Films Based on the
Works of Jeffery Farnol

Jessica Amanda Salmonson

   

Filmmakers' interest in Jeffery Farnol's novels peaked in the 1920s, when for a decade he'd proven his lasting public appeal. None of the films detailed below are presently in the video or disc market, & two of them -- Money Moon, & the first adaptation of The Definitive Object -- evidently do not survive at all. The others exist in archives but it seems unlikely any but the talkie version of An Amateur Gentleman is an obvious choice to be made commercially available, by right of starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

The tinted still heading this page is a scene from the Fairbanks film, & is a detail from the dustwrapper of the Photoplay edition of the novel. I don't believe there were Photoplay editions for the other films.

The version of An Amateur Gentleman starring D. W. Griffith's leading star Richard Barthelmess is not in video or disc release mainly because it is still in copyright until about 2006. The main silent film purveyors, like Kino, offer primarily public domain films. This 35 minute film is available on 16 mm film stock & was shown in 1999 abyt the Toronto Film Society.

Despite such a big star in the last of the Farnol adaptations, filmmakers' awareness of Farnol alas did not continue farther into the sound, let alone color era. There were, at least, a couple radio adaptations, plus I've been given rumors of a 1960s teleplay which I've not yet been able to prove or disprove was made.

   

Films adapted from The Amateur Gentlemen

   

1920. The Amateur Gentleman. Directed by Maurice Elvey, who probably also wrote the scenario. Featuring:

1. Langhorn Burton as Barnabas Barty
2. Madge Stuart as Lady Cleone Meredith
3. Cecil Humphreys (I) as Wilfred Chichester
4. Herbert Synott as John Barty
5. Pardoe Woodman as Ronald Barrymaine
6. Alfred Paumier as Prince Regent
7. Gerald McCarthy as Viscount Horatio Debenham
8. Geoffrey Wilmer as Captain Slingsby
9. Sydney Seaward as Sir Mortimer Carnaby
10. E. Vivian Reynolds as Jasper Gaunt
11. Dalton Somers as Natty Bell
12. Teddy Arundell as Digby Smivvle
13. Will Corrie as Captain Chumley
14. Judd Green as Jerry the Bosun
15. A.C. Fotheringham-Lysons as Peterby

Alfred Paumier plays the boxer who inherits a fortune & poses as a nobleman. He has to save his father from unjust imprisonment & strive not to lose the love of aristcratic Lady Cleone Meredith when inevitably his true identity is revealed.

   

1926. The Amateur Gentleman. Directed by Sidney Olcott from a scenario by Lillie Hayward. Olcott is best remembered for having directed Mary Pickford in Madame Butterfly (1915). Featuring:

1. Richard Barthelmess as Barnabas Barty
2. Dorothy Dunbar as Lady Cleone Meredith
3. Gardner James as Ronald Barrymaine
4. Nigel Barrie as Sir Mortimer Carnaby
5. Brandon Hurst as Peterby
6. John Miljan as Viscount Devenham
7. Edwards Davis as John Barty
8. Billie Bennett as Duchess of Camberhurst
9. Herbert Grimwood as Jasper Gaunt
10. Gino Corrado as Prince Regent
11. Sidney De Gray as Captain Chumley
12. John S. Peters as Captain Slingsby

Richard Barthelmess who plays Barnabas Barty was one of the biggest stars of the era, appearing in many D. W. Griffith classics. Set in the 19th Century, Barnabus's retired prizefighting daddy (Edwards Davis) is wrongly imprisoned. Upon inheriting wealth from an uncle, rough-&-tumble Barnabas goes under cover posing as a nobleman to discover who framed dad (ubiquitous screen villain John Miljan) & incidentally to win the love of Lady Cleone Meredith (Dorothy Dunbar). The climax includes an exciting steeplechase.

   

1936. The Amateur Gentleman. Directed by Thornton Freeland from a script by Clemence Dane. Dane's film script is on deposit in the British Museum. Fight choreographed by Quentin Todd. Featuring:

1. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Barnabas Barty
2. Elissa Landi as Lady Cleone
3. Gordon Harker as Natty Bell
4. Basil Sydney as Chichester
5. Hugh Williams as Ronald
6. Irene Browne as Lady Huntstanton
7. Athole Stewart as Marquess of Comberhurst
8. Coral Browne as Pauline Darville
9. Margaret Lockwood as Georgina Huntstanton
10. Frank Pettingell as John Barty
11. Esme Percy as Townsend
12. Gilbert Davis as Prince Regent

Douglas Fairbanks Jr., a Farnol fan, chose to produce the film through his own company. He plays Barnaby Barty, an innkeeper's son of the Regency era (earlier than the novel's period -- possibly because Fairbanks wished he could've raised funds not for a safe sound remake of a silent era success, but instead for the never-filmed Regency classic The Broad Highway).

When Barnaby's father is falsely accused of a crime, he poses as a "gentleman boxer" & gains access to the Royal court. At court he falls in love with Lady Cleone (Elissa Landi) & uncovers the truth about Cleone's dispicable fiancÈ (Basil Sydney) who is the man responsible for the crime. Landi was an obvious choice for the aristicratic leading lady, as she was in reality the daughter of a Viennese Countess. She became a film star & Broadway actress after the royal class was more or less abolished in Austria.

   

Films adapted from The Definite Object

   

1920. The Definite Object. Directed by Edgar J. Camiller from his own scenario, produced in England by the Countess Bubna. Featuring:

1. Ann Elliott as Hermione Chesterton
2. Peter Upcher as Geoffrey Ravenslee
3. Lionel Scott as Joe Shaddon

As near as I can discover, this film does not survive.

   

1924. Manhatton. Directed by R. H. Burnside from a scenario by Paul Sloane. Featuring:

1. Richard Dix as Peter Minuit
2. Jacqueline Logan as Mary Malone
3. Gregory Kelly as Spike, her brother
4. George Siegmann as Bud McGinnis
5. Gunboat Smith as Joe Madden
6. Oscar Brimberton Figman as Mr. Trapes
7. Edna May Oliver as Mrs. Trapes
8. Alice Chapin as the Housekeeper
9. James Bradbury Sr. as the Trainer

A bored millionaire poses as safecracker "Gentleman George" in this silent crime-comedy set in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood (with which Jeffery was intimately familliar by the way).

   

Film adapted from The Money Moon

   

1920. The Money Moon. Directed by Fred Paul from a scenario by Adrian Johnstone. Featuring:

1. Stella Mervyn Campbell
2. Gordon Craig

This silent film drama apparently does not survive.

   

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