In the Spirit - A Fool There Was

John Schulyer was hitting the brandy pretty hard in A Fool There Was. I decided to make something to eat using brandy. I selected a recipe for Brandy Flamed Peppercorn Steak by TFRIESEN on Allrecipes.com 

"Kiss Me, My Fool"

"Kiss Me, My Fool" ~ The Vampire

The storyline is familiar today ... evil woman seduces a good (but weak) man. Can you think of any other movies with a similar plot?


Here are three options to view the film.

Title: A Fool There Was (1915)
Stars:  Theda Bara, Edward José, May Allison, Victor Benoit, Runa Hodges, Clifford Bruce, Mabel Frenyear 
Movie rating: NR
Length: 67 minutes



Watch the film (no music) in its entirety, courtesy of the Internet Archive:

Animated Images from Internet Archive

View "A Fool There Was/Theda Bara" playlist YouTube.com:
(Includes film in 7 parts with piano score, courtesy of urialle).

Purchase the "A Fool There Was" DVD.

It comes with the following cool special features:

~ A piano score that compliments the film
~ Text of Rudyard Kipling's "The Vampire" (read before the film was screened)
~ Excerpt from Terry Ramsaye's "Million and One Nights: A History of the Motion Picture Through 1925 (A Touchstone book)"
~ 1915 review of the film
~ Photo gallery of actress Theda Bara

A Fool There Was (scribbles)

According to the book, Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden, the path from the film A Fool There Was is quite interesting. The movie was based on a play of the same name by Porter Emerson Brown. The play was based on Rudyard Kipling's poem entitled The Vampire. The poem was inspired by the painting The Vampire by Philip Burne-Jones (Kipling's cousin). The painting was influenced by the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Whew! Bask in the inspiration below.

• Read a Kindle version of Brown's play for free: A Fool There Was

• Read a Kindle version of Bram Stoker's Dracula by for free: Dracula

• Don't have a Kindle? Get Free Kindle Reading Apps for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android phone.

• Read Kipling's poem, The Vampire, courtesy of The Literature Network.

• View the painting on the Gypsy Scholar's blog. She's got skills.

A Fool There Was (flick) Released

A Fool There Was was released January 12, 1915. It's almost 100 years old!

Have you seen it?

If no, see my post "Kiss Me, My Fool"

If yes, what did you think of it?

A Fool There Was - Tangents

Theda Bara - The First Vamp?

I have never really been into silent films. They seem kinda hokey to me compared to modern movies - strange makeup, overly dramatic gestures, odd camera work. However, after reading a few books like
Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden, I feel that I have been unfairly judgmental.  A Fool There Was was made almost 100 years ago! What will people think of movies made today 100 years from now?

Eve Golden paints an interesting picture of the manufacturing of a movie star. Working only in silent films, Bara is considered to be one of the movie industry's first sex symbols (the opposite of her true life). She is often credited as being the first vamp (that is now under dispute). Some of the costumes that she wore ... Wow. I think that they would still cause a quite a stir today. I would love to see her in Cleopatra. The costumes and sets were said to be amazing (still shots can be seen in the book).

When considering time and place, silent movies make more sense to me now. Some are actually quite good. Unfortunately for Theda Bara, her best work has not survived (mainly due to a fire).  A talented actress, Bara is known for having the highest percentage of lost films (compared to other actors with a Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame). Of her 40 movies, only four remain and they are considered to be some of her worst work. Check your attics and storage rooms. Old movie reels have been known to surface every now and then.

On to the scribble(s) and flick!