Breaking bad… The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)

It’s all so easy to laugh at this one and to shake your head in condescension – what were they thinking; making a comedy based on a drug-addled “scientific detective” who solves his crimes through frequent use of narcotics? Didn’t they know that stuff was dangerous; had they no idea that these ultra-addictive drugs would soon be out-lawed, Hollywood would stand to be accused of institutionalized decadence and that one of the film’s cast, Alma Rubens, would later die of addiction?

Sadly, unlike pretty much every one of the drugs involved, hindsight just wasn’t readily available over the counter and the involvement not just of Douglas Fairbanks but also Anita Loos (the titles), Tod Browning (the script) and even DW Griffith ( a little), showed just how “accepted” recreational drug use was as a source of humour... I don’t think the team was advocating drug use nor even the opposite – in the manner of The Devil’s Needle (1915) – just taking the idea of a self-medicating Sherlock to its extreme.

Everything the modern "scientific detective" needs...

In fact they didn’t really mean anything: it’s a joke albeit an odd one. Not to judge then but to understand…

Fairbanks later disowned the film after a lot of water passed very quickly under this particular bridge: after drugs had clearly become a killing joke. But even on release the film was banned in Boston and elsewhere: cocaine was available on prescription or over the counter from pharmacies but it had been otherwise made illegal by the the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914.

The Ennyday-Mobile in "street disguise" mode...

Directed – eventually - by John Emerson (after Christy Cabanne was fired…), The Mystery of the Leaping Fish was made during a period of consolidation in Fairbank’s burgeoning career but clearly before his action adventure persona was solidified. He plays Coke Ennyday a man whose clock tells only four times: "EATS, DRINKS, SLEEPS, and DOPE" and generally goofs around as the tripping detective. He’s pretty good but sometimes quite annoying but when he takes on the baddies near the end, bouncing around in perpetual motion he’s “our Doug” alright.

Allan Sears is rolling in it!

Coke is roused from his reveries by the arrival of the local police chief I.M. Keene (Tom Wilson), there’s a gentleman on the loose who is rolling in wealth – literally – and with no visible means of having earned it (Allan Sears) time to get the needle in and set off in pursuit of this mystery millionaire.

The Bad Men and their fish

Coke dons his ‘tec-togs, a fancy check suit that is matched by his car – a superbly-stenciled vehicle with the driver’s footman (Joe Murphy) – without whom Coke might not make it through any day -  positioned at the back in matching suit.

They arrive at the beach where the man was last seen and here the mystery of the leaping fish is revealed as the “fish” in question are inflatables loaned out to bathers…

Bessie on the blower

A Little Fish Blower (Bessie Love) is employed to blow the fish up – very slowly from the looks and size of her – and she is also having pressure applied to marry the boss of the blow-ups (William Lowery) a mean character – she could do better.

Eagle-eyed Coke spots his target frolicking in the waves and sets off in pursuit of him and his accomplice (Alma Rubens) enabling what is perhaps the first sea-based inflatables chase in cinema history… Coke’s flying fish springs a leak after he tries to inject it with cocaine and he spins off out of control enabling the dodgy duo to make good their escape.

Doug's mustache is detached and they just keep on filming... Bessie can't stop laughing!

Coke befriends the pretty little fish blower and maintains his watch on the beach… it’s surely only a matter of time before inspiration is chemically-induced and the flying fish get fried.

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish is well made, energetic, wacky and slightly shameful… It’s probably not responsible film-making but it also fails to be funny for long stretches abandoning Doug’s natural charm for bad moustache twirling and repetition of the same injection jokes… Granted the hero’s recourse to drugs eventually saves the day in unexpected ways but that’s more by accident than design.

"You are at my mercy woman..." Nope, not a bit of it!

In a cop-out twist at the end we see the real Fairbanks having his “idea” turned down by the studio head who suggest he sticks to acting and not scripting. They knew… they knew very well.

The film is available on Kino’s excellent Modern Musketeer DVD set, either direct or from Amazon. 

That'll be a no then...

Not half bad... She Goes to War (1929)

You have to be a glass half full person to really enjoy She Goes to War. Originally the film ran for an hour and a half but the version available today was cut down to barely 50 minutes. Not just the intertitles have been removed but also a lot of background for the characters with the remaining focus on the action.

From the introduction it looks like this version was cobbled together in the early 1940s as American citizens were again preparing for war. They left the sound but not all of the sense intact and you have to work out what is going on from the playing and a few snatches of dialogue.

The film would presumably have been similar in structure to The Big Parade template, with the characters being established first from patriotic stirrings, conscription, the journey to France and then showing their development as they face up to the realities of the war.

Instead this version starts with the boys' send off and shifts very quickly to the front. Some of the soldiers are joined by their women who work as nurses, cooks and cleaners.

Eleanor Boardman plays Joan Morant a socialite aiming to support her beau Reggie (Edmund Burns). In a sub-plot not too apparent in this version, Joan is resented by Reggie's commanding officer, Lieutenant Tom Pike, played by John Holland, who sees their social standing as irrelevant in the circumstances of war.

Reggie proves this by succumbing to fear of the battle to come and drinking himself into a stupor. In an attempt to protect his honour, Joan takes his place as the troops march off to the fight. Initially disguised by her gasmask, Joan covers her face in dirt and tries to pass herself off as a man, just about fooling her comrade Bill, played with energy and humour by comedy veteran Al St John.

There's an horrific battle sequence as the Germans roll barrels of oil at the soldiers who are forced to retreat. The Americans take the fight back using tanks which crawl through the wall of flames as the soldiers inside are almost cooked. The enemy are almost routed but pin down the soldiers using machine gun fire.

It is here that Joan learns the full horror of battle and finds the courage that Reggie could not. Saving the day she is carried back to base by the lieutenant, more in (totally) exhausted resignation than triumph.

She Goes to War obviously had a message and by involving a female character in combat broke some ground. Directed by the estimable Henry King (director of silent classics such as Tol'able David and Stella Dallas through to many talkies including Carousel), it features some good action sequences and looks well made from the fragments that are left.

Eleanor Boardman, one year on from The Crowd, gives a typically excellent performance, in spite of the unlikely nature of the story and is well photographed by King who gives her plenty of close ups to show what she can do. It's a shame that we don't see more of her character's roots and motivations. The cast list references a number of characters from the home front who no longer feature including Joan's aunt and maid as well as Lieutenant Pike's mother and the regimental major.

There's also a great little turn from Alma Rubens who sings to the soldiers in one scene and then plays out the part of mother to one dying boy in the film's most powerful moment. Sadly this was Rubens last film and she was to soon succumb to drug addiction. She was certainly very talented from what she shows here.

This is well worth seeking out but you have to hope that the original, full-length version is still extant and will someday get released. In the meantime, the truncated version is available on Amazon or directly from Grapevine.