Theda Bara Ranked
A ranking of Theda Bara's film performances.
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- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraFritz LeiberThurston HallThe story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony.
- DirectorFrank PowellStarsTheda BaraEdward JoséMabel FrenyearA married diplomat falls hopelessly under the spell of a predatory woman.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraG. Raymond NyeAlan RoscoeWhen Herodias divorces her husband and marries his brother Herod Antipas, governor of Judea, the prophet John the Baptist protests and is imprisoned. Salome, daughter of Herodias and both niece and stepdaughter to Herod, dances seductively and wins the prize of anything she asks of Herod. The prize she asks is the head of John the Baptist.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraAlan RoscoeWalter LawCamille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hopes of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsGeraldine FarrarWallace ReidPedro de CordobaIn order to help her smuggler kinsmen, a sultry gypsy seduces and corrupts an officer of the Civil Guard turning him into a traitor and murderer.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraCharles ClaryFred ChurchDu Barry attracts the attention of the King of France as he rides through the streets. A meeting follows, she losing her garter and the King his heart. Installed at court, Du Barry holds the King's favor in spite of her love for a soldier. The King dies and Du Barry plans to wed her soldier sweetheart, but she falls a victim of the Revolution.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraFranklyn HannaStuart HolmesMary Doone (Theda Bara) lives in a tenement parish house run by Pastor Elliott Clifford (A. H. Van Buren). Mary joints the front as a nurse, and meets war correspondent Lloyd Stanley (Stuart Holmes), whom she had known from London. Stanley is about to take advantage of her when their hospital tent is bombed. Mary finds the body of a young girl in the tent. The young girl is Ethel Wardley (Madeleine Lee Nard), who is the niece of Lady Clifford (Lucia Moore), mother of Elliott Clifford. Mary assumes Ethel's identity and is received by Lady Clifford as her niece. Elliott falls in love with Mary. Stanley returns to London with Ethel, who has recovered from her wounds. Mary confesses what she has done, and despite Lady Clifford's pleas for her to stay, she returns to the parish house to work with children.
- DirectorJames YoungStarsTheda BaraWyndham StandingDale FullerWhen Caroline Knollys goes to tell her husband Husband they they are expecting, she finds him in the arms of another woman. She leaves him, not telling him of her pregnancy, and runs off to Europe where she has the baby and becomes the toast of European society. Then she returns to settle with her husband once and for all.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraHarry HilliardGlen WhiteShakespeare's classic tale of ill-fated lovers whose deaths bring peace to their warring families.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsTheda BaraEdward O'ConnorJennie DickersonKathleen, the daughter of a poor tenant farmer, dreams of her wedding with her beloved Terrence. The dream is interrupted when the Squire of the estate takes an interest in Kathleen and forces her father to allow him to marry her to forgive the father's debt. Unfortunately the Squire loses interest in Kathleen once a potential gravy train arrives in the person of the exceedingly wealthy Lady Clancarthy. To be rid of Kathleen the Squire abandons her in the forest where she is beset upon by ruffians, but is rescued by Terrence, who is framed for murder for his troubles.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraAlan RoscoeFred BondLolette (Theda Bara), an exotic and spirited peasant girl lives In the small Spanish village of Juanguera. Although ardently courted by the native swains, and particularly a bandit called The Tiger, Lolette prefers Maurice Tabor, a French artist who has come to Juanguera to paint. Because he refuses to take her to Paris, Lolette accepts a gift of stolen jewels from The Tiger and follows Maurice to France. With Lolette as his model, Maurice paints brilliantly, and soon she becomes a Paris sensation. One evening, Lolette performs a Spanish dance on stage, and the next day, she signs contracts with a number of impresarios, accepting advance payment from all of them. Fearing her arrest, Maurice urges her to accompany him back to Spain, but The Tiger attacks their coach and imprisons them. At a feast held in her honor, however, Lolette urges The Tiger to drink, and when he is unconscious, she and Maurice escape.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraHerbert HeyesMary MartinElsie Drummond, the "Vixen," a spoiled nymphomaniac, takes pleasure in wreaking havoc on her sweet sister Helen. When Helen becomes enamored of Martin Stevens, a Wall Street businessman, Elsie turns on her considerable charms and woos him away. After Charlie Drummond, Elsie's shiftless brother, steals from Stevens and causes a scandal, Stevens is ruined financially and Elsie promptly leaves him. Through deliberate manipulation, Elsie then steals Knowles Murray, a young statesman, from Helen and succeeds in marrying him. Elsie and Murray move to Paris, forcing Helen to care for their alcoholic father. Six years later, Murray is called to Washington, D.C. and Elsie, now the mother of two children, renews her acquaintance with Martin Stevens, who has regained his wealth and position. As Murray is about to catch Elsie in Stevens' arms, Helen, to protect the children, supplies Elsie with an escape and an alibi. While Elsie continues in her deceptive ways, Stevens, finally wise to the Vixen, marries Helen.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraGlen WhiteWalter LawA gypsy girl with her foster-mother arrive in the French Capital where her beauty attracts the attention of the Apaches, and she becomes a member of their band. Her beauty attracts Claude Frallo, a scientist of note. She repulses him, as she has already fallen in love with Captain Phoebus. During a visit of the gypsy girl in the apartment of the handsome captain, Frallo kills the captain and makes his escape. Upon the arrival of the Gendarmes, Esmaralda is placed under arrest charged with the murder. Esmaralda is subjected to torture to make her confess, but is defiant, knowing that she is innocent. The bell ringer of the cathedral, Quasimodo, who secretly worships the Gypsy girl, becomes her protector. When Frallo visits the prisoner the bell ringer interferes. There is a struggle and the former is hurled from a parapet and killed. Again the girl appears before the tribunal. Put on the rack, she admits the murder of the captain. Just as Esmaralda is to be guillotined, the bell ringer gives the true version of the murder, implicating Frallo whom he killed. Quasimodo, the plucky bell ringer, who was Esmaralda's protector, and her liberator, becomes her husband.
- DirectorWill S. DavisStarsTheda BaraJ. Herbert FrankJames A. FureyFernande marries a man and schemes to get his wealth when his expected death occurs. But he dies before he can change his will. She next tries to kill the son who inherits, but he outfoxes her.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsTheda BaraWarburton GambleMarian StewartGeraldine and Beatrice are the twin daughters of Hatherly, a Church of England parson in a small village. Beatrice, the more impulsive and frivolous of the two, elopes to London with a ne'er-do-well. However, when he deserts her, she returns home only to be renounced by her father, who is so scandalized that his health breaks. After his death, Geraldine, the proper daughter, goes to live with an aunt. She meets and weds Philip Calthorpe, but his titled family immediately disinherits him for marrying a girl of genteel poverty; the loss of his allowance forces him to join the army. Meanwhile, Beatrice learns to live by her wits as she travels around European cities. Returning to London, she becomes the hostess at Renard Duval's gambling house and earns the exotic sobriquet "La Belle Russe" ("the beautiful Russian"). She soon runs away to France with wealthy artist Robert St. Omar and gives birth to a daughter, but after a few years, when St. Omar loses everything, Beatrice deserts him and their child and returns to Duval. St. Omar then places their daughter in a French convent, returns to London, and wounds Duval in a duel. Thinking he has killed the gambler, he enlists in the army and is sent off to India. Later, he regains his wealth and becomes engaged to an heiress. However, Beatrice shoots St. Omar just before his wedding, and although he recovers, the heiress wants nothing more to do with him. Meanwhile, Geraldine, forced to go to work, is injured in a fire in a shirtwaist factory and, thinking she may die, entrusts her husband's photograph and letters to her sister. When Lady Calthorpe, now remorseful over the way she treated her son, advertises to find her daughter-in-law, Beatrice assumes her sister's place. Philip Calthorpe, who has been serving in the army in India, returns home and fails to recognize that Beatrice is impersonating his wife. However, St. Omar, who had befriended Philip in the army, unmasks Beatrice, and Philip Calthorpe orders her out of the house. Calthorpe reunites with Geraldine, who has now recovered from her injuries, and St. Omar reclaims his daughter from the convent.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraVictor KennardFlorence MartinBavahari, a half caste Indian girl, renounces her oath as a sacred dancer to the worship of Buddha. The High Priest, who secretly loves the girl, is enraged and vows vengeance. Bavahari marries an English army officer, and they move to Paris where she becomes a sensation as a dancer. After she deserts her husband, he kills himself at her feet. The High Priest, discovering that Bavahari is in Paris, announces his presence by marking the "Sign of Death" on her dressing room door. He then disguises himself as a Buddha idol. As Bavahari dances on stage, the High Priest kills her in front of the audience.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsTheda BaraJames A. MarcusLillian HathawayPeasant girl Vania is assaulted by a duke who murders her lover and sends her away to London. There she becomes a famous actress. The Duke, seeing her perform but not recognizing her, hears that his son is wounded. "If anything should happen to my boy, I think it would kill me." That's all the motivation Vania needs to go to the front, find the one-armed paralyzed boy and marry him. Next she arranges to make love to his father just as the boy enters the room, causing the young man to blow out his brains.
- DirectorGeorge BellamyJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraEdward RosemanLouis DeanAs she is about to be hanged for numerous crimes and treacheries, Princess Petrovich reviews her life of almost unmitigated evil.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraGenevieve BlinnCharles ClaryAfter the death of Princess Arbassoff, Lisza Tapenko, a governess in the household of Prince Arbassoff, fills her place in everything but name. When the prince refuses to marry her because of the difference in their social positions, Lisza's former lover, Vassya, urges her to join the cause of the revolution. Smarting under the prince's refusal, she does so and leaves for Switzerland, the headquarters of the revolutionaries. The prince eventually yields to his son's pleas for Lisza's return and agrees to make her his wife. As Princess Arbassoff, Lisza still continues her activities with the revolutionaries, assassinating government officials and leaving a red rose on each of her victims. Torn between her love for the prince and her love of Russia when the revolutionaries order her to slay her husband, Lisza's devotion to the cause triumphs and she dynamites her house, meeting her death along with the prince's.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraFleming WardG. Raymond NyeA woman detained in Germany attempts to escape so she can reunite with her American lover.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraHerbert HeyesStuart HolmesLewis Victor of the French Foreign Legion is actually Bertie Cecil, a British nobleman hiding from dishonour for a crime actually committed by his brother. He is loved by Cigarette, a camp follower, but he only has eyes for another. The commandant hates him, and Victor is constantly placed in danger in war-torn Algeria. Then his brother arrives, and with him, a chance to clear his name.
- DirectorBertram BrackenStarsTheda BaraBen DeeleyStuart HolmesA woman leaves her husband and children for mistaken reasons. After being thought killed in a train crash, she returns in disguise to be the children's governess.
- DirectorBertram BrackenStarsTheda BaraJames CooleyWalter P. LewisFrom Alphonse Daudet's 1884 novel comes a variation: A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraWilliam B. DavidsonRobert ElliottPulke, a pearl diver on the South Sea island of Kolpee, loves Zara, Chief Majah's daughter, who is content with him until a New England missionary, Winthrop Stark, arrives. When Stark refuses Zara's marriage proposal because he is already engaged, she interrupts his sermon by grasping his knees and crying that he has no right to preach about brotherly love as he does not know what love is. Zara saves Stark from Pulke's jealous attack with a spear, and when the priest orders Stark sacrificed to appease the gods and stop a typhoon, she goes to drown herself in the sea in his place. Stark saves her, but because of his exertions, lapses into unconsciousness. Zara, now the reigning Princess since Majah died in the storm, learns that the black pearl buried with him can save Stark. She steals it and Stark recovers and leaves, but Zara dies holding off the angry natives, led by Pulke, who accidentally spear her while trying to recover the pearl.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraAlan RoscoeG. Raymond NyeMaria Valverde, a young Spanish woman whose father has settled in the Philippines, arrives home from the convent where she received her education and is soon approached by Diablo Ramirez, a local plantation overseer who hopes to win her heart. Having met the handsome American army captain, Paul Winter, in Manila, Maria scorns Diablo's advances, and later, he is forcefully escorted from the house. Furious, Diablo organizes a group of rebels, who kill Maria's father and hold her a prisoner in her own home. When Captain Winter hears of the revolt, he rushes to Maria's aid but is himself captured. Reinforcements soon arrive from the American army post, and in the fighting, the house is set ablaze. Diablo is about to grab Maria when Captain Winter enters and shoots the rebel down. The Americans finally emerge victorious, and Maria wins her dashing captain.