I, Douglas Fairbanks

During the peak of the silent era, the dashing Douglas Fairbanks was the first “King of Hollywood,” ruling the box office in a series of epic adventures — swashbuckling in The Mark of Zorro, dueling in Robin Hood, and soaring in The Thief of Bagdad. His physical skills and exuberant style made him the perfect American icon: strong, confident, heroic, and ever smiling. During his marriage to Mary Pickford, “America’s Sweetheart,” the couple dominated the headlines and helped turn the scrubland of Beverly Hills, then inhabited by coyotes and snakes, into the poshest place in town. Fairbanks also became one of Hollywood's founding fathers, establishing United Artists in 1919 with best friend Charlie Chaplin, bride-to-be Pickford, and famed director D.W. Griffith. Using first-person narration — with the actor voiced by Peter Facinelli — I, Douglas Fairbanks deftly combines film clips and newsreel footage to tell the fascinating story of both Fairbanks and early Hollywood. (St. Louis International Film Festival)