A girl and three old fools
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A girl and three old fools |
| Original title | Three Wise Fools |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | 70 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | King Vidor |
| script |
June Mathis John McDermott James O'Hanlon King Vidor |
| production | Samuel Goldwyn |
| camera |
Charles van Enger Paul Ivano (Second Unit) |
| occupation | |
| |
A Girl and Three Old Fools is an American silent film drama with comedy elements directed by King Vidor with his wife Eleanor Boardman in the female lead, also a double role (mother and daughter). The three old fools play Claude Gillingwater , William H. Crane and Alec B. Francis . The story is based on a play by Winchell Smith and Austin Strong that premiered in 1918 .
action
One day a young girl named Sydney Fairchild bursts into the luxurious home of three whimsical old guys in Washington Square in New York. She is the daughter of Rena Fairchild, who once got all three men going and none of them could free. Of course, the three old bachelors are blown away at the sight of this beautiful young woman, as she looks a lot like her mother Rena. But a lot of unrest has come into the house with this pretty miss, because her father is in jail for forging checks. Under adventurous circumstances, the old man manages to escape from jail together with another prisoner. The man really wants to see his daughter again, but his companion, who has also escaped, is only thirsty for revenge.
He wants to kill one of the eponymous three old fools, Judge Trumbull, because he blames him for his misery. Before the happy ending comes, a few more revolver shots fall, and Sydney, who was in the meantime suspected of having helped the prison breaker break into the house of the three fools to get revenge on Trumbull, finds her boy of love in the nephew Theodore Findleys, one of the three old boys. The young man, who also resides in the magnificent mansion, who occasionally helps out the three old men, had recently proven Sydney's innocence in the burglary. Incidentally, it is also proven that Sydney's father was wrongly imprisoned for check fraud.
Production notes
A Girl and Three Old Fools premiered in New York on July 22, 1923, the German premiere took place on November 9, 1924 in the UFA pavilion on Nollendorfplatz . In Austria the film ran in February 1925 under the similar title A Girl and Three Old Fools .
Reviews
“You had expected an American burlesque and found a not overly nerve-wracking detective novel with sentimental elements (...) The whole thing floats in a not unsympathetic broth of gentle mendacity. The citizen is good! In the end, even the enemies of society see that, the criminals (...) You have to allow the director King Vidor to stick to a brief, pointed process and not stretch the maudlin any more than his audience demands. "
Vienna's Neue Freie Presse stated in its February 3, 1925 issue: “A dozen film. However, there are dozens of items that are far from being village fairground items. There are dozens of items that Schick owns and therefore pulls over and over again. The leitmotif of this little tragic comedy is not heard for the first time and is not even paraphrased in a particularly original way, and yet the whole thing has a certain smack. (...) The effect of the film results from the excellent portrayal of the "three musketeers" by Claude Gillingwater, William H. Crane and Alec Francis. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ "A Girl and Three Old Fools". In: Neue Freie Presse , February 3, 1925, p. 10 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
- A girl and three old fool in the Internet Movie Database (English)