The second of two silent vehicles for Douglas Fairbanks on which Victor Fleming began his career as a director. Fleming already shows the same flair for landscape and the framing of action in the wide open spaces that he later would in 'Gone With the Wind'. The interiors are remarkably modern in their composition and enhanced by smooth editing; while the handsomely photographed Arizona locations (and skies) provide an imposing backdrop to the finale. By then, like Zorro in his next film, Doug has sufficiently unleashed his inner brawler to be capable - in an incredible final punch-up that takes place rolling down a mountainside during a landslide set off by dynamite - of flattening Wallace Beery.
Ironically, in the title role Doug sports an annoying moustache which he shaves off as he becomes more rugged, although the moustache would soon return and become a regular fixture of his swashbuckler persona. Fairbanks' appetite for technical innovation is most eye-catchingly displayed in a remarkable pre-Disney animated sequence in the more figurative style of Winsor McCay depicting Beery' activities as an international diamond smuggler.
Ironically, in the title role Doug sports an annoying moustache which he shaves off as he becomes more rugged, although the moustache would soon return and become a regular fixture of his swashbuckler persona. Fairbanks' appetite for technical innovation is most eye-catchingly displayed in a remarkable pre-Disney animated sequence in the more figurative style of Winsor McCay depicting Beery' activities as an international diamond smuggler.