The Americano is a 1916 American silentadventure / romantic comedy film directed by John Emerson and stars Douglas Fairbanks in his last production for Triangle Film Corporation. Based on the novel Blaze Derringer, by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr., the scenario was written by John Emerson and Anita Loos who also wrote the film's intertitles.[1] The film was re-released by S.A. Lynch Enterprises on August 21, 1923.[2] Three 16mm prints and one 8mm print of the film still exists.[3] Set in a fictional South American country of Paragonia, it has been described as one of a group of films that supported United States imperialism by providing support to the idea of manifest destiny.[4]
The website Obscure Hollywood notes, "An unfortunate element of The Americano is the presence of a stereotypical black man, an example of the casual racism of the time. This character, Hartod Armitage White (even his name is a joke), aka Whitey, is first seen hiding from the soldiers who have wrecked the office of Blaze's American mining company. His cowardice, servile demeanor, shuffling walk, and speech pattern (as written in the subtitles) are all part of the stereotype. Also typical of the time, Whitey is played by a white man (Tom Wilson) in blackface. The impersonation is obvious, another accepted element of public portrayals of African Americans.."[5]
Contract with Triangle Film
Although Fairbanks was receiving $15,000 per week during production of The Americano, making him the third highest-paid actor after Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, he considered himself underpaid given his films made millions for the studio. He was able to end his contract with Triangle following The Americano by noting that one of its clauses required that Fairbanks' films be supervised by director D. W. Griffith, which Triangle had not done for several of his last films.[6]
^White Munden, Kenneth (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1921-1930. University of California Press. p. 18. ISBN0-520-20969-9.
