Stranger Than Fiction

• Director: J.A. Barry
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Melodrama
• Release Year: 1921
• Run Time: 6rl minutes

Plot

Katherine MacDonald, who was known more for her beauty than for her acting ability, is the star of this satirical thriller, which takes a few pokes at the film industry. Movie-mad society girl Diane Drexel (MacDonald) invites her friends over for a screening of her amateur version of Carmen. After it is done, she announces that she's going to show her original film, Stranger Than Fiction. The lights go off and when they come on again, the guests discover that they have been robbed by the notorious thief Black Heart (Wade Boteler). The police can't find him, so Diane tells her lazy fiancé, Dick Mason (David Winter), that she will marry him only when he has tracked down the thief. Dick has no better luck, and Diane goes into the slums, where she meets the Shadow (Jean Dumont) and young Freckles (Wesley Barry). Because of her kindness to Freckles, the Shadow takes Diane into his confidence and they scheme to trap Black Heart. Black Heart enlists Diane to rob her own house, and she sends Freckles to fetch the police. In an exciting airplane chase, Black Heart crashes to his death, while Diane and Dick land safely. The lights then go on -- it turns out to be Diane's own film. She promises her husband that she will stop fooling around with the movies -- just as soon as she's completed one more, starring a neighborhood boy who can walk just like Charles Chaplin. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Cast

Wesley Barry - Freckles; Wade Boteler - The Black Heart; Jean M. Dumont - The Shadow; Katherine MacDonald - Diane Drexel; Tom McGuire - Police Commissioner; Harry O'Connor - The Croaker; Evelyn Burns - Diane's Aunt

Credit

J.A. Barry - Director, Ralph Spence - Editor, Joseph Brotherton - Cinematographer, Katherine MacDonald - Producer, Ralph Spence - Intertitle Writer, Charles Richman - Screenwriter, Albert S. LeVino - Screenwriter