Flirting With Fate (1916)
Director:
Christy Cabanne
Writer:
Robert M. Baker (story)
Stars:
Douglas Fairbanks, Jewel Carmen, Howard Gaye
The plot of Flirting With Fate probably wasn't new in 1916, and it certainly wouldn't disappear with this film. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. plays a struggling artist whose heart is broken when his sweetheart Jewel Carmen is promised in marriage to someone else. The woebegone Fairbanks decides he has nothing left to live for, but he isn't up to committing suicide; thus, he hires a professional killer to do the deed. When Fairbanks inherits a million dollars, Carmen's parents suddenly decide that he's worthy of their daughter's hand. The trick now is to call off the hired assassin--who is nowhere to be found!