The Nut / The Matrimaniac

Douglas Fairbank's reputation as an acrobatic adventurer is so great that it often overshadows his prodigious skills as a comedian. This double feature of rarely-seen works offers a wonderful sampling of the superstar's gift for mirth-making.

Fairbank's flair for Keatonesque visual gags is showcased in The Nut, in which he portrays an eccentric inventor who applies his quirky contraptions to promoting the humanitarian ambitions of a Greenwich Village social worker (Marguerite De La Motte). Hightlighted by a cameo appearance by Charlie Chaplin, The Nut is a dizzying, carefree romp that perfectly captures Fairbanks's inimitable screen effervescence.

In The Matrimaniac, true love in the Modern Age is again the driving force behind Fairbanks's hyper-kinetic hijinks. Jimmie Conroy (Fairbanks) is determined to marry his sweetheart Marna (Constance Talmadge), but their elopement is complicated by the girl's father (Wilbur Higby). Jimmie's madcap quest via train, automobile, and telephone wire is a celebration of American science and transportation, showing the true value these innovations hold for those clever enought to properly exploit them.