New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
The Dazzling Sameness
of Douglas Fairbanks


whatever but themselves, swinging ir
relevantly in midair like trapezcs.
And this seemed actually admitted
when they began to be advertised by a
wide smile, just such a smile exactly
as a trapeze artist favors his audience
with when he trips in, ready for his
act. 1t IS a smile Of announcement
not OF express ION: If you wish stunts,
prepare to see them now,
Indeed it was easy to gauge their
popularity and the tremendous pressure
put upon their perpetrator to perpe-
trate nothing else, simply by observing
how that smile spread over the COM
posite likeness of the movie male.
Every firm possessing an athletic star
set him smiling till the movie maga-
zines looked like pamphlets advertis-
ing tooth powder, even the Olympian
Farnums showing their teeth from
every page. George Walsh ceased to
I be a hero, lover and an actor, and
took to hopping over things, and when
the face Of Wallace Reid appeared cleft
in twain by that same smile we felt
that our trust must never stray again
beyond Hart. keenan, and the vamps,
who can be relied upon occasionally to
shut their mouths. Not that we have
prejudice against smiles; we should be
sorry to see even a comedian always
sad. 1t is the always" in any kind
that afronts us, the cut-and- dried, the
inescapable, the smile that won't come
off From any fexiblity become hard
and fast good Lord deliver u.s.
But then came the frown, the rain
bow!
1t was in an advance advertisement
"Arizona." For ourselves we should
never have selected Denton as a Fair
banks vehicle, because Denton is q
purely conventional hero in purely
conventional situation; still, we did not
doubt that he could timber up such
part, that he would fiji it full of sim
/ picity and freshness and nature no
matter how he tripped up the romantic
gait Of straight lead" to do it. We
thought. ole has rebeled. And he is
using the name and fame of Arizona.
as the opening wedge to get back into
acting again We even had hopes that
the public had shown signs of rebel
/ ling with him against himself and that
that was why he had undertaken such
imposing troubles as Denton's. Alas,
! the frown was no true Mnbow. but a
mirage.
The truth about "Arizona' is so bad
! that we have to stop and say our
prayers before we utter it. For though
we went twice to see what Fair
banks performance of Lieutenant Den
ton would be like we never did see.
| 1t wasn't there. In its place was just
q sort of smear across the film, as if
an automobile had shot past and van
ished.
Remember the heavenly repose of
him, there at the table in "Manhattan
I Madness and now observe him unable
even to get seated at the table in
"Arizona" without giving three back
Time was when he achieved with little
conspicuous movement a great variety
Of expression; now he achieves every
movement all the time with no express
sion at all. Finally, to the mania for
doing something every moment he has
added the mania for doing it so fast
that nobody can see what he does do.
Yet in the occasional seconds~all
funereal- when his head is still enough
for us to see his face, that face is
crossed by none but the most obvious
changes and few enough of those The
comic and serious clements of his
Denton form not blend but sand
Wlch. The seriousness he plays as
solemnly as he would Othello he does
the lighter scenes as if he were a
mechanical toy. And not only do the
mechanical toy and Othello never blend
into one, but no communication ever
takes place between them; they live
in absolutely separate air-tight boxes
out of which each is let to do its turn
al given cue, but no identity or
motive of mutual life exists be
tween them. Now, as a poor little
lamb trying to be lion you may be
as funny and as sad as you like in u
single breath and then your next
breath may be as profound as any
lion ever drew and every pulse in the
audience will stand still until you
draw it, but you cannot be mechani-
cal toy standing on your head in one
scene and then somersault through the
window and land into the next scene
as Othello with any sort of convinc-
ing effect.
We clutch to ourselves the hope that
this lack of conSincngness is due
partly to the wretchedly od-fashioned
1tiltedness Of both titling and direct
ing in the serious scenes; still more
20 tho extreme choppincss OF the see
NJ ,.%, IL IL.