Reaching for the Moon
About Reaching for the Moon
Alexis Caesar Napoleon Brown, a clerk in a New York button factory, concentrates on becoming king of Vulgaria, the kingdom his late mother came from, and loses his job while trying the idea on his boss. He falls asleep. In the dream a minister tells him the king is dead and the throne is his, then Black Boris, a pretender, keeps trying to kill him. After Alexis insults his arranged bride, the homely Princess Valentina, he duels Boris, falls off a cliff, and wakes on the floor beside the bed. Cured of the fantasy, he goes back to the factory, proposes to Elsie Merrill, and settles with her in a New Jersey suburb.
Cast & crew
More about Reaching for the Moon
Douglas Fairbanks Pictures shot scenes in New York City in early fall 1917 and finished the picture at Universal City. Wilfred Buckland’s sets included an Italian city, with canals and gondolas, built in California. Artcraft Pictures copyrighted the film on 7 November 1917 (LP11685); it opened at New York’s Rialto Theatre on 18 November.
Themes
Reviews
In a 24 December 2008 note for Turner Classic Movies, Sean Axmaker wrote that Fairbanks lands in royal intrigue and meets the assassination attempts as an exasperated American.
Look
Victor Fleming, Sam Landers, and Harry Thorpe photographed the five-reel comedy. Some of the dream kingdom was played on a California-built canal set rather than on location.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
Silent Era lists a 35mm positive in the Cohen Media Group holdings (Raymond Rohauer collection). The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Eileen Percy plays Elsie Merrill, Frank Campeau plays Black Boris, and Eugene Ormonde plays the Vulgarian minister.
- Erich von Stroheim was technical consultant and appears, uncredited, as Prince Badinoff’s aide in a white uniform.
- Bull Montana plays a bus passenger, and Charles Stevens plays Boris’s lieutenant.
- William Shea edited. Glen MacWilliams assisted the camera.
- AFI records a 1931 United Artists film of the same title, also starring Fairbanks, that was not based on this one.
Scenes
- Alexis loses his job while practicing his concentration philosophy on the boss.
- The minister of Vulgaria appears in the dream and hands him the throne.
- The duel with Black Boris ends when Alexis falls off a cliff and out of bed.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-reaching-for-the-moon)
- Flicker Alley DVD, Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (2008)
- Alpha Video DVD (2020)
