The Mollycoddle
About The Mollycoddle
Richard Marshall V, called the Mollycoddle, was born in Arizona and raised in England. He joins Americans heading home on a private yacht. The owner, Henry von Holkar, is smuggling diamonds and, taking Richard for a secret-service man, withdraws the invitation. Friends hide him aboard. When he is found he is put to shoveling coal. Off Texas he jumps ship, swims ashore, is hauled up in a fishing net, and reaches Arizona, where the party is looking at diamond ground. He finds a plan to blow a mountain and trap them in a valley. He catches von Holkar in a tree, falls through the limbs with him, and they fight down a steep bank into a river and over a falls. Richard drags him out. The girl he wins, Virginia Hale, is working for the government.
Cast & crew
More about The Mollycoddle
Victor Fleming directed. Douglas Fairbanks produced and supervised, and shares a writing credit with Thomas J. Geraghty and Harold MacGrath. William C. McGann and Harris Thorpe photographed. Edward M. Langley was art director. Theodore Reed directed second unit. Robert Fairbanks handled technical effects. United Artists released it on 13 June 1920. Runtime 86 minutes. Exteriors were shot for three weeks north of Winslow, Arizona. Wikidata also lists publication dates of 13 February 1922 and 3 April 1922.
Themes
Making
The long fight was staged on an Arizona slope: tree, embankment, river, and falls. Beery plays the smuggler Fairbanks rolls down the hill.
Look
William C. McGann and Harris Thorpe photographed the yacht scenes and the Arizona exteriors north of Winslow.
Technique
Robert Fairbanks is credited with the technical effects for the fall through the tree and the fight down the embankment.
Preservation
A copy is in the Museum of Modern Art and in other collections. A file is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Fairbanks plays Richard Marshall III, IV, and V.
- Wallace Beery plays Henry von Holkar. Ruth Renick plays Virginia Hale.
- Also cast: Paul Burns as Samuel Levinski, Morris Hughes as Patrick O'Flannigan, George Stewart as Ole Olsen, Charles Stevens as Yellow Horse, Betty Bouton as Mollie Warren, Adele Farrington as Mrs. Warren, Albert MacQuarrie as the driver of the desert yacht.
- Uncredited bits include Bull Montana as a cannery worker, Frank Campeau at a trading post, and Eagle Eye as a chief.
- A copy is at the Museum of Modern Art, and a file with a later music track is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- Richard is pulled out of the sea in a fishing net after he jumps the yacht off Texas.
- He and von Holkar fall through a tree and fight down a bank into a river and over a falls.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Mollycoddle (1920) with original music.webm)
