Fool There Was, A (1915)
*** (out of 4)
John Schuyler (Edward Jose) is the luckiest man in the world as he has great friends, a wonderful wife, money and a young child who loves him. However, on a cruise he happens to get seduced by "The Vampire" (Theda Bara) and he's willing to give it all up for her deadly poison. While watching this film I had to keep reminding myself that this was made in 1915 because on a technical level it looks years earlier. There are a lot of negative things you could say about this movie as the thing is way too over dramatic and in many ways it comes off corny and hammy today but it's a very rare opportunity to see Bara, the main sex symbol of the day and perhaps the first vamp in the history of cinema. I'll start off with the story, which is based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. To say it's silly would be an under statement but it doesn't help that the director is constantly showing us the poem as if it were quotes from the Bible. The screenplay really isn't anything too original as you'd expect the dumb men to give up everything good in their life just to be tempted by the "Vampire" who is going to do nothing but ruin their lives. What's so funny is how over-the-top this is done. There are countless times we'll see the husband getting ready to do something bad and this will follow by a scene showing his young daughter and wife just having fun together. Every time the husband goes to do anything wrong we get these rather silly flashbacks but the silliest thing happens to the men who "fall" for the vamp. The only thing I can compare it to are the zombies in a George Romero film. We see two or three of the vamp's previous lovers and they're all ruined movie who move as if they were zombies with the life sucked out of them. Even the husband character goes through a Jekyll and Hyde thing and it's just incredibly how "dead" they show him towards the end of the movie when he's breaking down from not having the vamp near him. So, how is Bara, the original movie vamp? While the sexuality is certainly very old-fashioned, I must admit that I really enjoyed her. You can just tell she loves playing bad as her walk is pure snake-like and she has no problem showing off the coldness of her character. She certainly doesn't look like a sex symbol that you'd see today but her attitude and cocky nature were just terrific to watch. The supporting players range from fair to good but none of them really stick out. Even though the story and over dramatic nature are silly at times, it's still hard not to recommend this to film buffs as it's certainly an important film and a rare chance to see Bara in action.
*** (out of 4)
John Schuyler (Edward Jose) is the luckiest man in the world as he has great friends, a wonderful wife, money and a young child who loves him. However, on a cruise he happens to get seduced by "The Vampire" (Theda Bara) and he's willing to give it all up for her deadly poison. While watching this film I had to keep reminding myself that this was made in 1915 because on a technical level it looks years earlier. There are a lot of negative things you could say about this movie as the thing is way too over dramatic and in many ways it comes off corny and hammy today but it's a very rare opportunity to see Bara, the main sex symbol of the day and perhaps the first vamp in the history of cinema. I'll start off with the story, which is based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. To say it's silly would be an under statement but it doesn't help that the director is constantly showing us the poem as if it were quotes from the Bible. The screenplay really isn't anything too original as you'd expect the dumb men to give up everything good in their life just to be tempted by the "Vampire" who is going to do nothing but ruin their lives. What's so funny is how over-the-top this is done. There are countless times we'll see the husband getting ready to do something bad and this will follow by a scene showing his young daughter and wife just having fun together. Every time the husband goes to do anything wrong we get these rather silly flashbacks but the silliest thing happens to the men who "fall" for the vamp. The only thing I can compare it to are the zombies in a George Romero film. We see two or three of the vamp's previous lovers and they're all ruined movie who move as if they were zombies with the life sucked out of them. Even the husband character goes through a Jekyll and Hyde thing and it's just incredibly how "dead" they show him towards the end of the movie when he's breaking down from not having the vamp near him. So, how is Bara, the original movie vamp? While the sexuality is certainly very old-fashioned, I must admit that I really enjoyed her. You can just tell she loves playing bad as her walk is pure snake-like and she has no problem showing off the coldness of her character. She certainly doesn't look like a sex symbol that you'd see today but her attitude and cocky nature were just terrific to watch. The supporting players range from fair to good but none of them really stick out. Even though the story and over dramatic nature are silly at times, it's still hard not to recommend this to film buffs as it's certainly an important film and a rare chance to see Bara in action.