The Comic Critic's Review of "A Fool There Was"

Theda Bara quickly received the name The Vamp as she was often listed as The Vampire in the credits for A Fool There Was. In an age when Victorian dress was giving way to the era of the slim-girl-look known as the Flappers, Theda Bara’s natural curves and mane of long black hair stood out. Her eyes were offset with heavy kohl makeup, her body with exotic clothing, and she was adorned with mysterious jewelry filled with symbolism. It’s no wonder she’s often seen as the prototype for the Goth look. Studios were new to publicity campaigns. Theda’s background and personality were fabricated to the extent that both the studio and the reporters couldn’t keep them straight. She was at times the daughter of a mistress of politicians, the descendant of pharaohs, or priestess to a forgotten cult. The spew of fabrication added only more fuel to the publicity fire, and soon, in a time when many silent actors didn’t even receive credit, Theda Bara became a household name. Her roles showed her as a strong-willed female using her sex as a weapon, a tool, to get what she wanted. Keep in mind, this is during the suffragette movement. Women still didn’t have the right to vote, and men usually dictated their standing in society. Most of society viewed Bara’s representation of the strong female as laden with scandal and perversity. Bara’s interviews showed her as a strong feminist. But since the characters she portrayed on screen were seen as evil, it didn’t take detractors long to imply that feminism was also evil. Bara made over forty films, and sadly the master prints to all of these were lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. What few films that remain are the result of copies that were in outside circulation or forgotten storage. Thankfully, A Fool There Was is one of four of her films known to still exist. It’s story of a woman unashamedly manipulating men for her own gain. It’s also a story of the hypocrisy society allows, saying that a man’s poor decisions are the fault of a woman.