Popular reviews

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  Review by Karina Oliveira 2

  "I want to engage your professional services to cash me in."

  Douglas Fairbanks's contribution to the (surprisingly prevalent) cinematic niche that was silent-era suicide comedy.

  I've been meaning to revisit this one since watching Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd dabble in similarly black, self-eradication-themed hijinks some months back. The twist here is that Doug's starving artist (even his beloved pups have to make do with painted bone facsimiles) character, August Holliday - driven to despair by a series of financial and romantic blows - wants to end his life, but is rather on the squeamish side. So following a failed attempt by gas (owing to a lack of quarters for the slot meter), he hires assassin extraordinaire "Automatic Joe" (a…

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  Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★½

  Early Fairbanks vehicle, and there isn't much here that plays to the strengths that came forward later in his career. Rewatched it without ever for a moment suspecting I had seen it before, which can't be a good sign. Top-level 1916 craftsmanship,though.

  Dropped from 3 stars to 2.5.

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  Review by victoryfish ★★★

  Douglas Fairbanks, looking peculiarly nondescript without his mustache, plays an artist who hits rock bottom and hires an assassin named Automatic Joe to help him end it all. Naturally, his luck immediately changes for the better, and the rest of the film is a paranoid scamper around town, dodging potential death traps.

  Three stars overall, but five stars to this frame in particular.

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  Review by Chris Hughes ★★½

  “Not even the snores of the faithful watchdogs disturb the burglar as he cuts the priceless picture from its frame.”

  Flirting with Fate is a silly, light weight comedy featuring mustache-less Douglas Fairbanks being a goofball. At just over an hour it’s brief enough that it doesn’t over stay its welcome.

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  Review by ms. rei ayanami ★★★★

  Flirting with Fate is a very funny and pleasant silent comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks as a sad sack who hires a hitman to assassinate him ... only to have a change of heart when an unexpected circumstance reverses his misfortune. For a 1916 comedy, it holds up quite well. The premise is utilized well and the humor is definitely there.

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  Review by Derek Estes ★★★★

  Actually found myself laughing out loud to this. The premise is so good, and full of pitch black humor, I’m surprised it hasn’t been remade several times. Though she’s not credited, considering her involvement with Fairbanks’ films I have to wonder if Anita Loos wrote the titles. There is a considerable amount of wit in the titles that really keep this fresh. Fairbanks is charming as always in his nerdy comic style of this era, and has some great action/athletic scenes. Though I have to give credit to George Beranger for his role as Automatic Joe which was so wonderful. Incidentally Beranger would play The Geek in the original version of Nightmare Alley.

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  Review by Luka ★★★

  I still don't see the Fairbanks hype, but this is definitely his first good movie. Quite a strange one, but in an amusing way for the most part.

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  Review by Sam_P_ ★★★

  My earliest Fairbanks film! He is already showing off his charm, charisma and crazy athleticism! This is a fun premise for a film and was certainly entertaining. I can’t wait to watch more Fairbanks going forward…. Oh and very important to mention George Beranger with the moustache as Automatic Joe was HOOOOT!!!

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  Review by toothpickmoe ★★½

  Struggling artist Augy (Douglas Fairbanks) has a string of bad luck that leads him to hire an assassin to do him in, then has an equally good string of luck come along and render the service unneeded, leading to a very tense afternoon. Fairbanks wears all his emotions on his sleeve in this one between his usual acrobatic leaps and tumbles as he snuggles with his dogs, pals about with his best mate (W.E Lawrence) and courts a comely lass (Jewel Carmen). It's doesn't take long for all these nice things to dissipate and Augy to lose all hope. Then enter Automatic Joe (George Beranger), a gun for hire who is contracted to take out Augy for $50, but it…

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  Review by Michael_Elliott ★★★

  Pleasant comedy finds Douglas Fairbanks playing a struggling artist who decides life isn't worth living when he thinks that the woman he loves (Jewel Carmen) has dumped him. He pays Automatic Joe (George Beranger) his last $50 to assassinate him when he won't see it coming. Problem is, his luck changes and now he has to avoid being killed.

  FLIRTING WITH FATE is a pretty good comedy that once again shows why Fairbanks was the biggest male star of this era and why his popularity would continue to grow. If you've only seen Fairbanks in some of his later action pictures then you might be surprised to see him play the nerdy type of role but he's shockingly very good…

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  Review by Richard Cross ★★★

  The old chestnut about the depressed man hiring an assassin to bump him off and then changing his mind was probably still a shiny new chestnut back in 1916 when Douglas Fairbanks made this briskly entertaining comedy. Although miscast as an impoverished lovelorn artist, Fairbanks displays tons of charisma and copes well with the scene-stealing efforts of George Beranger as Automatic Joe, the assassin Fairbanks hires to bump him off.

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  Review by Heliophage ★★½

  The third Fairbanks feature, and very true to the initial model for his contemporary comedies where he comes up with a reason to get all jumpy in the last act. And jump he will, be it up a drainpipe, up a tree, or up various other convenient fixtures. Also up in social station, should his wedding go through in spite of the assassin (George Beringer—the only person in this picture who knows how to wear a false mustache with style) he's rashly hired to off himself. How will a wandering Nihilist and the Salvation Army figure in? Watch and see.

  Also, cute dogs.