ackstasis Sherlock Holmes was written as a flawed individual, a mind so brilliant that, when deprived of stimulation, it turns to artificial stimulants – namely, opium. 'The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916),' a clear parody of Holmes, takes this vice to the extreme. Coke Ennyday (Douglas Fairbanks) sits in his laboratory, puffing on a pipe and regularly pumping himself with a cocaine syringe he keeps on a holster around his chest. His wall-mounted clock has no need for hours or minutes, but instead divides its time between the activities "Eats," "Sleep," "Dope," and "Drinks." On this occasion, the great detective is consulted by the Secret Service Chief (Tom Wilson), who is admitted to the lab only after observation through a primitive surveillance camera, described as a "scientific periscope." (I seem to recall that Louis Feuillade's serial 'Judex (1916)' also featured a similar gadget).'The Mystery of the Leaping Fish' is an odd little spoof. It was released two years after cocaine was effectively outlawed in the United States by the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. Our hero's mission, though this becomes a little unclear in the convoluted middle-act, is to bust an opium-smuggling operation. He does this, but not before he's tasted enough of the stuff to satisfy his appetite. Drug addiction is lightly passed over as an amusing quirk. Whenever he feels down, Coke Ennyday injects himself with cocaine, and immediately perks up, proceeding to laugh and dance across the room (indeed, he essentially bounces through the entire final act). Drugs are even depicted as a useful weapon of sorts: when faced with one formidable foe, Ennyday simply injects his opponent, who promptly jumps to the ceiling. In scenes like this, reversed footage is used to amusing effect, as in G.W. Bitzer's 'The Impossible Convicts (1906).'

Cineanalyst Douglas Fairbanks successfully starred in modern comedies before embarking on his better-remembered career of historical swashbucklers in the 1920s. "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish", however, isn't like his other comedies. It's his only two-reel short film, as he otherwise made feature-length productions of five reels or more. It's most outrageously different, however, for its humorous portrayal of drug use. In it, Fairbanks plays a detective with a drug habit, or rather a life of drugs—a Sherlock Holmes parody; throughout the picture, he pokes himself with syringes he carries in a bandolier, when not snorting cocaine by the handful, drinking concocted cocktails, or eating gobs of opium. It gives a completely new meaning to Fairbanks's usual exuberance. Appropriately, his character's name is Coke Ennyday. Ironically, this drug-fiend detective foils a plot by smugglers to import drugs."The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" has acquired a decent cult status for a silent film from the 1910s, and I consider it one of Fairbanks's most enjoyable comedies. Yet, Fairbanks, reportedly, disliked it so much that he didn't want it distributed. According to Jeffrey Vance ("Douglas Fairbanks"), the film was made twice: first by Christy Cabanne, who was fired and whose footage was entirely discarded, and then by John Emerson with the assistance of Tod Browning—this second filming is what was released and what we see today. Besides Fairbanks, credit here needs to go to Browning's very original scenario, in addition to Emerson's direction and Anita Loos's title card writing. In the end and within the movie, the film we just saw turns out to be a scenario pitch by Fairbanks, and it's such a weird idea that it's rejected. I like it.

Silent_Era What an amazing piece of history! Most people don't know that, yes, cocaine was in extremely wide recreational use in the years between 1900-1925. In fact it was something of an epidemic in the latter years of that period. The facts that hospitals were swamped with cocaine addicts and that as much as a 1/5 of some city populations were registered as addicted are lost to common historical knowledge.However this film, made by Tod Browning (the infamous creator of "Freaks"), has absolutely nothing negative to say about cocaine: Cocaine is funny, cocaine is fun, and cocaine lets you do superhuman things.Fairbanks, who was a coke addict in real life, stars in this film. It's funny simply for the fact that it's an unapologetic pro-drug comedy, though if you don't find that kind of thing funny, you won't find this movie interesting at all. In fact it seems like the movie was made on drugs, the titles go by so quickly that you'd have to be a member of Mensa just to read them without pausing. The plot is nonexistent, it's just a series of cheap drug gags, in the vein of Cheech & Chong had they lived in 1915.

Schlockmeister I first came across this little gem while watching "Night Flight" on the USA Network in the very early 1980s. I was astounded and thought this must surely be a clever parody of silent movies, I mean the drug use was just so, BLATANT. I have never seen anything like it since and I am thankful that I was recording the show that night so I can convince myself that it was NOT just a dream and that there really was such a movie. A wonderful, silent comedy that will have you bug-eyed with amazement as well as laughing uproariously. Not Cheech & Chong crude, but weird in a spooky 1916 way, maybe the good old days werent as "innocent" as we are led to believe. if you get a chance (although I dont know who would DARE show this on TV anymore...) SEE IT! Behold, Bemuse and Bewilder!