Reviews and Observations on Silent Westerns by Boyd Magers

As the forerunner of the sound westerns we all enjoy, the silent westerns that still exist deserve our consideration and attention. As seemed to be the custom of the day, you’ll notice in silents many of the cowboy heroes mix light comedy with hard action. This style was carried over into talkies primarily by Hoot Gibson, but to a lesser degree by Ken Maynard and Buck Jones, eventually giving way to straight action from the star of the film with the comedy elements left to the sidekicks (Gabby, Fuzzy, Smiley, etc.) Silent westerns also exhibited stronger roles for women and usually more romance than in the sound era B-westerns.

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For Boyd's reviews of sound westerns visit The Old Corral.

Posted 1/4/09

FEARLESS RIDER (1927 Universal) 45 minutes
Trouble begins when ranch owner Fred Humes (and his foreman Ben Corbett and his pal Pee Wee Holmes) find hard rock miner Buck Connors trapped after a blast causes a mine cave-in. Connors’ daughter Barbara Worth rides for help but meantime outlaw leader “Doc” William Steele discovers Connors and a valuable pocket of gold exposed by the blast. Rushing Connors off to town on the pretense of an injured ankle, Steele hogties Connors in his backroom. With a greed for gold and lascivious eyes for Barbara, Steele orders his gang to loot the mine while he goes for the girl, but Fred gets wise and outwits the crook. Directed by Edgar Lewis from a Basil Dickey screenplay, FEARLESS RIDER is typical in plot enhanced by William Cline’s flashing photography.

RED BLOOD (1926 Anchor) 53 minutes
Crooked Lew Meehan tries to make time with ranch owner J. P. McGowan’s daughter Marjorie Warfield, but she prefers neighboring rancher Al Hoxie. Under the evil influence of Meehan, McGowan’s son Eddy Barry gambles, putting his father deeply in debt. Al catches Meehan cheating and warns Eddy to stay away from the Ace High saloon, but to pay his gambling losses Eddy forges his father’s name to a $3,000 check. Later when Al tries to help Eddy retrieve the forged check from Meehan’s safe, saloon girl Frances Kellogg is found murdered and Al is blamed.

HELL’S HINGES (1916 Triangle) 63 minutes
Into the wide open den of iniquity that scorches even the soil on which it stands, Placer City, better known as Hell’s Hinges, comes a young, unprepared minister (Jack Standing) accompanied by his sister, Clara Williams. Sworn to keep law and religion out of Hell’s Hinges, saloon owner Alfred Hollingsworth puts it up to local badman William S. Hart to drive out the new minister and his God-fearing flock. But upon meeting Clara, Bill hesitates, backs off and vows to let them be if they keep to themselves. Through Clara and the Bible Hart begins to learn he’s been “ridin’ the wrong trail” and begins to help Clara’s parson brother build a proper church for the parishioners. Having lost his trump card in Hart, Hollingsworth sets dance hall floozy Louise Glaum to prey on the moral weakness of the parson, enticing him into drink and an all night binge with her. At first Hart is forgiving of Standing, but when the pastor willingly backslides and, in a drunken stupor, joins the saloon mob as they burn down the newly erected church, Hart erupts in a fit of all consuming fiery rage, wreaking revenge on Hollingsworth and the town in the flames of Hell! Strong and sincere in treatment with Hart at his good-badman best, HELL’S HINGES has become one of Hart’s most revered films.

Posted 12/2/08

GREAT K&A TRAIN ROBBERY (1926 Fox) 51 minutes
The silent western never got any better than this. It could safely be billed as the fastest moving motion picture ever filmed. Undercover detective Tom Mix is hired by the railroad to track down a gang of train robbers led by Edward Peil Sr. being tipped off as to gold shipments by Carl Miller, the college boy secretary of railroad president William Walling. Action alone would place this Mix in a class by itself, but there’s also plenty of melodramatics and comedy. The thrills start as we first see Tom sitting in a basket suspended on a long wire or rope reaching to the top of the Royal Gorge in Colorado—where all the exciting exteriors were filmed. Discovered by the train robbers, Mix slides down the rope right into Tony’s saddle. From that moment on the agile Mix continues to thrill as he boards a speeding train with the railroad president’s daughter (Dorothy Dwan) in his arms; jumps from a speeding train then catches up on its moving underside; dives Tony out a second story window into a pool of water; rides a wire over the Colorado River; leaps on top of a train entering a tunnel, then conducts a running gun battle on top of the railroad cars, and single handedly captures the outlaw gang after a wild fight in an underwater cave. Inventive, exciting, pure escapist fun and action all the way!

WHEN BIG DAN RIDES (1920 Arrow) 15 minutes
John Lowell, bearing a casual resemblance to William S. Hart, was born April 22, 1875, in Iowa. At one time the sparring partner of boxer James Corbett, Lowell worked in silents as a star, character actor, director and producer. He starred in a series of two-reelers based on L. Case Russell’s Big Dan Marvin Royal Canadian Mounted Police stories. Produced by Blazed Trail Productions in upstate New York, they were low budget affairs distributed by Arrow Pictures. Lowell, apparently unable to make the transition into talkies, died in L.A. in 1937. This uninvolving entry has Mountie Big Dan tracking down border smugglers.

BROTHER BILL (1918 Canyon) 18 minutes
Born in Boston, Franklyn Farnum was originally a singer and dancer in various East Coast road companies. He even performed light opera and musical comedy on Broadway before entering films circa 1914. After several dramas, Farnum took a liking to westerns. In 1920 Farnum signed with Canyon Pictures for a series of 26 two-reelers. Meanwhile, Charles “Buck” Jones had come to Hollywood in 1917 from the 101 Ranch Wild West Show and Ringling Brothers Circus. In 1918 he joined Canyon Pictures and appeared in several of Farnum’s two-reelers. Often, as here, his roles were equal to Farnum’s. Home from an Eastern college, Buck Jones is greeted by older brother Franklyn Farnum who is in love with Lola Maxam, the sister of rustler Vester Pegg. When Farnum’s foreman, Bud Osborne, alerts Farnum that Pegg is rustling their stock, Farnum is reluctant to act because of his devotion to Lola. The plot thickens as Lola falls for Buck and they elope. Pegg, furious that Lola would marry into Farnum’s family, goes gunning for Buck. Although devastated, feeling betrayed by his brother in his affections for Lola, Farnum nevertheless steps up to the plate and saves the couple.

DANGEROUS TRAILS (1921 Pathé) 13 minutes
In 1921 Robert North Bradbury ventured into the world of movie script writing and directing. Bradbury reasoned a good way to practice his new endeavor was to put his twin sons, Robert Adrian Bradbury (soon to become Bob Steele) and William Curtis Bradbury, both 14, to work in a series of basically homemade one-reel outdoor adventure films. Over the next two years Bob and Bill appeared in 17 one-reelers depicting life in the forest. Originally, the shorts were for director Bradbury’s own filmmaking education and the enjoyment of family and friends, however, Pathé viewed them and was impressed enough to distribute them commercially. Today, the shorts are of interest only to see a 14 year old future star of B-westerns, seen here with brother Bill trapping a mountain lion cub.

TRAPPING THE BOBCAT (1921 Pathé) 11 minutes
Essentially a how-to with Bob (Bradbury/Steele) and Bill (Bradbury) on capturing and skinning (!) a bobcat. (See DANGEROUS TRAILS.

MAN FROM TIN JUANA (1917 Kalem) 19 minutes
Born in 1890, Marin Sais started in pictures in 1909. In 1917, as America was plunged into WWI, she starred in the 21 episode “American Girl” series for Kalem. As Madge King she is the central figure in the series of western two-reelers. Thought not a serial, each episode approached serial like thrills and situations but each contained a stand alone story. Directed by James W. Horne, this one has Sais and Edward Hearn foiling a plot by a bank teller and three heavies out to steal valuable bonds. Fast moving and harmless. Hart (Jack) Hoxie appears briefly as the Sheriff. (Sais and Hoxie were later married in 1920, but divorced in 1925.)

OUTLAW BREAKER (1927 Goodwill) 54 minutes
After starring in westerns for Arrow and FBO, Yakima Canutt signed with independent Goodwill Pictures, directed by Jacques Jaccard. In Wyoming, after cattleman Yakima Canutt’s father and brother are killed by sheepmen, his mother makes him promise to hang up his guns. Fearing cattlemen vengeance, cowardly sheepman Dick La Reno hires Harry Northrup to pose as owner of La Reno’s sheep spread. After a disagreement with Northrup and his daughter (Alma Rayford), afeared Northrup will divulge to Yak who the real sheepman is, La Reno shoots and wounds Northrup, planting suspicion on Yak. Fearing for his very ill mother’s life, Yak escapes the town marshal and rides hard to his mother’s bedside where she relieves him of his vow not to carry a gun. When Northrup regains consciousness and exonerates Yak, Alma tells Yak she realizes it was the cowardly La Reno who gunned her father from ambush. Strapping on two guns, Yak goes gunning for La Reno and henchman Frank Ellis. Not as stunt packed as some of Yak’s silents, but acceptable Saturday matinee fodder—but watch out—Yak makes a very old and derogatory racial comment to sidekick Nelson McDowell.

CALIFORNIA IN ‘49 (1925 Arrow) 68 minutes
Heavily edited feature version of the 15 chapter 1924 Ben Wilson produced serial DAYS OF ‘49 comes off disjointed and episodic. In old California a woman of wiles, Ruth Royce, visions herself as empress of the Pacific with gambler Wilbur McGaugh as her ally, but they’re opposed by Charles Brinley and his daughter Neva Gerber who prefer statehood. Brinley is supported by leading citizen Judge Clark Coffey and his son, noted frontier guide Ed Cobb, who, with Gerber, take up the fight for statehood. Due to editing time restraints we’re quickly taken through the Bear Flag Revolution of 1846, statehood, an Indian uprising and the early days of San Francisco where Coffey finally deals with McGaugh and Royce while Gerber and Cobb are staving off a wagon train attack by marauding Indians. After watching several Ben Wilson Productions (whether starring him or not) you discover, although prolific as an actor/director/writer/producer/jack of all trades from 1912-1927, he was not particularly artful in his craft. Neva Gerber never seemed to get the recognition she deserved although she appeared in countless one and two reelers, a series of comedies, plus 38 features and 13 serials during an 18 year career from 1912 to 1930. Born in Chicago on December 8, 1891, she moved with her divorced mother to L. A. and by age 20 the 5' 2", 115 lb. girl was working in films. She came into her own in 1917 at Universal, co-starring with Ben Wilson in the 15 chapter VOICE ON THE WIRE. Their careers were thus linked for the next dozen years both in serials and westerns. Neva married three times, had no children and died broke and forgotten on January 2, 1974. She was buried by the state of California in a pauper’s grave.

Posted 11/27/08

MAKING OF BRONCHO BILLY, THE (1913 Essanay) 10 minutes
Eastern dude Billy is bullied in a western saloon by Brinsley Shaw and challenged to a shoot-out. Billy buys a gun, quickly learns to become a dead shot, and in a showdown he outdraws and wounds the bully. Riding to Sheriff Harry Todd’s office to give himself up he’s pursued by a mob friendly to Shaw. Just as the mob is about to crash the jail, Shaw rides up to admit he was in the wrong. Texas George Briggs was a rifle marksman of exceptional ability. In one scene for this film Broncho Billy Anderson draws his pistol and shatters a row of lined up bottles, then sets up a row of playing cards and shoots a hole in each card. Off screen, Briggs accomplished the feat in a continuous take. He also rode and acted, remaining with Essanay for some two years. Silent star-to-be Fred Church can be glimpsed amongst the cowboy mob.

UNTIL THEY GET ME (1917 Triangle) 57 minutes
Set in the Canadian Northwest, Jack Curtis is pursued by Mountie Joe King. Although accused of murder, Curtis killed in self defense. Curtis reaches his home only to find his wife died in childbirth. Leaving the baby to be cared for by an Indian lady, Curtis escapes, vowing to return on the same day once a year to see his child. A year later the story turns to overworked servant girl Pauline Starke who runs away from her hateful mistress. Encountering Curtis, still on the lam from the law, they ride off together as she helps him elude Mountie King. Suspicious, but still helpful, King brings Starke to the Mountie post. Over the next four years Pauline adapts to her new life and becomes “family” at the post. Eventually, in love with King, Pauline lets slip that Curtis returns to his home on the same day once a year. The capture of Curtis nearly destroys their romance, but all is resolved by the end. Directed by Frank Borzage, UNTIL THEY GET ME initially sets up an interesting premise, but bogs down midway, feeling padded for running time, and offers an actionless, unusual conclusion.

WAGON TRACKS (1919 Paramount-Artcraft) 66 minutes
Wagon train guide William S. Hart is headed to meet kid brother Billy Hamilton who is arriving on a riverboat steamer. Aboard the steamer are notorious gambler Robert McKim, his younger sister Jane Novak, and her weak-kneed fiancé Lloyd Bacon, a “tool” of McKim’s. When McKim and Bacon cheat Billy in a card game, Billy pulls a gun on the thieves but Jane intervenes and Billy is shot and killed in the struggle for the pistol. Covering up their cheating card game, the two cads claim Billy was drunk and when Hart arrives they
lay all the blame on Jane. Although the shooting is ruled accidental, Hart suspects foul play. We soon find all parties on a wagon train headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. When Jane finally reveals to Hart what really happened, how Billy was being cheated, Hart binds McKim and Bacon to a lariat and herds them out into the sun-parched, waterless desert to walk until one or the other confesses. A fairly good Hart picture, melodramatic at times as Hart tended to be, but logical and consistent, although dark in mood—again as many of Hart’s films were. Dramatically constructed by fledgling director Lambert Hillyer who directed 13 of Hart’s late-period films, including the classic TOLL GATE (‘20).

DEVIL’S PARTNER, THE   (1924 Mutual Players/Truart) 57 minutes
Rancher Hayden Stevenson is plagued by border rustler Philo McCullough. Stevenson’s son is Edward Hearn who is in love with pretty Nancy Deaver, daughter of Carl Stockdale who is in debt to rustler McCullough. The rustlers gun down Stevenson as McCullough threatens Stockdale with exposure unless the spineless Stockdale coerces his daughter to marry the vicious killer. McCullough then attempts to eliminate Hearn by framing him as a rustler. Written and directed by Fred Becker (he even wrote in a part for himself as McCullough’s henchman) but there’s not a whit of originality in this contrived by-the-numbers plot. You’ve seen it all 100 times before. It also includes some of the phoniest riding shots ever seen and some laborious unfunny situations with deputy sheriff Harvey Clark and his spindly wife. Edward Hearn (1888-1963) entered films circa 1916 after nine years stage experience with various stock companies. Cast in over 60 silents, Hearn just wasn’t strong enough for leading man parts, but he found much success in character roles on into the talkie era.

CALL OF THE KLONDIKE (1926 Rayart) 39 minutes
In the wake of the success of Rin Tin Tin at Warner Bros., every studio heard the bark of a dog star. FBO had Ranger, Paramount had Flash, First National had Strongheart, Fox had Thunder, Chesterfield had Sandow and Fearless. There was also Peter the Great, Dynamite, Wolfheart, Napoleon, and lowly Rayart made this one-off picture starring Lightnin’ Girl. After Dorothy Dwan’s boyfriend, Gaston Glass, strikes out to look for gold in the Klondike, she follows him there. A “get rich quick” mining syndicate bossed by Earl Metcalfe and crooked mining engineer William Lowry are cheating prospectors on the value of their claims. When Glass and his partner make a strike, Metcalfe frames Glass for a crime he didn’t commit and heads out to jump Glass’ claim. It’s Glass’ dog, Lightnin’ Girl, who helps the prospector break jail and right some injustices. Unfortunately, this 60 minute film is missing the second reel, causing several plot points to be quite confusing.

ROUGH GOING (1922 Pathé) 13 minutes
Leo Maloney is courting Josephine Hill when an “old friend” of hers arrives. Apparently a wanted man, he’s immediately recognized by ranch hand Bud Osborne who turns the kid into the sheriff for the reward. Leo helps the kid escape which leads this quick two-reeler to twist conclusions you won’t see coming.

A BEAR OF A STORY (1916 Selig) 12 minutes
In late 1915, the Commercial Club of Las Vegas, New Mexico, persuaded the Selig Polyscope Company to position the Tom Mix film unit in their town. Tom used studio facilities built in 1913 by Romaine Fielding for the Lubin Mfg. Company’s Southwest unit. Las Vegas, NM, was located in the last area of open range in the west. The Mix unit stayed in Las Vegas through June 1916 and this simple one-reeler is probably one of dozens lensed there. Cowpuncher Mix is engaged to Victoria Forde whose best friend has a tame pet bear, so Vicky insists Tom get her one also. After a terrific (and comedic) battle with a wild bear, Tom and pal Sid Jordan finally capture the desired “pet.” Alas, by now the fickle Vicky has changed her mind because her friend’s pet scratched her finger!

Posted 11/06/08

RIDER OF THE PASS (1926 Universal) 20 minutes
In a speedy two-reeler, mistaken for a lost Canadian Prince, Fred Humes helps a girl and her father uncover and round-up their foreman who is the leader of a rustler band. Humes turns out instead to be Edward Prince, a plainclothes Mountie after rustlers crossing the border.

HAUNTED RANGE (1926 Davis) 30 minutes
A ghostly apparition rides the range of Ken Maynard who has just inherited his murdered father’s ranch. Eventually Ken learns rustlers, led by easterner-come-west Harry Moody and his cohort Tom London, are to blame. Complicating matters, Ken falls for neighboring ranch girl Alma Rayford, then learns her kid brother (Bob Williamson) is involved with Moody—who incidentally also favors Alma’s charms. Unusual mountainside finale. Directed by Paul Hurst who became a noted character actor, and later sidekick to Monte Hale at Republic. “Haunted Range” was rescued from Washington, D.C., film vaults by a devout Maynard fan, unfortunately only the final 30 minutes survive.

MAN FROM OKLAHOMA (1926 Rayart) 52 minutes
Well to do rancher Ed Cobb is shot in San Francisco’s Chinatown by vicious Lew Meehan who is conspiring with Lafe McKee, Cobb’s ranch manager in Arizona, who has been juggling the books on Cobb’s trust fund. Now McKee and Meehan must hide their dirty deed from Josephine Hill, who is now sole owner of the Double O. The mysterious Man from Oklahoma, Jack Perrin, arrives and begins an investigation. When Lafe threatens to make things right for Hill, Meehan shoots him also and abducts the girl hoping to force her to sign over the ranch to him. Directed by low-budget auteur Harry Webb, there’s very little action with slow, deliberate plot development for the first 32 minutes, then the excitement begins and doesn’t let up.

BUCKAROO KID (1926 Universal) 64 minutes
Ridin’ fool Newton House shows off his stuff and gets a job on James Gordon’s ranch. Eight screen years pass and the kid has grown into Hoot Gibson who is now Gordon’s foreman. Wanting him to “make good” in the big time, the fatherly Gordon sends Hoot off to San Francisco to become ranch manager for Gordon’s friend, Banker Burr McIntosh. After a hostile meeting with the cranky owner, Hoot is immediately fired. But, having met and fallen in love with the man’s pretty daughter, Ethel Shannon, but forbidden by McIntosh to ever see her again, Hoot decides to manage the ranch anyway, without McIntosh’s knowledge, to prove his worth. Not an action western—there are no badmen in sight—but a thoroughly enjoyable comic western at which Hoot definitely excelled.

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Posted 9/22/08

WESTERN COURAGE (1927 Rayart) 43 minutes
Expertly made, action packed Ben Wilson-directed B-western! Leading lady Elsa Benham is romanced by unscrupulous Robert Walker who not only plots to steal her father’s cattle but, with the aid of Al Ferguson and Cliff Lyons, schemes to robe the local bank. Enter ranch foreman Dick Hatton, who is in love with Benham, and discovers their traitorous plots and fights the tricky galoots non-stop until Benham and the townsfolk are saved. Action also involves an airplane, at first piloted by government official George Kesterson. Badman Robert Walker (1888-1954) entered films with the Edison company in 1913. As a leading man he starred in non-western features from 1915-1920, making his first westerns with House Peters Sr. and Tom Mix in 1920, then continued to play heavies and character roles on through the late ‘40s.

TANGLED TRAILS (1921 Steiner) 55 minutes
In the snowbound North, scurrilous Edward Roseman operates phony mines and floats them through his eastern office where he sells the worthless mining stock. When Roseman murders a miner who has discovered his devious ways, Mountie Neal Hart trails the swindler to New York where a desperate fight in a skyscraper ends with Roseman’s escape. Hart tracks his prey back to Canada where he eventually captures the cad. In so doing, Hart saves a tormented girl and reunites an estranged family. Definitely offbeat western drama which is the first produced under Hart’s own production company for release by William Steiner Productions.

FRONTIER TRAIL (1926 Pathé) 12 minutes
After seven successful years as a major western star, Harry Carey was ousted from Universal in 1922. The public seemed to now be gravitating toward the more action-crammed, non-realistic range dramas of Buck Jones, Tom Mix, Jack Hoxie and others. In spots of the trend away from the realism offered by Carey and William S. Hart, Carey’s westerns after his Universal period, now for PDC (Producers Distributing Company) and Pathé, remained popular and kept him in good stead into 1928. This 12 minute edit is all that survives of Carey’s Scott Dunlap-directed feature in which Army scout Carey is falsely accused of treason when a large force of Cavalry is wiped out by the Sioux.

BREAKING LOOSE (1925 Universal) 24 minutes
Western slapstick with Pee Wee Holmes (Magpie) and Ben Corbett (Dirty Shirt Jones)—definitely an acquired taste. Rancher Jack Gavin’s daughter Virginia Bradford arrives home from finishing school with her old maid teacher Lollie Fletcher and her pet monkey, Algebra, so named because no one understands him. “Comic” situations ensue as Algebra ends up exposing as frauds all the freaks at Ringworm Brothers Circus.

REVENGE ON THE RANGE (1925 ?) 12 minutes
This may or may not be the original title of this Leo Maloney film. Hard to tell from this Castle Films one-reel edit what the origin might be—possibly a Steiner or Clarion feature release. If you have any ideas or thoughts, let us know.

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Posted 8/30/08

WHERE THE NORTH HOLDS SWAY (1927 Rayart) 56 minutes
Some of Jack Perrin’s best work came in his 1925-1927 series for Rayart which often featured little Billy Lamoreaux (who later found fame as Buzz Barton at FBO). Here, silhouetted against picturesque woodland backgrounds and expertly tailored in a Mountie uniform, Perrin presented a stunning portrait of heroism. As good as many of his silents were, Jack was not a personality with a unique charisma and as a consequence never quite broke into the front ranks of western stardom. Never able to ride his gorgeous white Starlight into the winner’s circle, by the mid ‘30s Jack drifted into character roles and continued working until 1962 (often appearing in Warner Bros. western movies and TV series).
Directed by Ben (Bennett) Cohen (1890-1964), WHERE THE NORTH HOLDS SWAY is atypical of most any B-western you’ll ever see—one might even say shocking! Without revealing the entire story, I can say it begins not unusually with Mountie Perrin, and his young Mounted Police orphaned Mascot—Billy Lamoreaux, awaiting the arrival of Jack’s brother (Hal Waters), a newly graduated doctor. Broke and villainous Lew Meehan and his wife (Pauline Curley) arrive in town. Meehan makes a deal to have his wife, against her will, dance in a saloon so Meehan may acquire a gambling stake and a room from the saloon owner. Finding Curley distraught, young doctor Waters intervenes and is killed for his kindness by Meehan who then flees town with Curley. Brokenhearted and swearing revenge, Perrin resigns his RCMP position and begins to track his brother’s killer. Coincidentally, when Jack is injured in a fall, it’s Meehan’s cabin at which Starlight seeks help. After Curley nurses Jack back to health, violent retribution eventually occurs in the very saloon/hotel room where Jack’s brother met his death.

CALGARY STAMPEDE (1925 Universal) 58 minutes
Expert American rodeo rider Hoot Gibson romances Virginia Brown Faire in Canada…but her father objects to their marriage. So, when Papa is killed from ambush by crooked Jim Corey, Hoot is naturally blamed. On the run from the Mounties (W. T. McCulley, Philo McCullough) Hooter drifts from place to place masquerading as a boob, all the while hoping to prove his innocence, which he finally does but only after exposing himself in order to win the all-important Roman Race at the Calgary Stampede rodeo. Routine “falsely accused” plotline helped out by historic Calgary Stampede rodeo footage.

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903 Edison) 7 minutes
The first real “movie” or commercially narrative film that gave birth to the western is Edwin S. Porter’s THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. The historic one-reeler has bandits tie up the station attendant and board the train as it stops for water. After robbing the train and its passengers, the bandits escape on the train’s engine to where their horses are tied in the woods. A posse is formed and a gun battle ensues. The film ends with a stunning close-up of George Barnes firing directly into the camera. Porter shot the entire film in early November 1903 using the Lackawanna Railroad in New Jersey. A milestone in film-making as it used title cards, a panning shot, cross cut editing and the close-up. Although at the time G. M. Anderson (who soon became famous as Broncho Billy) couldn’t ride—and didn’t in this film—he does play three different roles: A train robber on foot, a man shot in the back during the robbery, and a tenderfoot in a saloon tap-dancing to gunfire at his feet.

BRONCHO BILLY AND THE BABY (1915 Essanay) 9 minutes
An outlaw on the run (Broncho Billy) rescues little Bernice Sawyer after she falls in the woods. The grateful mother (Evelyn Selbie) thanks Billy by offering him a place to rest, but her husband (Lee Willard), upon seeing a reward poster for Billy, wants to turn him in to the posse. Reconciled, the couple turn the Sheriff away, allowing Billy to escape.

OLD OREGON TRAIL (1928 Art Mix Prod.) 38 minutes
Victor Adamson (aka Denver Dixon) originated the name and was the first to appear on screen as Art Mix, producing and starring in a series of Art Mix westerns in the early ‘20s. In 1924 Adamson transferred the name to George Kesterson (1896-1972) to use in another series produced by Adamson. As time progressed the pair split and Kesterson kept the name Art Mix as his own. Several court battles resulted but Kesterson continued to use the moniker on into sound and through the mid ‘40s.
Adamson returned to the role himself in 1928 in this simple little western in which he helps a group of pioneers settle in Oregon as they fight off rebellious ranch hands who want more pay at harvest time. Best thing about this film is Paul Allen’s spectacular cinematography of the John Day River Valley in northeastern Oregon, quite grandiose for a little Victor Adamson B-western.

DUDE COWBOY (1926 Independent) 35 minutes
Difficult to truly evaluate Bob Custer’s DUDE COWBOY given as how the only version extant is an edited version shown as an episode of “Billy and Butch’s Bang Bang Western Movies”, a 1962 syndicated series that offered mutilations of silent Bob Custer westerns narrated by two squeaky-voiced boys calling Custer “Broncho Bob”. Comedy elements are way too prevalent in DUDE COWBOY which sees Custer as the new owner of a dude ranch who is forced to arrive disguised as the chauffer/valet to rich vacationers Flora Bramley and her bubble-gum company magnate father in order to expose the ranch’s crooked foreman Bruce Gordon (no relation to the Bruce Gordon who later played Frank Nitti on “The Untouchables”) as a jewel thief preying on the wealthy dude ranch vactioners. Diminutive Billy Bletcher (who later supplied the voice for “The Lone Ranger” in the first Republic serial with the character) is offered far too much screen time as Custer’s goofy pal.

BORDER SHERIFF (1926 Universal) 41 minutes
Tough sheriff Jack Hoxie and his pal Pee Wee Holmes are summoned to Washington, D.C., where the Secret Service assigns him the job of cleaning up a smuggling ring run by Buck Moulton’s gang of border wolves operating in his territory of Cayuse near the Mexican border. The Secret Service dispatches Jack to San Francisco where they know the ringleader, Al Jennings, is headquartered in Chinatown. On the train to Frisco, Hoxie meets up with wealthy business tycoon Tom Lingham and his daughter Olive Hasbrouck who, coincidentally, are also headed for Frisco to be met by Jennings, unaware he is a smuggler. Following a harrowing episode in Chinatown, all parties arrive back in Cayuse where Lingham just happens to own the ranch on which Moulton, Jennings and crooked lawyer Frank Rice are smuggling their goods from Mexico into Texas. Written and directed by Bob Steele’s father, Robert N. Bradbury. Olive Hasbrouck (1907-1976) made nearly 50 pictures between 1924-1929, co-starring mostly in westerns with William Desmond, Pete Morrison, Art Acord, Ed Cobb, Fred Thomson, Buffalo Bill Jr., Buddy Roosevelt, Wally Wales, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard and Hoxie. For whatever reason she didn’t transfer her promising career into sound.

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