''The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' is a 1916 American

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ei ...

, and

Alma Rubens Alma Rubens (born Alma Genevieve Reubens; February 19, 1897 – January 21, 1931) was an American film actress and stage performer. Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s. She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas F ...

. Directed by John Emerson, the story was written by

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...

with

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s by

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put her on the payroll at Triang ...

. A 35 mm print of the film still exists in its entirety and is currently in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

Overview

In this unusually broad comedy for Fairbanks, the acrobatic leading man plays "Coke Ennyday", a cocaine-shooting

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

who is a parody of

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Ennyday is given to injecting himself from a bandolier of syringes worn across his chest, and liberally helps himself to the contents of a hatbox-sized round container of white powder labeled "COCAINE" on his desk. Fairbanks' character otherwise lampoons Sherlock Holmes with checkered detective hat, clothes and even car, along with the aforementioned propensity for injecting cocaine whenever he feels momentarily down, then laughing with delight. A device used for observing visitors, which is referred to in the title cards as his "scientific periscope", bears a close resemblance to a modern closed-circuit

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. What is apparently a clock face has "EATS, DRINKS, SLEEPS, and DOPE" instead of numbers. The film displays a lighthearted and comic attitude toward Coke Ennyday's use of cocaine and

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...

. While he catches a gang of drug smugglers, he stops them only after sampling their

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

Cast

as Coke Ennyday/Himself *

as the little fish blower *

as his female accomplice * Allan Sears as Gent Rolling in Wealth (credited as A.D. Sears) * Charles Stevens as Japanese Accomplice * Tom Wilson as Police Chief I.M. Keene * George Hall as Japanese accomplice (uncredited) *

William Lowery William Lowery (July 22, 1885 – November 15, 1941) was an American silent film actor. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was signed by the Thanhouser Company in 1914. Lowery's parents were actors, and he first acted at age 9. He enliste ...

as gang leader (uncredited) * Joe Murphy as footman on vehicle (uncredited) * B.F. Zeidman as scenario editor (uncredited)

Themes

''The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' was released in 1916, the first year after the

Harrison Act The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act (Ch. 1, ) was a United States federal law that regulated and taxed the production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products. The act was proposed by Representative Francis Burton Harrison of New Y ...

took effect. Narcotic prohibition was still a new concept in the United States, and the use of opiates and cocaine was much more socially acceptable than today. Furthermore, the censorious

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

would not be instituted for another fourteen years after the film's release. With the introduction of the code, depictions of intravenous drug use were not shown in major motion pictures. During the era of the Hays Code, films that dealt with controversial topics such as drug use were morality plays that illustrate the degradation that surrounds the use of such drugs.

Production

Running a total of 25 minutes, the film was initially shot by

Christy Cabanne William Christy Cabanne (April 16, 1888 – October 15, 1950) was an American film director, screenwriter, and silent film actor. Biography Born in 1888, Cabanne (pronounced CAB-a-nay) started his career on stage as an actor and director. He a ...

, who was later fired from the production. John Emerson was hired and re-shot the film with the help of

. When filming in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, the production was attacked by members of the community, because the producers had not requested to film in the neighborhood.

Reception

The film was a departure for Fairbanks due to the subject matter and the fact that he generally appeared in feature films, not two-reelers. ''The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' was the second film Fairbanks did with director John Emerson, their first being ''

His Picture in the Papers ''His Picture in the Papers'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film written and directed by John Emerson. Anita Loos also wrote the film's scenario. The film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Loretta Blake and features Erich von Stroheim in a minor ...

'' (released in February 1916) which was a hit. While ''The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' is now considered something of a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

due its comedic dealings of drug use, Fairbanks hated the film and reportedly wanted to have it withdrawn from circulation. Fairbanks biographer

Jeffrey Vance Jeffrey Vance (born May 21, 1970) is an American film historian and author who has published books on movie stars including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Career While working as an archivist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists he met E ...

describes ''The Mystery of the Leaping Fish'' as "undoubtedly the most bizarre film Fairbanks made" and that the entire scenario is "a hallucinogenic odyssey into the absurd...."

References

;Citations ;Works cited *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mystery Of The Leaping Fish 1916 comedy films 1916 films American black-and-white films Silent American comedy films American parody films American silent short films Articles containing video clips Films about cocaine Films about drugs Films directed by Christy Cabanne Films directed by John Emerson Films with screenplays by Anita Loos Surviving American silent films Triangle Film Corporation films 1910s American films