The Americano (1916)

Director:

John Emerson

Writers:

John Emerson (scenario)
Anita Loos (scenario) (titles)

Release Date:

24 December 1916 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Doug is an American mining engineer. Pres. Valdez of Paragonia (Aitken) wants him to reopen the country's mines. Doug is not interested ...

Plot Keywords:

Mythical Kingdom | Fictitious Country | Banana Republic | South America | Latin America

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Douglas Fairbanks	...	Blaze Derringer
Alma Rubens	...	Juana de Castalar
Spottiswoode Aitken	...	Presidente de Castalar
Carl Stockdale	...	Salsa Espada
Tote Du Crow	...	Alberto de Castille
Charles Stevens	...	Colonel Gargaras
Mildred Harris	...	Stenographer
Lillian Langdon	...	Senora de Castille
Thomas Jefferson
Tom Wilson	...	Hartod Armitage White
Marguerite Marsh
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alan Hale

Runtime:

USA:50 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Fine Arts Film Company

Trivia:

While shooting in Tijuana, Mexico, Douglas Fairbanks and the film crew were arrested by Mexican soldiers, but were not told why. It turned out that the soldiers belonged to one of the militias fighting each other for control of Mexico during the Mexican revolution; being short of money, they thought that the American movie company would pay to have their star and crew released. After payment of an appropriate "fine", the film crew packed up, dashed back across the border and resumed filming in San Diego.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Fractured Flickers: (#1.11)" (1963)

Fairbanks Restores Order to Fictional Kingdom

In this Douglas Fairbanks vehicle, 'The Americano', his last for Triangle, our American hero rescues a small Caribbean kingdom, Paragonia, from a military coup. The employment of the people of Paragonia appears to rest mostly on an American company's exploitation of their mines, and this is the source of the revolutions. Fairbanks decides to work there after he sees the Presidente's daughter. 'The Americano' features more intrigue than the usual Fairbanks fare and less comedy, but it's still a decent entry in the star's oeuvre. The best part of this one is probably that it has so much plot, which isn't unusual for other pictures, but was for Fairbanks' comedies, especially when it wasn't driven by the main character. It is, however, similar to the scenarios for Fairbanks' later films 'Reaching for the Moon' (1917) and 'His Majesty, the American' (1919).

Unfortunately, Tom Wilson, a Caucasian character actor, plays a role in blackface, although it's not nearly the most offensive portrayal of this kind that I've seen (e.g. Wilson seems to have first worn blackface in 'The Birth of a Nation').

(Note: I viewed a rather poor but viewable print, which included a few jumpy frames, and their was no musical accompaniment. Additionally, I assume 'The Americano' originally had blue tinting for its night scenes, as that was the standard day-for-night strategy of filmmakers back then. The version I saw, however, was entirely black and white. Interestingly, for indoor night or otherwise dark scenes, the filmmakers used low-key lighting.)