Sunday, June 10, 2012

Reaching for the Moon (1917)

Artcraft Pictures
Directed by John Emerson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Flicker Alley)

Fairbanks works in a dreary button factory in NYC. He buys a self-help book which teaches him to visualize success. He uses it to daydream about becoming a king. He stalks a real-life prince visiting the city, who tells him that he is the long-lost heir to the throne of Vulgaria. They cross the ocean by boat, pursued by spies who want to kill him. In Vulgaria, he is promised to a princess who turns out to be an ugly duckling and more people try to kill him. Don't worry, it was all just a dream and he wakes up happy to report back to work at the button factory. It ends, like most Fairbanks features from this era, with a marriage. The muddled point-of-view seems to be don't reach for the moon, it will only get you in trouble! Somewhat of a precursor to Fairbanks' costumed swashbucklers, which were still a few years away.

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