A young couple attempts to elope, with the bride's irate father in hot pursuit. The train stops briefly and the young man dashes off to find a minister, but before he can get himself and the minister onto the train, it leaves, carrying his bride-to- be away. Now the young man, minister in tow, pursues his bride while her father and a horde of lawmen pursue them both.
USA
USA
"Your eyes shine like - like - er - the scent of the jasmine in a - er - in a lake of silver."
Sure, there's not much plot to The Matrimaniac, Douglas Fairbanks's penultimate picture for Triangle Film Corporation: Jimmie (Doug) and Marna (Constance Talmadge, aka the baby Talmadge sister, who'd sprung to stardom the same year as the Mountain Girl in the D.W. Griffith epic Intolerance) want to get hitched despite the objections of the lady's father and his preferred choice of would-be son-in-law. Things start off okay, if a bit contrary to clandestine lovers' tradition. (Outraging all rules of romance - a daylight front-door elopement.) Slit Papa's tires, hop a train - you get the idea. But…
Jimmie (Douglas Fairbanks) and Marna (Constance Talmadge) want to get married but her father is against it so they decide to elope. They jump on a train and at the first stop Jimmie goes to get a preacher but the train takes off without them. Now it's a wild chase to try and get to Marna before her father does.
THE MATRIMANIAC is another romantic comedy that finds Fairbanks trying to get a woman but falling into a bad situation and having to work himself out. This film once again shows the actor's acting ability off as well as his physical ability and the end result is a flawed but entertaining film.
The first portion of the movie is basically…
The Matrimaniac (1916)
8/10
Douglas Fairbanks injects some action and wonderful stunts into this romantic comedy that starts ok but ends so high up in tension and amazement that I can't help but wanting to see every other Douglas Fairbanks film.
Another 45-minute film from Douglas Fairbanks in his early days. It is a mildly screwball comedy which gives Fairbanks plenty of room to show his amazing agility. His co-star in this one is Constance Talmadge of the famous - at the time - three Talmadge sisters. Norma became a big star, Constance a mid-star and Natalie married Buster Keaton and bankrupted him with her high-spending ways. Fairbanks and Talmadge elope after cutting her father's car tires. She has a dead fox wrapped around her neck. People actually thought that was a good look once? They hop on a train but so does another suitor of hers. The suitor telegraphs the father to put an injunction on the couple when they…
This has been a shit week & I had a chaotic walk home from work, trying to help a stranger corral a loose barky dog & having a yelled conversation through the window with my 5 year old corner neighbor & life is stressful but I made it home & watched this ridiculous movie & I spent 45mins laughing at people being stressed out trying to elope & the whole movie is hilarious, but I especially loved the donkey scene & the high-wire telephone marriage. Douglas Fairbanks is my new favorite comedian - who am I even?
Basically a chase with a few gags and some decent acrobatics & stunts by Fairbanks.
Film four in the Flicker Alley box set ‘Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer’.
Good restoration by Lobster Films.
This early Douglas Fairbanks (also in “The Lamb” and “The Americano”) vehicle shows all the “pep” you could ask for and then some. He and Constance Talmadge (from “Intolerance” and “Two Weeks”) are crazy about each other and crazy to get married, but her father has other plans, which launches us into a an increasingly complicated scheme of elopement, that turns into a chase as daddy struggles to get an injunction against the marriage read to each of the interested parties. Doug drags a poor preacher out of his bathtub and forces him to ride trains, mules, and railway carts across the countryside to do the deed, finally winding him up in jail. Undaunted, Doug leaps tall buildings to evade pursuit and eventually climbs along telephone wires (as Fatty Arbuckle had the year before in “Fatty’s Tintype Tangle”). If you think screwball comedies didn’t start until the thirties, give this one a try.
The Matrimaniac plays like a 46-minute chase sequence. The story is a pretty simple one. When a young couple plan on eloping, the bride's disapproving father discovers their wedding plans, he then decides to pursue them, in the hopes of stopping their nuptials. Being that this movie feels like an extended pursuit via the minimal transport options they had in 1916, you can bet that this is somewhat entertaining, and never dull.
From the first moments, the movie just moves. We watch our couple do a runner and escape onto a train, where they require a minister to officiate their wedding. So, the groom jumps off the train, and basically kidnaps a priest, then the pursuit picks up once again.…
Wincing at Douglas Fairbanks jumping away from the incoming train almost as much as at the violence done to that poor 180-degree rule. Pretty fun.
This was like a movie shot out of a cannon. 45 minutes of a (quite entertaining) chase. I liked how they didn't even bother with the back story, just dove right into the action. The first couple title cards were enough. ~Efficiency!
Fast-Paced Journey with Fairbanks
(originally posted on IMDb 31 December 2009)
This is one of my favorite early comedies starring Douglas Fairbanks, mostly, I think, because it wastes no time in getting to the action, which is within the construction of a journey/adventure plot. And, the action is fast paced without appearing choppy, as was the case of many early silent films. (Keystone slapstick comedies were often at fault there, but also were some of Fairbanks's other vehicles, as well as many other films due in part to editing handicaps back then.) In the opening sequence, we're introduced to the loony voyage that is a couple running off to elope and the ensuing chase as her father and his preferred…
Basically a 45-minute chase sequence that is equal parts exhausting and charming. Watching Douglas Fairbanks scale buildings and climb trees and jump fences will never not be entertaining.
