A Fool There Was

Drama written by the film's star Linda Arvidson, under her married name Linda Griffith, was her both her final screenplay and film appearance.

James Wadsworth sets his sights on the lovely society girl Anna Dalton and determines to marry her. To achieve that goal, he follows her everywhere she goes, including on a ship to South America. He comes up with a plan to make her love him--he throws her overboard, follows her over the side and swims with her to a deserted island. His somewhat unorthodox method works and he wins over Anna, but problems arise when Richard Towne, Anna's fiancé who has been searching for her, finds the island and discovers the two.

Disinherited by his father, Jeffrey Masters leaves his New York home and amasses a fortune in Texas cattle country. When his younger brother Bob marries Elvine Van Blooren, known as Effie, contrary to his father's wishes, he also is disinherited. Like Jeffrey, Bob goes West, but turns to rustling and becomes the leader of a gang. When Effie, who knows nothing about Bob's involvement with the gang, learns about their hiding place, she informs on them for a much needed $10,000 reward.

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

In an Indian tribe, a girl escapes from her father and suitor to be with the man she loves.

Mary Rollins is torn between selfish depravity and righteous living. After she's coerced into helping with the burglary of her minister's apartment, she comes face to face with her misdeeds.

Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.

Mrs. Kendrick borrows a jeweled necklace from a friend for an important social event. The necklace is stolen, and Mr. Kendrick goes into debt to replace it. The thief discovers it's costume jewelry, but the Kendricks never learns the truth; Husband and wife struggle for years to pay off the huge debt.

It's Bob Allen's twenty-first birthday. His mother and his brother Jack, a policeman present him with a cap, personalized with his initals in the lining. Jack then goes to work and Bob goes out also. Later in the evening, Jack is called to the scene of a robbery, where he finds the cap with his brother's initials. Dismayed by the idea that his brother is a thief, he goes home and confronts Bob with the evidence. Though it breaks their mother's heart, Jack does his duty and leads his brother out in handcuffs.

Wealthy Wall Street broker Thomas Maughm finally decides to divorce his spendthrift and reckless wife, and dictates a letter to that affect to his stenographer, Mary Moreland. While dictating the letter, he realizes that he is actually in love with Mary; when he tells her this, she confesses that she loves him, also, The pair make plans to meet in Boston later that night, but before Mary leaves, Maughm's wife confronts her and tells Mary that she still loves her husband. Ashamed, Mary convinces Maughm to go back to his wife. Complications ensue.

Princess Fedora Romanoff, a wealthy, beautiful St. Petersburg widow, is betrothed to Vladimir Boroff, a young man of high social position in the Russian capital. On the eve of their wedding, Vladimir is murdered and Princess Fedora, transformed by the tragedy from a gentle, loving woman into a tigress, vows to devote her life to finding and punishing the slayer of her beloved. Her quest takes her to New York City.

Bessie, the new school teacher, arrives at the little western village, and on her way to the school she meets a gang of cowboys who bestow boxes of candy and other little offerings. Not long after the girl is seized with a jumping toothache. Each boy suggests a cure, but without success. Tom, however, now appears and offers a cure. He leaves her a note stating if she will submit to his treatment he will guarantee to cure her toothache. She is in such agony that she is inclined to submit to anything, and so, though not knowing what the cure may be, consents. After great preliminaries Tom administers a resounding kiss upon her cheek..

Driven from Russia by the persecution of the police, who had caused the death of his wife, was Ivan Pavloff, a Nihilist, accompanied by his two infant twin daughters Olga and Nina, en route to America in search of freedom.

Former newsboy and jockey Joe Braxton, becomes a millionaire rancher and decides to visit New York. He soon becomes the prey of swindler Tom Linson and socialite Viola Grayson. Linson defrauds Braxton's old employer, Colonel Downs, and attempts to corrupt Eleanor, the colonel's daughter. When Eleanor learns that Linson intends to destroy Joe on the stock exchange, she warns him, disregarding Linson's threat to ruin her reputation. Eleanor is too late, but Joe recovers his losses by riding Mongrel to victory in the Kentucky Futurity, after having stacked his last dollar on the horse's success.