Flirting with Fate (1916) Reviews

• A familiar premise, well handled

  wmorrow592002-08-07

  Douglas Fairbanks is remembered primarily as a swashbuckling hero, the original Robin Hood, Zorro, and Thief of Bagdad, but in his earlier years on screen he appeared in a series of action comedies, and thereby created a template that would be followed by a number of latter-day comedians, notably Harold Lloyd. Young Doug is a bright-eyed and ambitious "go-getter" in these films, much like the character embodied by Lloyd in his great comedies of the '20s. The stories are breezy and light, and usually culminate in a chase. On occasion, as in Wild and Woolly and The Mollycoddle, Doug starts off as a foolish or downright effete character who must take some hard knocks in order to grow up and win the respect of his peers, his girl, and his audience, the basic formula that would be reworked by Lloyd, Buster Keaton, William Haines, and others. Flirting with Fate is a good example of this sort of comedy, and while I wouldn't rank it with Doug's best work of the period it makes for an entertaining hour's worth of viewing. Here he plays an artist with financial problems, in love with a girl from a much higher social set. One minor drawback for viewers who don't know what's coming is that the early scenes of plot exposition are slowly paced and short on laughs; the supporting actors play it straight, and we wait in vain for the jolly title cards, sight gags, and satirical touches that abound in the later Fairbanks comedies. It takes a while for the comic situation to kick in, and meanwhile a series of depressing setbacks are suffered by our hero, eventually causing him to make an indifferent attempt at suicide. We never really believe that Doug is going to go through with it, but the dark tone of these opening scenes may come as an unwelcome surprise for viewers expecting laughs from the outset. Doug's inability to kill himself brings about a plot twist that gets thing rolling, and it's a twist that may have been familiar even in 1916: Doug (who is uncharacteristically wimpy in the first portion of this movie) can't face killing himself, so he hires a hit man. Then, of course, his luck changes for the better, and he wants very much to live, only now he must avoid assassination from the killer he hired, who may be disguised. Doug himself dons the world's most unconvincing fake beard and goes to great lengths to elude his assassin. This is where the movie really takes off, and the second half is quite funny. The actor who plays the intended hit man, George Beranger, is terrific, so good he practically steals the show from the nominal star. There are several sequences where Doug fearfully imagines scenarios in which he might get killed, and these deliberately overplayed, melodramatic vignettes -- strikingly performed before black backdrops -- are the highlight of the film, thanks largely to Beranger's burlesque villainy. Douglas Fairbanks would go on to produce far more accomplished films than Flirting with Fate, but those interested in his early work will find this one quite enjoyable, once that crucial twist takes place.

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• Like all the other Fairbanks comedies I've seen, this one is marvelous.

  MartinHafer2010-10-23

  It's interesting today that we all know of Douglas Fairbanks as an action-adventure hero from movies like "Robin Hood", "the Mark of Zorro" and "The Black Pirate". That's because he also made quite a few wonderful comedies early in his career--and they are truly some of the best of the 1910s. He was an amazingly versatile actor and was able to use his prodigious athleticism in comedies as well. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of examples of his comedies out there--so you may have to dig a bit. Fortunately, "Flirting With Fate" is in the public domain and can be downloaded from a link on IMDb--and it's well worth your time--particularly if you are a fan of silent comedy. The film finds Fairbanks a poor painter. While he's very good, he has not yet been discovered. He also has a problem because he's infatuated with a rich young lady whose family won't approve of his seeing her because of his low station in life. Fortunately, he has a friend who loans him some clothes and introduces him to the girl and her family--and perhaps they'll like him enough to ignore his poverty. Through some very bad timing, Douglas has a very bad day. First, his lady friend THINKS he's interested in another lady and refuses to see him. Next, someone offers him a small fortune for his painting of this lady but he refuses to sell--only to have a thief steal it from him! Then, the money he expected to be able to borrow from a friend is not coming....and he feels like killing himself. He tries but is unsuccessful, so he comes up with the idea of paying a guy to murder him! The guy is a lowlife, so he's thrilled to get the job and agrees to kill Fairbanks. A short time later, suddenly Fairbanks life does a complete turnaround. The mix up with the lady is resolved and she wants to marry him, the painting is found AND he inherits $1,000,000---but there still is an assassin out there waiting to kill him---even though now he is desperate to live. It's all very, very clever and funny and I won't tell you more about how it all gets resolved. Watch this one--it is a treasure...and as funny as anything from the comedy greats of the era. Once again, Fairbanks proves he's up there with the best of them with a great script, wonderful stunts and a great pace that keeps you watching and cheering for him.

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• George Beranger to the rescue!

  JohnHowardReid2014-07-10

  It's hard to imagine that anyone other than Mary Pickford could steal a movie from Douglas Fairbanks, but that's precisely what Australian-born actor, George Beranger, does in Flirting With Fate – partly because Beranger's role creates more audience interest, partly because Fairbanks' character is far from heroic, and partly because the script written by Robert M. Baker and director Christy Cabanne provides Beranger with so many golden opportunities which the actor is deft enough to take full advantage of. In fact, it's not until Beranger appears on the scene that the movie gains the audience's full interest. The role of a throwing-in-the-towel artist doesn't really suit Fairbanks, although he certainly does make a convincing job of it. In fact, Fairbanks tends to make his loser a bit too convincing, but he had no choice. That's the way the script had to be written otherwise the character's deep desire to throw in the towel wouldn't make any sense. Fairbanks was still feeling his way towards the daring, never-say-die character he was soon to portray in almost all of his later movies. On the other hand, director Christy Cabanne does a first-class job here. Yes, as a director, the steadily prolific Cabanne started right at the top and gradually worked his way right down to Monogram before he retired in 1948. Flirting With Fate is available on a very watchable Alpha DVD. I enjoyed the bonus short, Screen Actors, too!

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• Lacking

  Cineanalyst2005-07-09

  This is a typical modern comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks, before he began on his path of adventure swashbucklers with "The Mark of Zorro" in 1920. Some of them, such as "Wild and Woolly" (1917), are quite good. "Flirting with Fate", however, is lacking. As fellow commenter wmorrow59 said, the pacing is slow to begin, especially when compared to a film like "Wild and Woolly". It's much too tiresome for a comedy. The pacing does pick up after Fairbanks's deal with Automatic Joe, though. Finally, Fairbanks employs his acrobatic skill for humor. Hiring an assassin to kill oneself is always a promising plot device, and the resulting irony this time had me chuckling. Giving a receipt for the business transaction is hilarious. On the other hand, the comical intertitles in the style of Anita Loos lack her cleverness. Sometimes they address the audience--or the orchestra, but they seem forced. Loos had worked with Fairbanks on "His Picture in the Papers", "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish", and, later, "Wild and Woolly", giving him his voice. This film could have used her and her husband director John Emerson.

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• Dashing Doug!!

  kidboots2015-06-17

  In the 1940s "The Whistler" had Richard Dix as a man who is desperately searching for an unknown man who he has hired to take his own life - now he wants to stop the contract. It was nail biting stuff and was one of the top entries in the darkly noir Whistler series. Almost 30 years previously Douglas Fairbanks had played it for laughs!! He is Augy Holliday a temperamental artist who can "draw everything except a salary"!! For once Fairbanks is not wealthy but he is able to poke fun at rent collectors - even poverty, as all he can do is to paint a picture of a steak dinner that his hungry dogs devour!! He falls in love with Gladys (sweet Jewel Carmen), a girl walking in the park who his friend Harry seems to know. But poor Augy is tongue tied with Gladys and can only rehearse with her friend all the endearments he can't say to Gladys!! Of course she overhears their conversation and turns to the man her mother has picked out for her!! but the unkindest cut of all is when he returns home and finds that the portrait he has painted of her, that he would not sell at any price, has been stolen! The laughs start to come when Doug decides to end it all - first he decides to gas himself but an unpaid bill means the gas has already been turned off. He then makes the acquaintance of "Automatic Joe" - the hit-man who never misses. George Beranger gets just as many laughs as Doug and gleefully rolls out the many ways of death at his disposal. But professional killers also have sick mothers and Joe now promises to go straight! In the meantime Augy's luck has changed - his painting has been found, a friend has lent him money, his stepmother has died leaving him a millionaire and Gladys now knows all and wants to make amends. Augy is now scared witless that Joe is still on his war path - he is - on the Salvation Army warpath!! Augy goes to the police and they assign him "the Correspondence School Detective" a lamebrain who is forever under the police's feet. Very funny in parts but not consistent and could have used more of what made "Wild and Woolly" so hilarious.

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