Producer Douglas Fairbanks was getting tired playing the same chaste character who not only respected women in an honorable way, but was barely close enough to his love interests to plant a kiss. All that changed in his November 1927 "The Gaucho."
Maybe it was for the fact, as a pallbearer for cinema's male sex symbol, Rudolph Valentino, and witnessing the female hysteria of the actor's sudden death, Fairbanks realized there was a void for a Latin lover on the screen. Soon after the near-riots on the streets surrounding Valentino's coffin, he sat down and wrote the scenario for "The Gaucho," set in the mountains of Argentina. His character, The Gaucho, goes after women with abandon, especially with The Mountain Girl (Lupe Velez). He even dances a provocative tango number with Velez, establishing a physical presence with the opposite sex never witnessed in a Fairbanks' movie before.
Of course, Fairbanks realized he couldn't disappoint his legion of fans by portraying a libidinous character throughout his adventurous motion picture. "The Gaucho" turns on its heels when he becomes infected by some unnamed disease (most likely leprosy). Once he takes his health seriously, he goes to the City of the Miracle, named after an event from a woman's miraculous survival of a fall from a nearby cliff. Fairbanks' wife in real life, Mary Pickford, plays the Madonna, who pays a visit to the city.
"The Gaucho" was directed by F. Richard Jones, the same person who brought back to Hollywood Mabel Normand, who was battling drug addiction for three years. He also worked with Stan Lauren on 19 films before his pairing with Oliver Hardy. Laurel credited Jones with teaching him everything he learned about cinematic comedy. Jones later directed Ronald Coleman in 1929's "Bulldog Drummond" in his first talkie.
For The Mountain Girl role, Fairbanks auditioned several soon-to-be famous young actresses, including Myrna Loy, Fay Wray and Loretta Young. He was especially impressed with Lupe Velez, his love interest in "The Gaucho." The movie gave the actress, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, visibility after appearing in just a couple of Hal Roach shorts, including "Sailors, Beware!" with Laurel and Hardy. Her private life lived up to her nickname "The Mexican Spitfire," including fiery relationships with Gary Cooper, Johnny Weissmuller, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable, among others.
Fairbanks himself was experiencing quite a year in 1927. He was one of the first to imprint his hands and feet into cement next to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Mel Brooks in his 1974 black comedy 'Blazing Saddles" has one of his characters say after spotting the actor's mold, "How did he do such fantastic stunts ... with such little feet?" The members of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences also voted him to be the first president of that organization. "The Gaucho" was released one month after Hollywood's first talkie "The Jazz Singer." The Latino-flavored movie proved to be Fairbanks' last fully-silent movie; his next one, 1928's "The Iron Mask" contained a musical and sound effects track along with two short speeches by Fairbanks.
Maybe it was for the fact, as a pallbearer for cinema's male sex symbol, Rudolph Valentino, and witnessing the female hysteria of the actor's sudden death, Fairbanks realized there was a void for a Latin lover on the screen. Soon after the near-riots on the streets surrounding Valentino's coffin, he sat down and wrote the scenario for "The Gaucho," set in the mountains of Argentina. His character, The Gaucho, goes after women with abandon, especially with The Mountain Girl (Lupe Velez). He even dances a provocative tango number with Velez, establishing a physical presence with the opposite sex never witnessed in a Fairbanks' movie before.
Of course, Fairbanks realized he couldn't disappoint his legion of fans by portraying a libidinous character throughout his adventurous motion picture. "The Gaucho" turns on its heels when he becomes infected by some unnamed disease (most likely leprosy). Once he takes his health seriously, he goes to the City of the Miracle, named after an event from a woman's miraculous survival of a fall from a nearby cliff. Fairbanks' wife in real life, Mary Pickford, plays the Madonna, who pays a visit to the city.
"The Gaucho" was directed by F. Richard Jones, the same person who brought back to Hollywood Mabel Normand, who was battling drug addiction for three years. He also worked with Stan Lauren on 19 films before his pairing with Oliver Hardy. Laurel credited Jones with teaching him everything he learned about cinematic comedy. Jones later directed Ronald Coleman in 1929's "Bulldog Drummond" in his first talkie.
For The Mountain Girl role, Fairbanks auditioned several soon-to-be famous young actresses, including Myrna Loy, Fay Wray and Loretta Young. He was especially impressed with Lupe Velez, his love interest in "The Gaucho." The movie gave the actress, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, visibility after appearing in just a couple of Hal Roach shorts, including "Sailors, Beware!" with Laurel and Hardy. Her private life lived up to her nickname "The Mexican Spitfire," including fiery relationships with Gary Cooper, Johnny Weissmuller, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable, among others.
Fairbanks himself was experiencing quite a year in 1927. He was one of the first to imprint his hands and feet into cement next to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Mel Brooks in his 1974 black comedy 'Blazing Saddles" has one of his characters say after spotting the actor's mold, "How did he do such fantastic stunts ... with such little feet?" The members of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences also voted him to be the first president of that organization. "The Gaucho" was released one month after Hollywood's first talkie "The Jazz Singer." The Latino-flavored movie proved to be Fairbanks' last fully-silent movie; his next one, 1928's "The Iron Mask" contained a musical and sound effects track along with two short speeches by Fairbanks.