The Film Daily (1918)

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Monday, July 29, 1918 sM^ DAILY Not Doug's Best But Artistry And Star's Pep Put It Over Douglas Fairbanks in "BOUND IN MOROCCO" Artcraft DIRECTOR Allan Dwan AUTHOR Allan Dwan CAMERAMAN Hugh McClung AS A WHOLE Not Doug's best but has stunts, thrills and several real laughs and has been given an exceptionally artistic production. STORY They dare you to find one DIRECTION Gave wonderfully artistic atmosphere, injected several funny bits and kept things moving. PHOTOGRAPHY Superb LIGHTINGS Artistic throughout; some great effects. CAMERA WORK Very fine STAR , I'll say he is SUPPORT Very good EXTERIORS Ooodles of wonderful sets that looked like the real thing and some great desert stuff. INTERIORS Very fine; harem set exceptional DETAIL Very good; some sure=fire titles CHARACTER OF STORY A plotless potpourri but it gets laughs. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 5,000 feet DOUG certainly proves himself a real star in this because there isn't another feller in pictures who could put over a story that is absolutely devoid of a plot, as this one is, and not only "get away with it" but make you like it. Had I viewed this "cold turkey" in a projection room. I might not have handed it much but I saw it at the Rivoli where I was surrounded by a gang that all paid sixty cents to yet in. and they ate it up. They kid this at the beginning with a title that tells you not to wink while the picture is on and to maintain absolute silence during the showing less you miss the plot. I must have winked, because I couldn't find said party. But Doug was there and after the thing started moving, which was in the next scene. I didn't care and I think the average gang is going to feel the same way about it. They plunge right into the middle of this at the beginning by showing Doug chained to a wall in a prison in Morocco with a lighted bomb burning at his feet, and then they take you back to the beginning and show how Doug got there. They give us some great desert stuff in the beginning of this where Doug is pursued by a gang of Hiudoos and they stir up so much sand that it all but gets in your eyes while you're watching it. Doug gets away from the gang after a series of stunts and wild driving and arrives in Morocco where he finds Shero and her mother prisoners. Frank Campeau is the wicked willun who owns a harem and he has fallen for Shero, Pauline Curley, who is an American girl and is to make her the favored one. Doug dresses up a la Fatima and goes in her stead and then we have some wild chases all around the place in which Doug throws willun and Jay Dwiggins, an ambassador, into the pool in the center of the harem. They give us a real thrill where Doug swings across the set on a rope and grabs Shero, who is on the opposite ledge, between his legs, scissor fashion, and swings back to safety. Then we had some thrilling chases over the roofs of buildings which gave Doug an opportunity to pull some of his athletic stunts in a way that only he can do 'em. This ends up with Doug getting Shero and her mother safe in his car and they speed away across the desert. They give us a finish that is at least new, although the audience at the Rivoli didn't seem to get it. Instead of the usual clutch we had a title which said "One Hundred Years Later" and faded out on a flash of a cemetery showing two big tombstones and a lot of smaller ones around it, closing with a title saying "That'll be about all." I woidd venture to say that this production cost more to make than anything Doug has done yet and the artistic treatment does much to make up for the utter lack of plot. Others in the cast were Edythe Chapman, Tully Marshall. Fred Burns and Albert McQuarrie. Concentrate on Doug And Forget Plot They'll Accept It The Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor Of course they can't all be knock-outs and I don't think this compares with some of Doug's previous work because we haven't been given any reason for things happening as they do but there's plenty of Doug, which means that this has got thrills, speed and laughs galore: it has been unusually well produced as to atmosphere and settings and for these reasons it's going to please the large percentage who don't care whai happens as long as it provides laughs and keeps moving — ami this one DOES MOVE. The thing to do is step out and make a lot of noise about this being Doug's latest production. You can promise s] d. laughs and thrills and above all, DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS. You know from past experience that all you need to do on a Fairbanks picture is to let 'em know you've got it and when you play it — Doug's reputation for "delivering" will do the rest. ^ You might use catchlines like this: "You've seen Doug in many predicaments and he always comes through smiling. See what happens when he's turned loose in a harem in 'Bound in Morocco', his latest production."