Wow! A MODERN MUSKETEER (1917), which debuted on TCM earlier this evening, was great fun! This early Doug Fairbanks feature Directed by long time collaborator Alan Dwan, certainly exceeded my expectations! A fast paced adventure, with Doug performing a whole cadenza of his amazing acrobatics, right and left! A prime example of why Fairbanks was known as "Mister Hollywood"! 
Today Doug's name is remembered, but not so much the films that He actually made. Which is quite sad. His overall impact on the Cinema in general has by and large been overlooked, even by many Silent film enthusiast's. Some have clearly ignored his work, or dismissed it, out of hand as being formulaic, and lighthearted fair. This is so wrong! 
Produced some 11 years before Buster Keaton's STEAMBOAT BILL JUNIOR was released, the Cyclone sequence in A MODERN MUSKETEER was strikingly similar, and surprisingly impressive! Irony, of Ironies it even takes place in Kansas, and Buster was born in that State in the middle of raging Cyclone in 1895! At this early stage of his career, Doug was often referred to as "THE DASHING AMERICAN", and that is the character that we saw this evening. Very nice restoration by Lobster films of Paris, with a solid Score by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra! , And I had never seen this movie anywhere before!
Doug's considerable artistic influence on both Keaton, and Harold Lloyd is painfully obvious in this feature! And Fairbanks to his credit could be a brilliant comedian in his own right. He was just naturally very funny! Doug kind of Strikes you as the Ultimate practical joker, and He probably was? A born Entertainer to be sure!
TCM has not run much of Fairbanks feature films at all in the past. I only recall maybe two or three of them? Hopefully, they will be showing a few more like WILD AND WOOLLY for example, and THE AMERICANO! I would love to see those! And TCM has never broadcast THE GAUCHO, among many other titles! 
This film was pure Entertainment! Funny, Clever, and an all around good time! True Saturday Afternoon Matinee Cinema! Did you see Doug scale that church tower in just a few seconds! Simply Incredible! I wonder, wasn't that actually a rather Skinny looking young J. Farrell McDonald as the Indian rival or was I seeing things??? Just imagine an Irish Indian??? Fairbanks considered himself more a Man of Action than He did an Actor. He always said "I'm a personality performer, People like me for my Smile!" And indeed it was all about "Showmanship" with him! but this undermines his overall depth of Talent, he often scripted his own films under the guise of "Elton Thomas", and was a very capable Director. Positively no one was more athletic than Doug was! A Genuine human dynamo! From a stand-point of physical dexterity, poise and graceful movement, there has never been anyone else quite like him in the history of the movies! He routinely made the most outrageous and demanding stunt look like a mere walk in the park! Everything seemed so spontaneous, and effortless on his part! To say the lest. Simply astonishing! Anyway thanks so much to TCM for debuting this fine early and little known Fairbanks vehicle in Prime-time this evening! What a rare treat!
I say this because AMC for many years used to have the broadcast rights to most of the Kino Fairbanks releases not TCM. Same with the Kino Keaton's. Meaning TCM had to air different versions to show anything. It was the same with THE MARK OF ZORRO, AMC ran the Gaylord Carter scored version, TCM the Bill Perry scored one. 
In addition, AMC ran THE THREE MUSKETEERS, ROBIN HOOD, THE BLACK PIRATE, DON Q. SON OF ZORRO, and THE GAUCHO from time to time. To my knowledge none of these titles have ever been shown on TCM? However, TCM did run the Doug Jr. narrated version of THE IRON MASK, I do remember that? But not the Channel Four Silent's version with the Carl Davis score. 
Those old contracts with AMC are certainly no longer an issue. So I have no idea why more Fairbanks features haven't been shown? Oddly enough Buster's SEVEN CHANCES (1925) has also yet to make it's TCM debut! Probably my favorite Keaton film! 
I am planning to got to see Don Q, Son of Zorro on a big screen pretty soon. 
Note: I apologize to everyone for putting this entire post in bold, but my glasses broke this morning! Without them I can't see none to well! So please bare with me! Thanks. 
I agree, used as the climax to the final chapter of Brownlow and Gill magical Thames HOLLYWOOD the footage from THE IRON MASK brings a definite tear to my Eye every time I see it! Very powerful! Doug loved making movies, and kind of quickly lost interest once the Talkies took over. It would never be the same.