When the Clouds Roll By
| When the Clouds Roll By | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by |
Victor Fleming Theodore Reed (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Douglas Fairbanks |
| Written by |
Douglas Fairbanks (story) T. J. G. (scenario) Lewis Weadon (uncredited) |
| Starring | Douglas Fairbanks |
| Cinematography |
William McGann Harry Thorpe |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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50 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
When the Clouds Roll By is a 1919 American comedy film starring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Victor Fleming and Theodore Reed. A copy of the film exists in an archive.
As described in a film magazine, Daniel Boone Brown (Fairbanks), a superstitious but ambitious young New Yorker, is the victim of demented psychiatrist Dr. Ulrich Metz (Grimwood) who, with the aid of numberless associates serving him in the interests of science, arranges circumstances intended to lead Daniel to suicide. In the midst of a series of bewildering misfortunes apparently emanating from broken mirrors, black cats, and similar sources, Daniel meets Greenwich Village artist Lucette Bancroft (Clifford), and mutual love results. A Westerner who owns land in partnership with Lucette's uncle comes to the city and plot's with Daniel's uncle Curtis (Lewis) to defraud his partner. Daniel, after being driven to the verge of suicide by the scientist and his aides, is saved when it is discovered that Dr. Metz is insane. Daniel then follows the Westerner, who has convinced Lucette to return to the west with him, when a flood engulfs the train they are riding on. Daniel brings about a happy resolution.
Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance considers When the Cloud Rolls By to be the "best of all the contemporary Fairbanks comedies." "Executed at a breathless pace, When the Clouds Roll By is a masterful showpiece for the whirling cyclone of energy that was Douglas Fairbanks." Vance's highest praise is for the elaborate dream sequence, which he deems "a virtual encapsulation of every gymnastic feat in the Fairbanks repertoire" and notes that Fairbanks's walk on the ceiling of his home anticipates the celebrated "dancing on the ceiling" sequence in Stanley Donen's Royal Wedding (1951). Vance also notes that the film's flood sequence conclusion presages a similar ending in Buster Keaton's classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
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Wikipedia