A Fool There Was

Not completely without merit, as Bara basically invents the femme fatale for the movie screen, but the story never tries to be anything more than a morality tale told so straightforward that it feels a whole lot longer than its 65 minutes.

How do you rate a film where a female lead saying “kiss me” is a scandal. For 1915, it was probably cool to see such a simple tale of adultery played out on film. The film also seems to imply that the vampire has some extraordinary power of seduction that has a hold over Schuyler - that element doesn’t seem to work all that well in this story. This was interesting from a historical context, but (perhaps due to my inability to see it through a 1915 lens) otherwise it’s a snooze fest.

Worth it only if you provide yourself a rudimentary knowledge of bara and are curious to see her perform. A novelty of film history, it artistically has aged beyond expiration. There's no seduction (bara simply has magical vamp magnetism without doing anything alluring) or fun to this movie, scenes and shots drag(the whole film is visually very mundane), and its soaked in the outdated fear of a woman in control.

Theda Bara is cool. The slapstick felt out of place for such a melodramatic tale. Liked the Asian fella and the weather omen.