Silver Screenings

Every film actor has a last movie, whether intentional or not.

For silent film superstar Douglas Fairbanks, the last entry in his swashbuckling, grand-adventure film career was a cheeky British production, The Private Life of Don Juan (1934).

Although it wasn’t a smashing box office success, it was a brilliant Last Choice for Fairbanks.

The film focuses on an aging Don Juan, the legendary balcony-climbing lothario, who’s seduced nearly every woman in the Spanish city of Seville.

But! The Fly in the Ointment is Don Juan’s ex-wife (Benita Hume), holder of all his debts, which she has pledged to destroy if he would only come to see her. If he doesn’t, she will give the documents to authorities, which means a two-year prison sentence for our hero.

Don Juan does not want to return to the role of husband; it fills him with Dread. It’s almost as though he would prefer prison.

While he wrestles with these unappealing choices, he experiences an unlikely Stroke of Good Fortune. A young (and unfortunate) Don Juan impersonator has been surprised and killed by a jealous husband.

The City of Seville doesn’t realize the dead man is an impostor. They believe the real Don Juan has been killed, and the women are utterly grief-stricken.

As for the real Don Juan himself, he sees this as the Perfect Opportunity to escape both prison and his ex, and he flees to the country to retire under an alias.

Fairbanks was 51 when he made The Private Life of Don Juan, and although he was still trim and athletic, the script pokes fun at his age.

For example, Don Juan’s doctor has ordered him to remove starch from his diet, and forbids him from climbing more than one balcony per day.

Another scene takes place around 4:00 in the morning, and Don Juan is faced with a three-mile walk home. He wonders aloud, “The question to ask myself is: Are women worth it?”

Fairbanks isn’t the only thing the screenplay skewers. Filmmakers satirize the nature of Scandal and the ways money is made from it.

While his character languishes in restless retirement, for instance, a puppet show and a stage play of his life have been produced in Seville, and a bestselling (but untruthful) book has just been published: The Private Life of Don Juan. After reading the book, Fairbanks says, “If he didn’t think me a hero, he wouldn’t write it. If he didn’t make me a cad, he couldn’t sell it.”

Fairbanks takes everything in stride, and seems to enjoy poking fun at himself, but there is one moment where Douglas Fairbanks, the person, speaks directly to us, his audience.

“I want to rest, to live a simple life with simple people,” he says. “To not be a celebrity for a while. To be unknown. To eat what I like, and to do what I like.”

It’s a poignant moment, even decades later, with Fairbanks sharing the pressures of being one of the most famous actors in the world.

When Douglas Fairbanks accompanied his grown son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., to England in the early 1930s, it was to further his son’s acting career. Here, filmmaker Alexander Korda presented Fairbanks père with the opportunity to star in a film adaptation of the French stage play, L’Homme à la rose.

Fairbanks Sr. had not appeared on screen since 1932. He had also separated from his famous wife, Mary Pickford, and his health was declining, thanks to his chain-smoking habits.

Although he was still involved with United Artists, the studio he helped found, his acting career was not what it once was. During the silent era, audiences couldn’t get enough of Fairbanks, but in the era of Sound, they were lukewarm about his movies.

Fairbanks retired after The Private Life of Don Juan, and eventually married British actress and socialite Sylvia, Lady Ashley (who later married Clark Gable).

Then, in 1939, the man who was once known as The King of Hollywood, the man who famously performed his own remarkable stunts, died of a heart attack.

The Private Life of Don Juan is a marvelous film. There are flaws, but it is a fitting send-off for a charismatic screen legend.

This is a contribution to the SCREEN DEBUTS & LAST HURRAHS Blogathon, hosted by the Classic Movie Blog Association.

The Private Life of Don Juan starring Douglas Fairbanks, Merle Oberon, Bruce Winston. Directed by Alexander Korda. Written by Henry Bataille, Frederick Lonsdale & Lajox Biró. London Film Productions, 1934, B&W, 89 mins.