Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932)

There was once a time when the name Douglas Fairbanks meant action and adventure. His name embodied the heroism and physique that lit up the silver screen, bringing throngs of fans back to the theater time and time again, seeking to be lost in the world of imagination that only motion pictures could bring. But like any celestial body this star would one day burn out. This fact is sad but true as even the once great Douglas Fairbanks would no longer be able to bring people to the box offices as he once did as the star of the silent screen. He would not be able to make the transition to the "talkie." Fairbanks nearing 50 would try one last time to share his imagination with audiences, but it would be painfully clear that he was not changing with the times as nearly all other filmmaker had far past him in film-making ability when he produced Mr. Robinson Crusoe. It would be his last venture as a completely controlling filmmaker as he would attempt to bring his adventuresome spirit once again to the world.

Mr. Robinson Crusoe is the tale of a sporting individual who bets his friends he could live the life of Robinson Crusoe, creating a civilization on a deserted island, meeting the local animals, and running into neighboring island natives. Steve Drexel (Fairbanks) is facianated with survival of man with the skills of only his two hands. This leads him on a whim to create a gentlemen's bet with his friends that he could survive on a deserted island all alone, starting with nothing. His lonesome adventure has him attempt to recreate the normal life in the jungle, naming his home Park Ave. and 52st after the New York intersection. His fanciful adventures has him befriend a monkey, a goat, and a parrot, with the help of his trusty dog. He invents many devices to fulfill the creature comforts of his past life including a turtle powered water system, goat powered butter churn, and a seashell radio. He would even find companionship with a runaway native girl he names Saturday (Maria Alba). (After the man he tried to make his "Friday" ran off. After all Friday comes before Saturday. Bad pun, huh?) After nearly completing his personal penthouse at Park and 52nd he would win the bet just before island natives attack him and Saturday, narrowly escaping on his fiends' yacht returning to New York with Saturday by his side.

Despite his hugely successful past career, Fairbanks struggles with this picture. At the age of 49 he is showing his all his age, not quite having the full energy and strength he once possessed, although he does try so very hard to be his young self. As his athleticism is trying to relive his glory days, his creative spirit attempts with the same struggles as well. Unfortunately his creativity is still stuck in his silent days. Fairbanks continues to carry himself with the same glowing smile, grand poses, and gestures he did through his days in Robin Hood, The Black Pirate, and The Thief of Bagdad. Unfortunately those hero looks were useful for the silent era, as now, with the talking picture, things better off done more subtle, but Fairbanks would not know any other way. In my belief the film would have been fine as a silent picture made a decade prior, but for 1932 this film felt very dated.

Not to be forgotten was the story. Not to be confused with the Daniel Defoe classic novel, this tale of a sporting man inspired with by the adventures in the novel. The spirit of the picture is the main character's can-do spirit, which creates a life is too unrealistic in this case. Now it is the movies where anything is to happen with the help of suspending disbelief, but this is so unbelievable that it is ludicrous. It is sad to see a man that was once the very top of Hollywood be left so far in the dust, but it would be his end as a true creative filmmaker.

Douglas Fairbanks had a deficult time with the advent of sound to motion pictures. Through the 1920s Fairbanks would produce pictures that made audiences' imaginations sore as new worlds were created with him as the hero. He never grasped how to take what he did and work in sound. He used the star power of himself, his wife Mary Pickford, and a little help from author William Shakespeare to make his first jump to sound in Taming of the Shrew, but it was clear he was on the decline. With Mr. Robinson Crusoe Fairbanks would bring the same drive he had in the 1920s, but even with the little help he had from director A. Edward Sutherland, the film played like a silent picture with added sound. The uninspiring cinematography, the outdated acting, and the poor general editing would lead to a rather mediaocre picture that may have pleased the diehard Fairbanks fan, but would not attract any new audiences. Also with the can-do attitude that Fairbanks brought to the character Steve Drexel, it was not in line with the depression era audience that filled theaters in the 1930s. Fairbanks was yesterday's news and this film proved it.

He would never write or produce another picture again. Their would only be one last picture that Douglas Fairbanks would star in, a British production called The Private Life of Don Juan. He knew he didn't have what it took to bring in the money and retired from acting, where he would finally divorce his long estranged wife Mary Pickford, but continued to help with work around United Artists. Fairbanks would pass away in 1939 of a heart attack after exercising despite doctor's orders to rest, believing that he can be his once youthful self again. Fairbanks would leave his eternal mark in cinema and Hollywood. His sad end shows how the greats struggle with the idea that they are no longer the stars they once were. Despite this failure Fairbanks was still a well respected member of the film community that many, to this day, hold very dear.

Douglas Fairbanks will always be remembered, just not from Mr. Robinson Crusoe.