24 frames per second, adding speed to the action.
I did not notice that undercranking when I saw the movie now, but I did notice that Dwan used an awful lot of setups to film the action from different perspectives.
One commentator mentioned how good the wide angle chase scene through the wide floor of the canyon (an area now probably flooded by Lake Meade) must have looked when the original, undamaged print was projected on the big screen in the Rivoli Theater in 1917, as first one group of riders, than a second, take off after Fairbanks and company on the run on horseback.
Dwan took advantage of the majestic location to make this wide angle shot, which would look at home in a modern Western except for the missing inserts showing close up shots of the riders.
The commentators mentioned that other filmmakers copied some scenes in the movie, indicating one streetcar scene that Harold Lloyd used and a "cyclone" scene in Kansas with a house falling down that Buster Keaton referred to years later.
What also stands out for me, though, is how Dwan, with the limited camera technology then available, moved the camera every which way with loads of setups to compensate for the lack of close-up lenses, no use then (as far as I know) of cameras on rails and managing to film those location scenes at the Grand Canyon using orthochromatic film (the last mostly the responsibility of ace cinematographer Hugh McClung)..
'The Modern Musketeer', now complete and restored thanks to the efforts of the Danish Film Archive, is a fun modern adventure film starring the ever smiling Douglas Fairbanks (Snr).
The first scenes show our hero as D'Artagnan of the Three Musketeers, swashing a buckle to rescue a young lady's handkerchief, before fast forwarding to modern times where Ned Thacker, his mother obsessed with the Dumas novel, has been brought up to be chivalrous (and rather irritating) where young ladies are concerned.When Ned decides to leave for the big wide world in his new car - not until after he's climbed the church spire (as you do) - he meets Elsie Dodge, who's being railroaded into marriage with an unpleasant and cheating millionaire.
Falling for Elsie he first lets her share his lunch hamper, then saves her from a fate worse than death at the hands of the local Injun (man with teeth necklace who thinks that makes him king).Great action sequences involving ropes, jumps, and various acrobatics prefigure Fairbanks' later cinematic adventures.
Although this film loses its way somewhat - starting as a likable comedy and then becoming a wild west adventure - it wears its years well and is worth a look..
This is Fairbanks before "The Mark of Zorro", "The Three Musketeers", "Robin Hood", or "The Thief of Baghdad" and it's his athleticism that makes this movie stand out.
He's climbing church steeples, shimmying down street lamps and drain pipes, handstands on the edge of the Grand Canyon - all to save the damsel in distress Elsie Dodge (Marjorie Daw).Ned can't help it though!
Note:- Please pardon the pun." Ned meets up with Elsie, her mother, Forrest Vandeteer (aka Forest Barris and the richest man in Yonkers), and his driver in the middle of nowhere.
Ned's ingenuity managed to drive his Ford and Vandeteer's car on deserted railroad tracks that conveniently go right past the El Tovar lodge near the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Ned's ingenuity causes the French driver of Vandeteer's car to comment that this is why the Yankees will help beat the Germans.Well, Ned doesn't beat the Germans in "A Modern Musketeer", but to avoid spoiling the fun of watching this movie, I won't mention who does beat in the end.
DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS was quite the swashbuckler of his era in the 1920s, especially during the time of his biggest triumphs in ROBIN HOOD, THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, THE MARK OF ZORRO and THE BLACK PIRATE.But this is an early relic from his silent screen career as early as 1917, and, of course, has to be judged by today's standards of film-making for any potential viewers outside of curious film buffs who want to see it.Fairbanks was athletic and agile enough, but always looked middle-aged, even though here he's only 34.
He climbs up over anything in his way with the ease of a monkey swinging through trees, exuberantly smiling while he struts his way through whatever impediment is in his way.And the film itself, for a relic that was filmed in 1917, is in amazingly good condition, fully restored and with a jaunty background score that is not jarring and obtrusive the way so many of the silent film scores were.The story is really two stories that run concurrently: the D'Artagnan legend is illustrated in a few brief scenes of derring-do with Fairbanks rescuing a damsel in distress.
The young Kansas man who desperately wants to leave his provincial roots (in a scene deliriously overplayed by Fairbanks) is also anxious to have a life of adventure and romance, like D'Artagnan.
His father and mother give him their blessing and send him on his way--and the rest of the plot is predictable but fun to watch as he finds his own damsel in distress to rescue from a villainous man.Fun, and thin on plot--but it does move as briskly as Fairbanks himself.
This Douglas Fairbanks vehicle has been noted for its scenes of Fairbanks dressed as D'Artagnan ("The Three Musketeers") anticipating the star's later redirection of his career in the 1920s to more prestigious, costume/historical swashbucklers.
His scenes as D'Artagnan are only a small part of the picture—mostly the opening sequence where Doug swordfights every man in a tavern to humorously retrieve a lady's handkerchief.
Framing this sequence, Fairbanks literally winks at the camera, which the Flicker Alley commentary suggests was to reassure audiences that they were watching the same old Doug, who had by this time firmly established a popular comedic screen persona.I like Fairbanks's comedies and have viewed about every complete one I could find on home video, but, admittedly, even the best formulas eventually get tiresome and in need of some revision and innovation.
Besides the opening swashbuckling, other sequences seem to be in non-chronological order: first, there's a mythological past of D'Artagnan with a modern sense of humor, then a near-contemporary scene where modern Doug destroys another, but modern, tavern, as he again knocks men about to defend a woman's honor, followed by the cyclone scene of Doug's character's birth and, then, another near-present scene on a streetcar involving giving up seats for ladies.
After this, we mostly follow the main chronological story as our hero leaves home and eventually saves the day at the Grand Canyon.As in his other comedies, Fairbanks is established as out-of-place in modern society, for his restless exuberance and chivalry at the expense of clobbering any fellow seeming to be in his way.
The film suggests that this kind of man was more at home in the past, such as in the case of D'Artagnan.
He doesn't belong in his small hometown in Kansas, so he leaves for adventure.Overall, this is a good Fairbanks comedy.
This sequence and the dam break climax in Fairbanks's "When the Clouds Roll by" seem to have had a strong influence on Buster Keaton, who included similar scenes in his later comedies.
Additionally, the direction and editing are generally sharp here, as in other Fairbanks's films, but there is one particularly sloppy match-on-action cut about 30 minutes in where there's a temporal replay as the scene cuts to a closer view.
Modern Musketeer, The (1917) *** (out of 4) Fun silent film has Douglas Fairbanks playing a man living in Kansas with his parents who dreams of a more exciting life.
A lot of lost movies that get found are usually big letdowns but this film here actually is pretty good and should keep action fans entertained.
The lively action at the start of the film makes the movie slow down a tad too much in the middle but the movie ends with more great action as Fairbanks must battle Indians.
Although best known for his swashbuckling adventure films of the 1920s like THE MARK OF ZORRO, THE BLACK PIRATE and THE THREE MUSKETEERS, Douglas Fairbanks was already wowing the audiences in earlier years from 1915 onwards, particularly with his amazing physical feats which led to his more famous action hero roles of the 20s.
In fact, many of his pre-1920 films have more raw action and amazing feats than the more sophisticated productions of later years, and A MODERN MUSKETEER is a prime example: one astonishing action sequence shows Fairbanks doing some running somersaults, leaping over walls and then a horse in a single bound before virtually running up a perpendicular church wall and its steeple with the speed and ease of a monkey!
Anyone who has thrilled to other early Fairbanks films like WILD AND WOOLLY, MANHATTAN MADNESS and HIS MAJESTY, THE American will surely be as amazed and entertained as I was to watch A MODERN MUSKETEER.
Although it's incomplete, with only the first 3 reels surviving, it showcases the trademark comedy and action talents of Douglas Fairbanks in his years leading up to his biggest film successes.
A few short scenes show Fairbanks as D'Artagnan  a foretaste of his later success in THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and then the story revolves around a young man from Kansas who, like D'Artagnan, is always looking to rescue a damsel in distress.
Boyish adventurer Douglas Fairbanks (as Ned Thacker) imagines himself as an Alexandre Dumas-like "D'Artagnan of Kansas", but local town-folk aren't taken by his chivalrous "Three Musketeers" routine.
Their love story takes a back seat to Fairbanks' athletic antics, with trusty Tully Marshall (as James Brown) providing his usual good support.
The cast and crew stay at the El Tovar Hotel, with the backdrop of Arizona's "Grand Canyon" providing an exciting location for Fairbanks and company.
Now, a full-length restoration is available.***** A Modern Musketeer (12/30/17) Allan Dwan ~ Douglas Fairbanks, Marjorie Daw, Tully Marshall, Frank Campeau.
A Chivalrous Man. This will be one of the more enjoyable silent movies you'll come across - restored by the Danish Film Institute and of very good quality, and starring one of the greats of the silent era - Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
- as Ned Thacker, a man raised in Kansas being read the stories of D'Artagnan by his mother, and who grows up to be a modern day version of the musketeer, defending the honour of women at every step.The movie opens with two really good fight scenes - a swashbuckling look back at D'Artagnan (also played by Fairbanks) as he fights to re-claim a woman's handkerchief, and our first look at Thatcher in a bar-room brawl as he defends the honour of a woman he thought was being treated poorly by her male companion.
So the story had a good start.If it lost its way a bit, it was in the decision to then focus exclusively on Ned's pursuit of Elsie Dodge (Marjorie Daw) - a young woman being forced by her mother into a relationship with a rich man in order to help pay bills.
The move into the Grand Canyon, and the introduction of the bad Indian Chin-de-dah (Frank Campeau) - who fancies himself a king and decides he's going to kidnap and marry Elsie - struck me as an unnecessary diversion, which ended up as far more than a diversion - it becomes the story.Still, if that goes a little too far, this was still a fun movie.
Overall I thought both the movie and Fairbanks had the feel of something you might have seen remade by Bob Hope in the 1940's - a light, silly, Western-oriented comedy.
A typical line, for example, that I could easily have seen put on Hope's mouth (which, of course, in this is simply a caption) comes as Ned and Elsie look at the splendour of the Grand Canyon and Ned says "Golly.
Well, it wasn't in 1921, in that world-famous classic swashbuckler "The Three Musketeers", that the world got to see Douglas Fairbanks for the first time in the role of D'Artagnan - it was in 1917, in this fabulous adventure-comedy!
And he REALLY is a gentleman of the old school in every way; he's a member of the 'Society for the prevention of cruelty to women', he intervenes wherever he witnesses injustice (and often with quite unpleasant consequences for himself), he does the most stunning stunts...And one day, he sets out on his journey of adventure, just like D'Artagnan had done - only with a Ford instead of a yellow steed...
And in the middle of the desert, he meets, of course, his 'damsel in distress': young and pretty Elsie, who's just about to be married (forced by her mother) to a man she doesn't want - and what a break: since their car has broken down, he's able, by adjusting his car to the railway tracks, to take them to their destination; and to steal Elsie's heart away on the way, of course...
But now, in the Wild West, there are some REAL adventures waiting for our 'modern Musketeer'...!
What a wonderful mixture of Dumas and Western, of 17th century ideals and early 20th century reality; and, of course, a GREAT vehicle for the rising star Douglas Fairbanks!
Here he can show both his romantic imagination and his great physical shape: in his youthful exuberance, he jumps out of windows on to lamp posts, climbs a church steeple, and even makes a handstand on the edge of the Grand Canyon!
In the twenties, with "The Mark of Zorro", his film character changed with big superbly mounted costumed adventure tales - over-long, slow and with a lot of the fun gone, but pre 1920 he usually played exuberant go-getters that most people in the audience could identify with.
After a fast and furious beginning with Doug as a swashbuckling nobleman (shades of his roles to come) ready to go to any lengths and fight any comer to retrieve a lady's handkerchief - to Ned Thacker (Fairbanks) living in present day Kansas (1917) the answer is no!!!
Even when women don't want to be rescued, Ned doesn't take no for an answer - after all he does work for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Women!!!Thanks to his mother who has bought him up on a steady diet of the Three Musketeers he is her pride and joy but his exuberance is just too big for the town - so he leaves to seek his fortune.
Pretty Marjorie Daw is Elsie Dodge, a "lovely unspoiled Park Avenue flapper" (although she doesn't act like a flaper - being very subdued for most of the movie) who is being coaxed by her mercenary mother (who looks more like her elder sister) to accept the attentions of a lecherous playboy.
He invites Elsie and her mother for a weekend away at the Grand Canyon and it is here they meet Ned who sweeps Elsie off her feet with his boyishness and "up and at 'em" high spirits.Doug has plenty of opportunity to indulge in some amazing stunts - why mount a horse when you can leap onto the saddle from an open window or while cartwheeling over a wagon?
Daw made a pretty passive leading lady but she would obviously have had more scope as the leading lady in a Marx Brothers movie than in a Doug Fairbanks film.
When a renegade Indian decides that Elsie will be his next wife, it is time for Doug to swing into action and by the end he has rescued Elsie and the penitent playboy from the canyon cliff and also helped an old fugitive (Tully Marshall) win back his good name!!Marjorie Daw, known as the girl with the nursery rhyme name, was a pretty actress often used by Douglas Fairbanks as his leading lady.