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Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. made his last movie in 1934. The Private Life of Don Juan was, quite accidentally, a fitting farewell to one of the first megastars of the movie industry. It wasn’t clear while filming it that it would be Fairbanks’ last movie but its story, one of a once vigorous and dashing romantic reduced to seeing a physician because he just doesn’t feel he has it in him anymore, fell in line with Fairbanks’s real life condition. He was only 51 but already feeling the effects of decades of chain-smoking, drinking and general living life to its fullest. He could no longer do a lot of the athletic work he had so easily mastered in his early career. Better said, he could, but it exhausted him. But he was also exhausted by the movies themselves, particularly sound movies. He never quite took to them and despite his stardom and seemingly smooth transition to sound, never quite felt at home.
The Private Life of Don Juan was directed by Alexander Korda, a director I’ve covered more than a few times here, and he was surely hoping for a big hit given it not only starred Fairbanks, but starred him in a role cut from the same clothe as his past movie characterizations. Unfortunately, it didn’t even break the top ten for box office that year and, given his health, Fairbanks had little incentive to continue. A part of the problem was the types of movie Fairbanks chose once the talkies arrived. The Private Life of Don Juan is a light film, to be sure, but there’s nothing wrong with a trivial entertainment, especially for a world mired in the Great Depression and looking for escape. The problem was that it was a bit old fashioned at the time of its release, a problem that beset John Barrymore as well, as he continuously opted for stage adaptations to film over new and exciting material written specifically for the silver screen.
When one watches Gunga Din from 1939, starring none other than Fairbanks’ son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, one gets a feel for the type of movies Fairbanks, Sr. should have been going for. Of course, there aren’t many Gunga Dins out there and no one expects a movie like that to be available for the making any old time it’s needed. But seeing how fast the movie world tracked forward after the advent of sound, and observing some of the biggest hits from the very year this was released, like It Happened One Night and The Thin Man, it was clear that the kind of swashbuckling entertainments that Fairbanks excelled at needed some upgrading. That upgrading would happen but with a different actor at the helm, Errol Flynn.
The very next year, in 1935, Flynn had one of his earliest successes with Captain Blood and it is a great example of how you transfer the swashbuckling film to the sound era. It is filled with excitement and action, yes, but a quick wit and rapid fire scenes. And not so much athleticism that it required an athlete to do it. In fact, there’s not a whole lot of athleticism going on for Flynn in the film at all. Fairbanks still looked young enough and handsome enough for the job and probably could have done it. But to put it bluntly, Errol Flynn was made for sound movies and Fairbanks was not.
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Fairbanks simply didn’t have the right charisma for sound film and given how charismatic he was, it’s proof that the two different types of film required quite different talents. No one doubted that Fairbanks had charisma to burn in his silent movies but few actors made the leap to sound with ease. If an actor didn’t successfully go from silents to sound, the excuse usually given was that their voice wasn’t good enough but this was actually pretty rare. Clara Bow sounded just fine. So did John Gilbert, despite the rumors. True, some European actors opted out of Hollywood due to their thick accents, but for the most part, the difference from silents to sound wasn’t about the voice, it was about the charisma — sound film charisma.
Some had the right kind for both; Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Ronald Colman being among the most successful. But for others, it was a one way street. Gary Cooper may have started out doing some bit work in the silents, but it was the talkies that made him a star. Clark Gable? He had the looks for the silent screen but without his voice it’s just not the same. Cagney, Davis, Laughton and others were obviously made for the sound screen and it felt like it was made for them. Spencer Tracy? Sound all the way. His line readings are everything. With Tracy you get very little facial emoting. It’s all in the voice and how he uses it.
So Douglas Fairbanks was probably right to call it quits after The Private Life of Don Juan. He was still handsome and dashing but the movies that made him famous were a relic of another time. Director Korda does a great job of framing much of the movie like a silent film (we only see Don Juan in shadowy silhouettes for his first several appearances) and photographs Fairbanks with love and affection. It’s a fitting and enjoyable swan song for the old swashbuckler. His presence was better suited for a different kind of medium, and to his credit, he got that and went out with style and grace.
Greg Ferrara
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