Tue 16 Jun 2020

REVIEWED BY DAN STUMPF:

   

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN. United Artists, 1934. Douglas Fairbanks, Merle Oberon, Bruce Winston, Benita Hume, Gina Malo, Binnie Barnes. Director: Alexander Korda.

   The Private Life of Don Juan lacks wit or pace of action, but it offers an elegant coda to the career of its star, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., here in his fifties and looking tired of the whole thing. When an imposter masquerading as Don Juan is killed by a jealous husband, the legendary lothario takes advantage of the situation and retires to the country, with tepid results. Doug doesn’t do any stunts, there’s no swordplay, little plot, and yet …

   … Halfway through the film, Don Juan attends his own funeral, and director Alexander Korda deals it out with his usual splendour, all billowing cloaks and wailing women, as America’s cavalier strolls through the palazzo contemplating his own mortality. Fairbanks never made another movie, lending an odd elegiac tone to a film that doesn’t really deserve it.

— Reprinted from The Hound of Dr. Johnson 53, September 2007.

   

 

4 Responses to “A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN (1934).”

1. Matthew Clark Says:
   June 16th, 2020 at 12:52 pm

   A better film to see as Fairbanks’ last is The Iron Mask (1929). Produced during the transition to sound it is a silent film with Fairbanks doing a voice over narration. A nice follow up to his Musketeer film. Lots of action, sword play and heroic daring do.

2. Barry Lane Says:
   June 16th, 2020 at 1:15 pm

   There are a few moments of dialogue delivered by the ‘real’ Doug, but the narration, recorded more than ‘twenty years after’ is by Doug, Jr.

3. David L Vineyard Says:
   June 16th, 2020 at 5:18 pm

   I agree with Matthew Clark about IRON MASK, which has that splendid death of D’Artagnan as a fitting coda for Fairbanks.

4. Matthew Clark Says:
   June 17th, 2020 at 11:17 am

   Thanks Barry, it was Fairbanks Jr doing the narration in the version I saw quite a few years ago. And which I still remember after all this time. This film from 1929 certainly needs to be “rediscovered”. It could be the last great silent swashbuckler?
   This version The Man In The Iron Mask, with Jr’s narration, appears to be in public domain right now, and is on the Internet Archive, if you want to check it out…
   https://archive.org/details/theironmask1929_202004

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