Three Wise Fools

Three Wise Fools (German title: Ein Mädchen und drei alte Narren) is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. A print of the film exists at the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique. It showed in Germany at the Union-Theater Nollendorf, Berlin, on November 10, 1924. The cinema was built in 1913 by Joe Goldsoll, who was president of Goldwyn Pictures from 1922-1924. Plot Three elderly—confirmed bachelors all—are unexpectedly visited by a young woman who announces herself as the daughter of the lady that all three men had once been in love with. When the girl is falsely suspected of involvement with a robbery, the old men come to her aid and the real culprit is ultimately apprehended. Cast Claude Gillingwater as Theodore Findley Eleanor Boardman as Rena Fairchild / Sydney Fairfield William H. Crane as Hon. James Trumbull Alec B. Francis as Dr. Richard Gaunt John St. Polis as John Crawshay (as John Sainpolis) William Haines as Gordon Schuyler Lucien Littlefield as Douglas ZaSu Pitts as Mickey Martha Mattox as Saunders Creighton Hale as Young Trumbull Raymond Hatton as Young Gaunt Production One of producer Samuel Goldwyn’s many outstanding literary acquisitions, Three Wise Fools was written by playwrights Austin Strong and Winchell Smith. Vidor approached the “prestigious property” with alacrity. He would make one more film for Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Wild Oranges (1924) shortly before Goldwyn’s outfit was absorbed by Louis B. Mayer under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.