In "Reaching for the Moon", Douglas Fairbanks is more pitiful than in his other modern comedies and carries a morose and worried look through much of the picture. There isn't as much of his usual pep and smile here. Fairbanks plays a discontented office worker who spends much of his time star struck over royalty, which interferes with his career and with his getting the girl. He dreams that he inherits the throne of the fictional European country Vulgaria, which oddly looks like Venice (Los Angeles). With attempts on his life to move the line of succession and an unwanted arranged marriage, Doug discovers that being king isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Similar royal succession scenarios were used for Fairbanks's "The Americano" (1916) and "His Majesty, the American" (1919).
"Reaching for the Moon" is entertaining enough and worth watching because it's available in quality condition along with other early Fairbanks films in the Flicker Alley box set, but I don't think it's one of his better comedies. On the other hand, it's evident that Fairbanks's films had become more polished since he entered the business only a couple years earlier, which is also true of films in general during the period.
"Reaching for the Moon" is entertaining enough and worth watching because it's available in quality condition along with other early Fairbanks films in the Flicker Alley box set, but I don't think it's one of his better comedies. On the other hand, it's evident that Fairbanks's films had become more polished since he entered the business only a couple years earlier, which is also true of films in general during the period.