Monty Banks was a short, stocky but somehow debonair Italian-born
comic actor, later also writer and director. In the US from 1914, he
first appeared on stage in musical comedy and cabaret. By 1917 he
was working as a dancer in New York's Dominguez Cafe. After this he turned
to films, acting and doing stunt work at Keystone, Universal and for
Al Christie. Changing his name from Mario
Bianchi to Monty Banks may have been prompted by
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as a
passing reference to his playing '"montebanks". By 1919 Banks had moved
to Vitagraph to play a villain in
The Grocery Clerk (1919), foil
to star comic Larry Semon.
Banks first came to the fore in his own right as star of the "Welcome
Comedies" made by Warner Brothers. He spent the early
1920s at Fox and Grand Asher, graduating to writing and directing two-reel comedies with himself as the star. Most noteworthy entries in regard to inventive sight gags and Mack Sennett--style madcap plots are
Pay or Move (1924) and
The Golf Bug (1924). The success of
this series prompted Banks to create an independent production company,
the Monty Banks Pictures Corporation, in conjunction with
writer/director Howard Estabrook. He
made several feature-length films for Pathe, including
Play Safe (1927)) (generally considered
his best work), which featured a climactic runaway train sequence. This
style of fast-action slapstick made it inevitable that Banks suffered
more than his fair share of injuries, especially since he continued to
do many of his own stunts.
From the late 1920s Banks worked in England and made several
appearances in sound films. However, his accent proved to be something
of an obstacle. He therefore decided, after 1930, to concentrate on
directing and producing. He helmed four features starring the popular
entertainer Gracie Fields, who became his
second wife in 1940. In 1935 he directed a well-received
George Formby comedy,
George bricht alle Rekorde (1935), about the TT motorcycle
races on the Isle of Man, which were shot on location there.
With the outbreak of World War II Banks--being an Italian citizen--would
have faced internment in England as an enemy alien. He therefore deemed
it necessary to flee to Canada, and from there to the neutral United
States. He eventually obtained American citizenship, for which he had
applied years earlier, but had forgotten to submit the necessary
paperwork. Back in Hollywood he ended up at 20th Century-Fox,
directing Stan Laurel and
Oliver Hardy in
Schrecken der Kompanie (1941), arguably one of
their lesser efforts.
Banks died of a heart attack during a trip through Italy in January
1950, aged just 52. Sadly, the majority of his one- and two-reelers are
now considered lost films. As a result, his status as a leading comic
of the silent screen may have somewhat diminished--except, perhaps, in
his home town of Cesena, where a foundation was established in his
honor (the "Aula Didattica Monty Banks"), offering students "practical
courses on experimental aspects of video production".
