P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
MoMA's Affiliation with P.S.1
Visiting P.S.1
Laugh and Live: The Films of Douglas Fairbanks
December 17, 2008–January 12, 2009
Douglas Fairbanks was a thirty-five-year-old veteran of live theater when he made his first films in 1915 for D. W. Griffith's Fine Arts studio. There, he created the character of "Doug," a breezy, all-American go-getter who seemed to move effortlessly though life and across the screen. Still, Fairbanks never quite fit in with the Griffith ensemble, and within eighteen months he was working independently, eventually becoming one of the founders of United Artists in 1919. The following year, with the release of The Mark of Zorro, he moved into the production of big-budget costume films, averaging one a year for the rest of the 1920s.
This series—which takes its title from Fairbanks's 1917 book of the same name, in which he promoted his optimistic outlook as the key to happiness and success—celebrates the seventieth anniversary of MoMA's acquisition of the Douglas Fairbanks Collection. Jeffrey Vance, author of Douglas Fairbanks (University of California Press & Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2008), introduces the December 17 screening of The Gaucho.
Organized by Steven Higgins, Curator, Department of Film.
Related Film Screenings
Upcoming
Past
The Mark of Zorro
1920. USA. Fred Niblo. Approx. 97 min.
Wild and Woolly
1917. USA. John Emerson. Approx. 60 min.
When the Clouds Roll By
1919. USA. Victor Fleming. Approx. 86 min.
The Mollycoddle
1920. USA. Victor Fleming. Approx. 85 min.
Don Q, Son of Zorro
1925. USA. Donald Crisp. Approx. 110 min.