''The Gaucho'' (the official full title of the film is ''Douglas Fairbanks as The Gaucho'') is a 1927 silent film starring

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...

and

Lupe Vélez María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), known professionally as Lupe Vélez, was a Mexican actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican ...

set in Argentina. The lavish adventure extravaganza, filmed at the height of Fairbanks' box office clout, was directed by

F. Richard Jones Frank Richard Jones (September 7, 1893 – December 14, 1930) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Early life and career Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dick Jones was sixteen years old when he became involved in the fledgling fil ...

with a running time of 115 minutes. Fairbanks biographer

Jeffrey Vance Jeffrey Vance (born May 21, 1970) is an American film historian and author who has published books on movie stars including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Career While working as an archivist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists he met E ...

considers the film "a near masterwork" and "an anomaly among his airbanks’works." Vance also considers it a "daring departure, the film is an effort of unanticipated darkness in tone, setting, and character. The spirit of adolescent boyish adventure, the omnipresent characteristic of his prior films, is noticeably absent. It has been replaced by a spiritual fervor and an element of seething sexuality the likes of which has never been seen before in one of his productions.”

Cast

- The Gaucho *

- The Mountain Girl *

Joan Barclay Joan Barclay (born Mary Elizabeth Greear; August 31, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, starring mostly in B-movies and cliffhangers, with her career starting during the silent film era. Biography ...

(as Geraine Greear) - The Girl of the Shrine (younger) *

Eve Southern Eve Southern (born Elva L. McDowell; August 23, 1900 – November 29, 1972) was an American film actress. She appeared in 38 films from 1916 to 1936. In 1930 she was selected by portrait artist Rolf Armstrong as one of the film industry's ...

- The Girl of the Shrine *

Gustav von Seyffertitz Gustav von Seyffertitz (4 August 1862 – 25 December 1943) was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81. Biography Gustav von Seyffertit ...

- Ruiz, The Usurper * Charles Stevens - The Gaucho's First Lieutenant *

Nigel De Brulier Nigel De Brulier (born Francis George Packer; 8 August 1877 – 30 January 1948) was an English stage and film actor who began his career in the United Kingdom before relocating to the United States. Biography De Brulier was born in Frenchay, a ...

- The Padre *

Albert MacQuarrie Albert MacQuarrie (January 8, 1882, San Francisco – February 17, 1950, California) was an American silent film actor. He was signed in 1912 and starred in about 70 films before his retirement. He starred with William Garwood in films suc ...

- Victim of the Black Doom *

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

(cameo)

Legacy

A new preservation print of ''The Gaucho'', created by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, was first shown at the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

in 2008. It has subsequently been screened at MoMA (2008), and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (2009) to promote the new book ''Douglas Fairbanks'' with author

introducing the screenings. The nickname for the sports teams of the

University of California-Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

is The Gauchos in honor of Fairbanks' acting in the eponymous film.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaucho, The 1927 films 1927 adventure films American swashbuckler films Fictional gauchos Films about gauchos American silent feature films American black-and-white films United Artists films Films directed by F. Richard Jones Films set in Argentina American adventure films 1920s American films Silent adventure films