While it is a shame Douglas Fairbanks' career fizzled out with the advent of sound, when you watch something like Reaching for the Moon (1930) it isn't hard to see why that was the case. It has nothing to do with Fairbanks' voice or line delivery or any lack of charm on his part-- it's the material that frankly bites. Reaching for the Moon began life as a musical, but the waning popularity of the musical at the ox office made the suits panic and scrap all but one of the numbers before release. The meddling shows in the choppy rhythm of the picture. This single number retained, "When the Folks High Up Do the Big Low-Down," is the highlight of the movie, the one scene with great energy and fun. Everything else lacks pacing, the characters are one-note and boring. Fairbanks and Bebe Daniels are good performers, but they have no chemistry and have to deal with a dog of a script. It's a real shame.
Review of Reaching for the Moon
