There's no question about its imperfections, but "A Fool There Was" is still an interesting melodrama, and it also looks better when considered in the context of its era. The pacing and storytelling are often uneven, but they are not too bad for a time when everyone was still learning how to tell a feature-length story on film. Theda Bara's performance is sometimes exaggerated, but it also contains some very effective moments, and it's not hard to see why she was something of a phenomenon for a time.
The story is relatively simple, with Bara as a 'vamp' who enters the lives of a respected statesman and his family. In general, the story works rather well, resisting the temptation to resort to anything forced or showy. It's driven solely by the strange power that Bara's character can acquire over good-natured but weak-willed males. Similar stories have been used in recent movies, but usually with the addition of a lot of extraneous or indecent material that adds nothing of genuine value.
To be sure, only someone who already enjoys silent movies will be interested in this one. Within just a few years, film-makers would learn many better and more efficient ways of setting up and telling a lengthy story. Bara is also the only performer here whose performance is of particular interest. But there is more than enough here to make it worth seeing if you like the silents.
