Over the top

Absolutely hilarious, side-splitting slapstick comedy farce, a real gem of American cinema. One of the funniest movies ever made! Both perverse and whimsical, Fairbanks throws himself into the fray with utter abandon. He thumbed his nose at Hollywood and made this two-reeler in New York City for Triangle Films. He not only performed incredible stunts in this movie, he acted in it, with his own great comedy talent, like Chaplin, and got D.W. Griffith to go along with it and write some of it with him. If you thought movies in the Nickelodeon era were simplistic and empty-headed or naive, then you haven't seen this priceless gem of classic comedy. Dope comedy tops them all! Highly recommended. Very Over The Top!

I had this movie on a reel of 16mm film back in the 1970s and used to show it on my movie party nights as a special surprise treat for my friends, and they just couldn't believe that the top Hollywood star of his day would make a film this wild! I've seen mature, sophisticated modern adult audiences howl with laughter while viewing this antique movie relic.

This movie was banned in Boston and other places when it was first released in 1916, and caused Fairbanks no little troubles in putting his professional reputation on the line. Later he co-founded United Artists in 1920 with Charles Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and his lovely wife Mary Pickford, America's sweetheart.
Then this film was quietly forgotten, and nearly 50 years went by before it became a college favorite at midnight movies in the 1970s, when I first saw it at an art theater. I fell in love with it and had to have my own print to project!
I'm so glad it's now available on Kino Video.

Dejael