A Fool There Was is an American silent drama film produced by William Fox, directed by Frank Powell, and starring Theda Bara. Released in 1915, the film was long considered controversial for such risqué intertitle cards as "Kiss me, my fool!"[1]
| A Fool There Was | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Frank Powell |
| Written by | Roy L. McCardell (scenario) Frank Powell (adaptation) |
| Based on | A Fool There Was by Porter Emerson Browne |
| Produced by | William Fox |
| Starring | Theda Bara Edward José |
| Cinematography | George Schneiderman |
| Distributed by | Box Office Attraction Company, Fox Film Corporation (1918 re-release) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 66 minutes (1915 release) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
A Fool There Was is one of the few extant films featuring Theda Bara. It popularised the word vamp (short for vampire),[2] which describes a femme fatale who causes the moral degradation of those she seduces, first fascinating and then exhausting her victims.
In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4][5]
Plot
editJohn Schuyler (Edward José), a rich Wall Street lawyer and diplomat, is a husband and a devoted family man. He is sent to England on a diplomatic mission without his wife and daughter. On the ship he meets the "Vampire woman" (Theda Bara) – a psychic vampire described as "a woman of the vampire species" – who uses her charms to seduce men, only to leave after ruining their lives. Schuyler is yet another one of her victims who falls completely under her control. In the process of succumbing to her will, he abandons his family, loses his job and social standing, and becomes a raving drunkard. All attempts by his family to get him to return fail, and the hapless "fool" plunges ever deeper into physical and mental degradation.[6]
Cast
edit- Edward José as The Husband
- Theda Bara as The Vampire
- May Allison as The Wife's Sister
- Clifford Bruce as The Friend
- Victor Benoit as One of Her Victims
- Frank Powell as The Doctor
- Minna Gale as The Doctor's Fiancée
- Runa Hodges as The Child
- Mabel Frenyear as The Wife
Basis
editThe film is based on the 1909 Broadway production A Fool There Was by Porter Emerson Browne, who in turn based his play on Rudyard Kipling's poem The Vampire.[1] Katharine Kaelred played the role of seductress, billed as "The Woman".[7] The star of the play was Victorian matinee idol Robert C. Hilliard.[7] Hilliard's name featured prominently in some advertisements for the movie, though he had no connection with the film.[8]
Production
edit
The producers were keen to pay tribute to their literary source, having a real actor read the full poem to the audience before each initial showing, and presenting passages of the poem throughout the film in intertitles. Bara's official credit is even "The Vampire", and for this reason the film is sometimes cited as the first "vampire" movie.[7] However, in the film as in Kipling's poem, the term is used metaphorically, as the character is not literally a vampire.
The film was the first on-screen appearance of World War I-era film actress May Allison (1890 – 1989). Scenes ostensibly set in England and Italy were actually shot in the USA:[9] in St. Augustine, Florida,[10] New York Harbor, and at Fox Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which at the time was home America's first motion picture industry.[11][12][13][14]
Release
editThe film was also a watershed in early film publicity. At a press conference in January 1915, the studio gave an elaborate fictional biography of Theda Bara, making her an exotic Arabian actress, and presented her in a flamboyant fur outfit. Then they made an intentional leak to the press that the whole thing was a hoax. This may have been one of Hollywood's first publicity stunts.
Although part of the film takes place in the United Kingdom, the film was not approved by the British Board of Film Censors, per its policy of rejecting films with illicit sexual relationships.[15] Although A Fool There Was never received a public showing in Great Britain, later Theda Bara films were allowed.
Commentary
editThe film has been said to be unusual for the period in that the Husband does not experience a redemption, even when he hears the cries of his daughter, nor is the Vampire ever punished for destroying a family.[6]
Preservation
editA Fool There Was is one of the few Theda Bara films in existence, with copies at the Museum of Modern Art, BFI National Archive, and other film archives.[16] The other surviving Bara films are The Stain (1914), East Lynne (1916), The Unchastened Woman (1925), and two short comedies that she made for Hal Roach in the mid-1920s.
Legacy
editIn 1938, Tex Avery released a cartoon called A Feud There Was.
References
edit- ^ a b "Progressive Silent Film List: A Fool There Was". www.silentera.com.
- ^ "vamp | Origin and meaning of vamp by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
- ^ Mike Barnes (December 16, 2015). "'Ghostbusters,' 'Top Gun,' 'Shawshank' Enter National Film Registry". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
- ^ "2015 National Film Registry: "Ghostbusters" Gets the Call". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ a b Weinstock, Jeffrey (2013). "Sans Fangs: Theda Bara, A Fool There Was, and the Cinematic Vamp". In Brode, Douglas; Deyneka, Leah (eds.). Dracula's Daughters: The Female Vampire on Film. Scarecrow Press. pp. 37–42. ISBN 978-0-810-89296-5.
- ^ a b c "A Fool There Was – Broadway Play – Original | IBDB".
- ^ For example, see this period advertisement.
- ^ "A Fool There Was (1915) - Filming & production - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "Silent Sundays Features "A Fool There Was"". www.normanstudios.org. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014.
- ^ McGann, Mary Ann (December 16, 2013). "Fort Lee was once the movie capital of the world". nj.com. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ Spehr, Paul C. (1977), The Movies Begin: Making Movies in New Jersey, 1887-1920, The Newark Museum, ISBN 9780871001214
- ^ Koszarski, Richard (2004), Fort Lee: The Film Town, John Libbey Publishing, ISBN 0-86196-653-8
- ^ Fort Lee Film Commission (2006), Fort Lee Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 9780738545011
- ^ Robertson, James C. (1989). The Hidden Cinema: British Film Censorship in Action 1913-1972. Routledge. pp. 7–8. ISBN 0-415-09034-2.
- ^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: A Fool There Was
References
edit- J. Gordon Melton, ed. (1999). "Theda Bara". The Vampire Book (2nd ed.). New York: Visible Ink Press.
- J. Gordon Melton, ed. (1999). "Vamp". The Vampire Book (2nd ed.). New York: Visible Ink Press.
External links
edit
Media related to A Fool There Was (1915 film) at Wikimedia Commons
The full text of A Fool There Was (1915 film) at Wikisource- A Fool There Was at IMDb
- A Fool There Was is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- A Fool There Was at the TCM Movie Database
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- Actor Robert C. Hilliard recites some passages from the play in a recording made in 1911 Video on YouTube
