Wild and Woolly (1917 film)
Wild and Woolly | |
---|---|
Artcraft Pictures | |
Release date |
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Running time | 5 reels |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent English intertitles |
Wild and Woolly is a 1917 American silent Western comedy film which tells the story of one man's personal odyssey from cowboy-obsessed Easterner to Western tough guy. It stars Douglas Fairbanks, Eileen Percy, Walter Bytell and Sam De Grasse. The film was adapted by Anita Loos from a story by Horace B. Carpenter and was directed by John Emerson.
Plot
As described in a
Cast
- Douglas Fairbanks as Jeff Hillington
- Eileen Percy as Nell Larabee
- Walter Bytell as Collis J. Hillington
- Joseph Singleton as Judson, the Butler
- Calvert Carter as Tom Larabee, the Hotel Keeper
- Forrest Seabury as Banker
- J. W. Jones as Lawyer
- Charles Stevens as Pedro
- Sam De Grasse as Steve Shelby, the Indian Agent
- Tom Wilson as Casey the Engineer
- Ruth Allen
- Edward Burns
- Wharton James
Production
Wild and Woolly was filmed in Manhattan and the Paragon Studio in
Reception
Like many American films of the time, Wild and Woolly was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required cuts of the intertitle "Say, that's a chance for us to clean up big," all scenes of the Indian Agent and Indians with a basket containing flasks of liquor, the three intertitles "Whoop it up and all you capture is yours," You watch every door of the hotel and after I get the girl you kill," and "They can't hurt you, their guns are loaded with fake bullets," scene where Fairbanks is shot, an Indian shoots a man, four scenes of Indians falling after being shot, and the shooting of the express messenger, taking his keys, and the rifling of the express box.[6]
Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance, writing in 2008, believes Wild and Woolly "is the finest of the surviving Fairbanks-Emerson-Loos collaborations and perhaps the best of the thirteen films he made for Artcraft. It was also one of Fairbanks's personal favorites."[7]
Preservation status
Copies of Wild and Woolly are preserved in several film collections and archives, and it has been released on DVD.[8] In 2002, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[9][10]
References
- ^ "Reviews: Douglas Fairbanks in Wild and Woolly". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (1). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 25. June 30, 1917. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
- ISBN 0-86196-653-8
- ^ "Studios and Films". Fort Lee Film Commission. Archived from the original on April 25, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
- ISBN 0-7385-4501-5
- ISBN 9781613738948.
- ^ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (3). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 33. July 14, 1917. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25667-5.
- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Wild and Woolly at silentera.com
- ^ "Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
External links
- Wild and Woolly essay [1] by Steve Massa at National Film Registry
- Wild and Woolly essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 60 & 61 [2]
- Wild and Woolly at IMDb
- Wild and Woolly at AllMovie