The Americano
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Emerson
Written byJohn Emerson
(scenario)
Anita Loos
(scenario and titles)
Based onBlaze Derringer
by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr.
Produced byFine Arts Film Company
StarringDouglas Fairbanks
CinematographyVictor Fleming
Production
company
Fine Arts Film Company
Distributed byTriangle Film Corporation (original release)
S.A. Lynch Enterprises (re-release)
Release dates
  • December 24, 1916 (1916-12-24) (original release)
  • August 21, 1923 (1923-08-21) (re-release)
Running time
61 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Americano is a 1916 American silent adventure / romantic comedy film directed by John Emerson and stars Douglas Fairbanks in his last production for Triangle Film Corporation. Based on the novel Blaze Derringer, by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr., the scenario was written by John Emerson and Anita Loos who also wrote the film's intertitles.[1] The film was re-released by S.A. Lynch Enterprises on August 21, 1923.[2] Three 16mm prints and one 8mm print of the film still exists.[3] Set in a fictional South American country of Paragonia, it has been described as one of a group of films that supported United States imperialism by providing support to the idea of manifest destiny.[4]

Cast

Contract with Triangle Film

Although Fairbanks was receiving $15,000 per week during production of The Americano, making him the third highest-paid actor after Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, he considered himself underpaid given his films made millions for the studio. He was able to end his contract with Triangle following The Americano by noting that one of its clauses required that Fairbanks' films be supervised by director D. W. Griffith, which Triangle had not done for several of his last films.[5]

References

  1. ^ Vance, Jeffrey; Maietta, Tony (2008). Cushman, Robert (ed.). Douglas Fairbanks. University of California Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-520-25667-5.
  2. ^ White Munden, Kenneth (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1921-1930. University of California Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-520-20969-9.
  3. ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Americano (1917)". silentera.com. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  4. ^ Melgosa, A.P. (2012), Cinema and Inter-American Relations: Tracking Transnational Affect, Taylor & Francis, pp. 86–88, ISBN 978-1-136-2569-81
  5. ^ Vance, Jeffrey; Maietta, Tony (2008). Cushman, Robert (ed.). Douglas Fairbanks. University of California Press. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-0-520-25667-5.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Americano (1916 film).


Anita Loos
Films directed by John Emerson
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