Fools of Fate (1909) User Reviews

Torn Between Two Lovers

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 5 November 2007]

Marion Leonard (as Fanny) and James Kirkwood (as Ben) seem to be a happily married couple. One day, Mr. Kirkwood goes out on a hunting jaunt, in a canoe; when he rises to fire at some game, the canoe capsizes. Apparently a poor swimmer, Kirkwood is rescued by nearby hunter Frank Powell (as Ed). Mr. Powell helps dry Kirkwood off, and the two crawl under a blanket for the evening. The next morning, Kirkwood thanks Powell for his kindness, and goes on his way. Then, Ms. Leonard meets Powell, while on one of her shopping trips; and, they kindle an attraction. Soon, Leonard and Powell are meeting regularly, and decide to run away together, leaving Kirkwood in the cold…

Remarkable 1909 story, content-wise, from D.W. Griffith, G.W. Bitzer, and the good folks at Biograph. Leonard's performance as a "torn-between-two-loves" woman is a highlight, ahead of its time. Her leading men do are quite good, also, with some implausible situations. "Fools of Fate" is a cut above the usual, due to its interesting premise, and Marion Leonard's performance.

***** Fools of Fate (10/7/09) D.W. Griffith ~ Marion Leonard, James Kirkwood, Frank Powell

Works Rather Well

[Snow Leopard · 22 November 2004]

This short D.W. Griffith feature works well enough, both in its story-telling and its content. It's the kind of story that often brought out the best in Griffith, and here the technique is good enough to make the points clearly even though most of the titles seem to be missing (since there are gaps in the print that are clearly so marked).

The story concerns a romantic triangle with some unusual aspects. It's the kind of story that typifies, at least in a basic way, the kind of material that Griffith was best at - a story that brings out the inevitability of human weakness and sadness. He usually had a good touch with that kind of material (as opposed to his more heavy-handed efforts at politics and the like), and he allows you to see into all three of the characters, as simple as they are.

Though neither the story nor the characters are especially interesting in themselves, there's enough to it to make it a little better than average among the short dramas of its era.

Title Cards on This One Are...Unique!

[silentmoviefan · 3/10 · 31 December 2013]

This film, in and of itself, is not very good. That's what it gets a "3" from me.

But there is something that makes this film stand out from any other silent film I've ever seen - the title cards! Before I delve into those, I will tell you where I saw this. It was on a DVD, a short after a D.W. Griffith feature, Dream Street (1921).

Fools of Fate starts out with the neat Biograph title. Instantly after that, you see another title card, just for an instant. I'm sure it said the same thing, but it wasn't with the nice neat Biograph title.

But that's not all...

During the course of the action, a title card appears, with the word "TITLE" in capital letters diagonally.

To nutshell the part of the film before the next (and last) unique title card appears. The wife of a guy has written him a letter that she now loves another. As he's reading the letter, here comes the other unique title card...the word "LETTER" in capital letters diagonally! As for the film itself, there's not much to say. Of course, if the title cards are the things that stand out far and away the most on a film, that should give you some hint about it.

I'll let you know, the spurned guy takes a gun and goes to the house of the guy his wife has left him for...However, the man she left her husband for is also the same man that saved the husband's life, so he can't bring himself to shoot the trigger. Distraught, the husband wishes the other man well and leaves.

The wife then goes to the man she's chosen. He'll have nothing to do with her, so she goes home. Before she goes home, however, the husband commits suicide. The wife comes home and finds the body. She now looks distraught...

THE END It's only nine minutes, but you have better things to do with your time than watch this movie. I rated it as high as a "3" only because of the unique title cards.

For 1909, it's pretty impressive.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 July 2021]

The IMDB summary for "Fools of Fate" is pretty amazing. After all, it's one of the longest and most thorough summaries I've seen for any film....yet it's run time is less than 13 minutes!! And, because the summary is THAT thorough, I'll skip reviewing what the film is about and just say what I liked or hated about it!

Like all the D. W. Griffith films I've seen from this era, the story would have been helped considerably had they used intertitle cards to explain some of the action or to convey what the folks were saying. As such, having this summary on IMDB was quite helpful. I do appreciate the subtlety in the acting in this compared to many other films of the 1900s....the usual overly exaggerated acting is less obvious here. For its time, an excellent and engaging story.

Very Good short

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Fools of Fate (1909)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith film about a hunter, who can't swim but goes out in a boat but when it capsizes he is near death when a camper on shore notices and saves him. As fate would have it, later in the week that same camper hits on a woman who just happens to be the wife of the hunter. This is one of Griffith's better films with some nice suspense and a rather unusual but effective ending.

Available through Grapevine as part of their D.W. Griffith: The Director series.

The Language of Cinema

[Single-Black-Male · 23 December 2003]

When you watch some of these early Griffith films you are not watching entertainment but a vocabulary unfolding before your very eyes. He is using the language of cinema as the new novel to tell a story to ordinary people who probably couldn't read. In a way, he is the poor man's director.

We are all to some extent fools of fate

[deickemeyer · 10 January 2015]

In some respects this picture will be considered the strongest of the week. While the story itself is no different from many other stories of a similar character, still the excellence of the acting and the action itself combine with the suggestions aroused by the story as it passes before one, to create impressions that cannot be effaced. It is, perhaps, not uncommon for a woman to become discontented with her lot and desire to change, even to running away with another man. They have done it since the dawn of the world. They will probably do it until the end. But here is suggested that control of Fate, the impulses and unseen influences which lead or urge one forward, as the case may be, and frequently the individual is powerless to help it. The effect in this instance is realistic and the working out of the plot in the hands of these capable players is effective enough to cause one to pause and search his own consciousness for some indication of wrongdoing or illicit possibilities which may be manifested to a greater or less degree in his own desires and wishes. Perhaps this film represents one of the most powerful, yet subtle, influences of the motion picture. When anything is so graphically represented that it causes one to pause for even a moment and scrutinize his own tendencies it has accomplished much and deserves encouragement. Unquestionably we are all to some extent fools of fate, and whether we know it or not Clothos is spinning the threads of our lives and Lachesis is designing the webs, both doing their work beyond our consciousness, and in most instances beyond our wills. Then when Atropos suddenly severs the threads and we discover what we have done we are often even more astonished than the world around us. The one who looks beneath the surface of this picture and grasps its meaning will sympathize with the young widow as she mourns alone over the dead body of her husband, dead by his own hand, because she, thoughtlessly and almost unconsciously, followed the thread as it was unwound by Clothos. - The Moving Picture World, October 23, 1909