Flirting with Fate (Silent)

Distraught that Gladys, the girl he loves, is engaged to someone else, penniless artist Augie Holliday decides to end it all. Lacking the courage to commit suicide, he hires "Automatic" Joe, the hitman who never misses, to send him to the promised land when he least expects it. The next day, Augie gets a telegram stating that an uncle has died and left him a million dollars. He learns that Gladys has called off her engagement. Rather than be elated, Augie is gripped with terror every waking minute as he fears that behind every shadow lies Automatic Joe in disguise, ready to pounce the second he lets his guard down.

Only eighteen months after his debut in D.W. Griffith's The Lamb (1916), handsome, athletic, charismatic Douglas Fairbanks had established himself as Hollywood's third highest paid actor, behind only Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. The mighty triumvirate of friends went on to found United Artists in 1919, and the studio's financial success was fueled to a great extent by Fairbanks' motion pictures. As the first president of the Motion Picture Academy Of Arts and Sciences, Fairbanks presented the very first Oscars in 1927. He is best known for his lavish swashbuckling adventures, most notably The Mark Of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Flirting With Fate, made his first year in the movies, highlights the incredible acrobatic and comedic prowess that made him a star.