The Amateur Gentleman

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. served as producer and star of this motion picture, the first by his new company, Criterion. Shot at the Elstree studio near London and based on the popular 1913 English novel set in the Regency days by James Farnol, The Amateur Gentleman was filmed twice before.

Fairbanks plays Barnabas Barty, the son of ex-boxing champion John Barty, now an innkeeper. During a stay at his inn by visitors from London: the Marquess of Camberhurst, Camberhurst's granddaughter Lady Cleone, and her fiancé Louis Chichester, the elder Barty is falsely accused of stealing a watch from Chichester. The innkeeper is taken away to a London prison to await execution.

Barnabas, suspecting Chichester of a frame-up, follows the Camberhurst party to London posing as a wealthy gentleman named John Beverly, in hopes of finding proof of his father's innocence. He gains access to the Prince Regent's court where he raises money at the gambling tables and in a bare-knuckled boxing match while he unravels the mystery and falls in love with the leading lady.

Some fine acting by Fairbanks and Gordon Harker as his accomplice Natty Bell, lavish sets and costumes, music by Richard Addisell and a suspenseful plot make this a three star film. Unfortunately, it is not available on home video or played on television. A restored 35 mm print will be shown at Cinefest in Syracuse New York on March 5, 2005.