Douglas Fairbanks gets Down to Earth
This rom-com was released on August 16, 1917. Doug plays an athletic young man who has a girlfriend who has checked herself into a sanitarium full of hypochondriacs. He believes their problems are all in their heads, so he takes them on a boat ride and then pretends that the boat is stranded on a deserted island. Once ashore, he teaches them to gather food, exercise, etc. to show that they are not really sick.
There was one sad event, however, that occurred during filming. "Member of Fairbanks Company Drowns . . . Production of Down to Earth delayed. Important member of company drowned off Catalina Islands [sic] despite frantic efforts to rescue him . . . The drowned player was Pep, a mongrel cur.'" – Motography, August 11, 1917
Good news –this film is available for viewing on Youtube.