so to insure realism when the flood waters would start eating it away. The carefully constructed model was mounted on a large base with an outlet to carry off the water and two fire hoses trained on the back of the model. With the cameraman stationed close to the miniature, the water was turned on and as the basin began to fill the camera registered the growing flood. Under the force of the water the lightly plastered masonry started to crumble and with a rush the entire spillway gave way. The cameraman said the only casualty was his thoroughly drenched pants. Despite those efforts, Wid's Daily will write that "The model certainly doesn't look at all real". The Exhibitor Herald will add "The scene of the bursting dam — a plaster of paris affair — would not fool the novice in filmdom, as it looked nothing like the massive stone structure against which the company was photographed several times previously". Critical reception Fine Feathers was neither a commercial nor a critical success. Laurence Reid in The Motion Picture News felt that the idea behind the picture had been used so often as to lose its effectiveness and that the movie was slow with an almost total absence of suspense. The reviewer from Variety was in agreement and thought that he might have watched an edited version of the movie as it was advertised to be in six reels, but the version he saw was considerably less than an hour. His verdict: "It was just as well". Just like Lawrence Reid, he lamented the lack of action leading up to a single situation. "Tense enough to be sure, but still but one". Wid's Daily bluntly states: Not the Best Kind of Entertainment Available. They find the production satisfactory, but containing evidence of revisions and cutting which probably benefited the movie but left it plagued with continuity errors. They also mention too many title cards and as a whole, too heavy for summer entertainment. Exhibitors Daily writes that this "adapted play fails to convince as the spoken drama did. Cheaply produced and shows marks of age. See also Fine Feathers (play) References External links 1921 films American silent feature films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films 1921 drama films Silent American drama films Metro Pictures films