Stephen Steps Out
| Stephen Steps Out | |
|---|---|
| File:Stephen Steps Out lobby card.jpg Lobby card | |
| Directed by | Joseph Henabery |
| Written by | Edfrid Bingham (scenario) |
| Based on | "The Grand Cross of the Desert" by Richard Harding Davis |
| Produced by | Jesse Lasky William Elliott |
| Starring | Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Harry Myers |
| Cinematography | Faxon M. Dean |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 reels; (5,652 feet) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Stephen Steps Out is a 1923 American silent comedy film that is notable as being the first starring role for the still teenaged Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Directed by Joseph Henabery, it was based on a short story by Richard Harding Davis, "The Grand Cross of the Desert."[1]
With this film the young Fairbanks Jr. opted for a screen career despite opposition from his famous actor father, Douglas Fairbanks.
"I was terribly chubby," recalled Fairbanks Jr. "Did it for the money. When my parents separated, it was hardly amicable and mother and I needed to eat. Movie companies were willing to exploit my famous name. I didn't really understand that at the time."[2]
Plot
[edit | edit source]As described in a film magazine review,[3] the young son of a wealthy American fails his class in history at school, so he is sent to Turkey to learn the subject firsthand on the premises. He learns that the instructor who flunked him in his exam at school is to be dismissed for it, and he intervenes and gets the school board to retain the man, having first obtained for him a decoration from the Sultan.
Cast
[edit | edit source]- Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Stephen Harlow Jr.
- Theodore Roberts as Stephen Harlow Sr.
- Noah Beery Sr. as Muley Pasha
- Harry Myers as Harry Stetson
- Frank Currier as Doctor Lyman Black
- James O. Barrows as Professor Gilman
- Fanny Midgley as Mrs. Gilman (credited as Fannie Midgley)
- Bertram Johns as Virgil Smythe
- George Field as Osman
- Maurice Freeman as Rustem
- Fred Warren as the Sultan
- Pat Moore as the Sultan's Son
- Jack Herbert as Secretary
- Frank Nelson as Hotel Proprietor
Preservation
[edit | edit source]With no prints of Stephen Steps Out located in any film archives,[4] it is a lost film.[5][6]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Stephen Steps Out at silentera.com
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Stephen Steps Out
- ^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30 by The American Film Institute, c.1971
- ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Stephen Steps Out
External links
[edit | edit source]
- Stephen Steps Out at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Lantern slide at silenthollywood.com
- Long poster daybill
- 1923 films
- American silent feature films
- Films directed by Joseph Henabery
- 1923 comedy films
- American black-and-white films
- Films set in Turkey
- Films based on American novels
- 1923 lost films
- 1920s American films
- 1920s English-language films
- English-language comedy films
- Lost American silent comedy films
- 1920s silent comedy film stubs