This Is Francis X. Bushman

A brief account of the career of one of the first great movie stars, who was blacklisted by Louis B. Mayer, when Bushman had the nerve to demand his back pay. His grandson, Sam Bushman, narrated, but a professional should have been chosen. Bushman's joie de vivre extends "beyond the footlights," and we're convinced: Hollywood was the place to be during the early decades of the 20th century.

Brief at about an hour in length, "This Is Francis X. Bushman," is nonetheless a suitable documentary for its silent-film star subject. Not every biography need be two-hours-plus and in-depth psychologizing investigation. From the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and Bushman biographers Lon and Debra Davis (authors of the book "King of the Movies: Francis X. Bushman"), I caught this on the final day of the live stream for the 2021 Cinecon Classic Film Festival, but the documentary is to be released soon by Flicker Alley, as well, along with some short films starring Bushman and other fragments and clips as extras on the Blu-ray.

The pinnacle of Bushman's career was in the 1910s when he was perhaps the most popular leading man--maybe only being eclipsed in stardom by the likes of Mary Pickford or Charlie Chaplin, the latter of whom joined Bushman at Essanay for a time and whose Essanay short "His New Job" (1915) the documentary suggests poked fun at Bushman's persona. Bushman was best known for his romantic coupling with co-star Beverly Bayne on screen, such as in the now lost 1916 Metro version of "Romeo and Juliet," which Fox tried to imitate and beat to market with their own version starring vamp Theda Bara and which is also now lost. Bushman and Bayne's careers languished after their real-life marriage and the press scandal of Bushman reportedly abandoning his child and first wife (of four women he'd marry throughout his life), although it would soon be eclipsed by other Hollywood scandals including Fatty Arbuckle's trials for rape and manslaughter, the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the rumored one of Thomas H. Ince, the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reed and Olive Thomas, and others.

Despite his comeback in what is probably his best remembered role as Messala in "Ben-Hur" (1925), Louis B. Mayer reportedly being the schmuck he's often been reported as having been, blacklisted Bushman over, according to Bushman, a salary dispute. It was the theatre, radio and parts in poverty-row film productions from there on out until Bushman began getting some small parts in big studio productions--especially after Mayer's tenure at MGM ended. A dramatization of the murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor, "Hollywood Story" (1951), and made to capitalize on the success of "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) sounds especially intriguing to me. I would also love to see Lois Weber's "The Marriage Clause" (1926), which starred Bushman in a reportedly John Barrymore type role of an alcoholic star on the wane. Heck, I haven't even seen any of Bushman and Bayne's on-screen couplings, either, and they seem to be in short supply these days.

Bushman was one of the first and biggest movie stars and who has since fallen into obscurity. That alone makes him a good subject for a documentary, and although this one mostly merely follows his career from muscular model for bronze statues to senior-citizen motivational speaker, Bushman was continually working in a public role, so "This Is Francis X. Bushman" fits the bill.

Narrated by Bushman's grandson and produced by Lon Davis, this is an outstanding documentary on Bushman's life, one with which I was not at all familiar until I watched this documentary.

If Francis X. Bushman had not lived this life, Hollywood would have invented it, and they actually did over the years, since elements of Bushman's life are often seen in rags to riches to rags and back stories. Bushman became a matinee idol in the 1910's, becomes a spendthrift, divorces his wife of 15 years to marry his glamorous costar but the marriage fails, gets wiped out by the 1929 crash, can't make the transition to talking film because of changing tastes, and ironically finds a career in radio. The last act of his life was happy and professionally successful with appearances on TV and in film up until his death in 1966.

Often stars who made the mistakes and had the misfortunes that he did became bitter, became alcoholics, and died early sad deaths in poverty. So what really stood out to me was Bushman's eternal optimism - He never let circumstances get him down. Instead he persisted. Bushman himself is a co-narrator of sorts as a surviving interview of him plays at appropriate points in the documentary. I'd highly recommend this one if you think you'd have any interest in Bushman. You don't need any prior knowledge of the man to appreciate it.

The title is THIS IS FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN, And so it is, in this clips-and-narration documentary about the silent star. The narration is provided by Chris Bushman, the star's grandson, who started out in the Motion Picture Trust era, and continued working through his death in 1966 in his 80s. Bushman made and spent millions, and never expressed any regrets.

At an hour in length, there's no real sense of any arc to Bushman's life; like many a professional actor, he kept on performing, on stage, on radio, and in small bits in movies. Perhaps that's the point of this documentary: a real actor keeps on acting, because that's what he does.

Francis X. Bushman was a favorite of my grandmother's, and I knew him from Ben Hur, so I watched with interest.

This is an excellent documentary about Bushman's career and life, and a fascinating look at early days of film and of film acting. And the money - $750 a week in the '20s with a $50,000 bonus (the equivalent of $717,000 today) at one point. He even owned a house on which Grauman's Chinese Theatre was eventually built. And he spent it all and lost it all in the Wall St. Crash.

Hosted by his grandson, we learn that Bushman's career was multivaried - he started as a sculptor's model, worked in the old nickolodeon short films and on the stage, and he became a huge silent film star and matinee idol.

Bushman handled aging and the downturn in his career by working in radio, becoming a spokesperson for the elderly, and later appearing in films and television. In fact, the day he died, he was on his way to a film job.

The documentary is only an hour and is packed with information and film clips. Give it a watch. It's worth it.