Wild and Woolly (1917)

Director:

John Emerson

Writers:

Horace B. Carpenter (story)
John Emerson (writer)

Release Date:

24 June 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western | Romance

Plot:

A rich young Easterner who has always wanted to live in "the Wild West" plans to move to a Western town...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Old West | Railroad Mogul

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Douglas Fairbanks	...	Jeff Hillington
Eileen Percy	...	Nell Larabee
Walter Bytell	...	Collis J. Hillington
Joseph Singleton	...	Judson, the Butler
Calvert Carter	...	Tom Larabee, the Hotel Keeper
Forrest Seabury	...	Banker
J.W. Jones	...	Lawyer
Charles Stevens	...	Pedro
Sam De Grasse	...	Steve Shelby, the Indian Agent
Tom Wilson	...	Casey the Engineer
Ruth Allen
Edward Burns		(as Ed Burns)
Wharton James		(as James Wharton James)

Also Known As:

A Regular Guy (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

47 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Douglas Fairbanks Pictures

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mary Pickford: A Life on Film (1997)

Creation of a Comedian

Before redirecting his career to swashbuckling adventure flicks with 'The Mark of Zorro' in 1920, Douglas Fairbanks starred in modern comedies. He repeated the role of a modern mollycoddle or discontent yearning for adventure; in this film, 'Wild and Woolly', he returns comically to his Western roots. He teamed with screenwriter Anita Loos, who pioneered the craft working for D.W. Griffith, and her husband director John Emerson to cement the first of Fairbanks' two popular incarnations. According to the print I saw, Victor Fleming ('The Wizard of Oz,' 'Gone with the Wind') is credited with photography here, and he worked on other Fairbanks vehicles, beginning his directorial career making them.

The presence of Loos is readily noticeable in the quantity of intertitles, which contributed much of the humour to Fairbanks vehicles, and thus redefined the role of title cards in silent films. In 'Wild and Woolly,' as elsewhere, they help to undercut the film by poking fun at itself and movies in general, such as in the scene where Fairbanks goes to a picture-play to have his dreams of the wild West come true--even in New York. The entire film plays around with the fact that movies romanticize bygone eras. The ending, too, jests at itself with the insertion of one intertitle.

The pacing is also a nice compliment to Fairbanks' restless, exuberant performance; the editing is as energetic and frantic as he is. It's congruity is also similar to Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies and, as William K. Everson ("American Silent Film") pointed out, is indicative of the fast pace of pictures post 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915). Everson claimed that some shots in 'Wild and Woolly' lasted no more than five frames. Additionally, Faribanks' acrobatics are perfectly suited to the genre, which he'd carry into his adventure spectacles. Today, Fairbanks remains one of the better-known silent film stars, but mostly for his swashbucklers. Yet, he should be recognized as an early American screen comedian alongside Sennett, Arbuckle, Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, as well, even though his films aren't slapstick and he couldn't be considered a clown of the same order. Like some of the films of Sennett, Chaplin and Keaton especially, 'Wild and Woolly' is, however, a comedy that in reflecting itself finds much of its humour.