![]() ![]() While The Mystery of the Leaping Fish is now considered something of a cult film due its comedic dealings of drug use, Fairbanks hated the film and reportedly wanted to have it withdrawn from circulation. The Mystery of the Leaping Fish was the second film Fairbanks did with director John Emerson, their first being His Picture in the Papers (released in February 1916) which was a hit. The film was a departure for Fairbanks due to the subject matter and the fact that he generally appeared in feature films, not two-reelers. When filming in Chinatown, the production was attacked by members of the community, because the producers had not requested to film in the neighborhood. John Emerson was hired and re-shot the film with the help of Tod Browning. Running a total of 25 minutes, the film was initially shot by Christy Cabanne, who was later fired from the production. During the era of the Hays Code, films that dealt with controversial topics such as drug use were morality plays that illustrate the degradation that surrounds the use of such drugs. With the introduction of the code, depictions of intravenous drug use were not shown in major motion pictures. Furthermore, the censorious Hays Code would not be instituted for another fourteen years after the film's release. ![]() Narcotic prohibition was still a new concept in the United States, and the use of opiates and cocaine was much more socially acceptable than today. The Mystery of the Leaping Fish was released in 1916, the first year after the Harrison Act took effect. Joe Murphy as footman on vehicle (uncredited). ![]() William Lowery as gang leader (uncredited).George Hall as Japanese accomplice (uncredited).Allan Sears as Gent Rolling in Wealth (credited as A.D.Douglas Fairbanks as Coke Ennyday/Himself.While he catches a gang of drug smugglers, he stops them only after sampling their opium. The film displays a lighthearted and comic attitude toward Coke Ennyday's use of cocaine and laudanum. What is apparently a clock face has "EATS, DRINKS, SLEEPS, and DOPE" instead of numbers. A device used for observing visitors, which is referred to in the title cards as his "scientific periscope", bears a close resemblance to a modern closed-circuit television. įairbanks' character otherwise lampoons Sherlock Holmes with checkered detective hat, clothes and even car, along with the aforementioned propensity for injecting cocaine whenever he feels momentarily down, then laughing with delight. Ennyday is given to injecting himself from a bandolier of syringes worn across his chest, and liberally helps himself to the contents of a hatbox-sized round container of white powder labeled "COCAINE" on his desk. In this unusually broad comedy for Fairbanks, the acrobatic leading man plays "Coke Ennyday", a cocaine-shooting detective who is a parody of Sherlock Holmes. ![]()
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