His Picture in the Papers

Douglas Fairbanks is the workshy son of a successful businessman who must get his picture in the newspaper if he is to marry the daughter of one of his father's biggest customers. A silly storyline, but Fairbanks was always an engaging leading man, and gets to show off his athletic dexterity in all manner of improbable ways. Erich von Stroheim plays a cutthroat rogue.

Douglas Fairbanks as Pete Prindle, is the son of the wealthy owner of Prindle Products which produces a rather disgusting sounding (e.g, 'Pre- digested Prunes') line of nutritious processed foods aimed at the vegetarian market. Pete doesn't think much of the foods and is not interested in the business; he comes to work late and doesn't do much once he's there. Pete falls in love with Christine Cadwalader, the daughter of one of Prindle's distributors but her father tells him he won't allow a marriage until Pete official owns half of Prindle's products. But Pete's father tells him he won't be in the business at all until he gets his pictures in the papers promoting Prindle Products. Pete comes up with some amusing schemes to get this done but these are unsuccessful until he is a hero in preventing a train wreck. Fairbanks had the most engaging smile in moviedom and added to that an athleticism and comic timing that makes for always enjoyable watching. This movie has an over abundance of title cards but it also has one of the funniest and most memorable title cards - "Ain't he the reel hero?" The movie also includes some fascinating scenes of the Atlantic City boardwalk. Fortunately, Flicker Alley has issued a wonderful set of Fairbanks modern comedies and their print of this one is excellent.

Proteus Prindle is mighty proud of his big business he made out of all kinds of cereal products; and of course, he's a member of high society, and his picture's in all the papers - just like that of his well-fed daughters, 'prime' examples of the wonders his cereals do... Only his son Pete, who prefers a good steak to his father's vegetarian food, is the 'black sheep' of the family - and when he tries with all kinds of wrong methods to build up a reputation of his own, his father throws him out and threatens to disinherit him if he doesn't come up with the RIGHT kind of advertisement for the company soon! But meanwhile, Pete has fallen in love with the daughter of his father's friend and business partner Cadwalader, who also secretly prefers meat to corn flakes - and her father is being threatened by an unscrupulous gang called the 'Weazels'...

So - in Doug Fairbanks' third film (after "The Lamb", and "Double Trouble", which unfortunately is lost) we can witness our young hero again breaking almost all the rules of 'society', pulling the most hilarious gags, and of course showing a VERY fine display of his wonderful acrobatics (including his considerable boxing skills!) - which shows us once more: a steak IS more nutritious than mere cereals...

And this is not only a GREAT comedy, full of Doug's eternally optimistic spirit, but also a VERY valuable time document from (seen from the US point of view) pre-WWI days - note the 'Tin Lizzies', the old-fashioned steam trains, the clothes people wore almost exactly 100 years ago... It'll take you into a totally different era!

"His Picture in the Papers" is a good film. However, considering that it's a comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks (who made a bunch of excellent films--including comedies), I really expected more. Is it worth seeing? Sure...but the film SHOULD have been better.

Fairbanks plays Peter Prindle. His family has made their fortune selling vegetarian foods--much like the Kellogg's family. However, Peter thinks it's all nonsense and is seen sneaking off to buy himself a steak! In a similar situation is a girl he wants to marry--as her family is also into the vegetarian lifestyle and works with Peter's dad. However, her father isn't about to let the pair marry because Peter is a ne'er-do-well--and is known for showing up late to work and not taking the business seriously. In order to even consider letting the pair marry, Peter's been told he must get himself into the newspaper--thus drawing attention to the business. However, try as he might, again and again, he cannot get himself in the paper. Several of these attempts are funny--but several SHOULD have been a lot funnier and overall these attempts are pretty uneven. Naturally, however, by the end, Peter proves himself and gets the girl. This portion of the film is by far the best, as Fairbanks is in his element--doing some amazing stunt work.

By the way, at the end, look carefully at the Weazels (a group of extortionists)--one of them is Erich von Stroheim!

While the central idea is perfect for a breezy comedy and Fairbanks' talents, the execution is wanting. There are just way too many title cards and not enough storytelling through visuals. This makes the movie a bit of a slog, even though it's only an hour long.