Border Blackbirds

Just Squaw

May 1919 •English

A Native American woman is embittered after being abandoned by her white husband, Jimmy Dorr.

Table Top Ranch

July 1922 •English

Cowhand John Marvin, in a cattlemen-vs-sheep-men range war, comes to the aid of a pretty and defenseless young sheepherder, Kate Bowers. This angers the other cattlemen, especially Palque Powell, who employs deceptive methods against Kate, while pretending to help her.

The Secret Man

September 1917 •English

Convict Cheyenne Harry escapes from prison in a garbage truck and boards a train, where he eludes capture with the help of passenger Henry Beaufort. Beaufort is returning to his wealthy uncle's ranch, where earlier he had married Molly in secret because his uncle did not like her. Beaufort tells Pedro, who takes care of his child Elizabeth, to take her away because his uncle is coming, and Pedro, driving drunk, wrecks the wagon. Harry finds her and must protect her while still evading the sheriff.

The Trail To Yesterday

May 1918 •English

Ashes of Hope

October 1917 •English

Set in the Great White North, the film stars Bennett as the object of affections for several rugged northerners, including a couple of disreputable gamblers.

Love's Lariat

August 1916 •English

A rancher begrudgingly goes east in order the fulfill the requirements of his uncle's will and receive his inheritance.

Pay Me!

September 1917 •English

During a violent disagreement, a miner strangles his partner and accidentally shoots the man's wife. He then deserts his own wife and son to elope with the saloon keeper's daughter. As they are fleeing, the girl discovers the deed and insists upon caring for the baby found in the dead wife's arms.

Chip of the Flying U

August 1914 •English

When he's fired from his bank job aimless Claude Bennett decides to head West. Once he gets a job as a cowboy on the Flying "U" ranch he restyles himself as Chip and discovers who he really is through a series of adventures.

The Desert Man

April 1917 •English

William S. Hart directs and stars in a film that is a typical Western of the era. He plays Jim, a prospector who lands in the town of Broken Hope, and the name pretty much describes its inhabitants. Jim meets and falls in love with Jennie (Margery Wilson), whose father (Walt Whitman) is gravely ill. Jim rounds up a reluctant doctor from another town to tend to the old man, but he dies anyway. The doctor, however, gains Jennie's trust and she runs off with him. Only then does he tell her he's already married. She leaves immediately, but is too proud to go home so she finds work as a dance hall girl at Tacoma Jake's saloon. Jim, meanwhile, finds gold near Broken Hope, which raises its inhabitants' attitudes considerably. But the bad element is still there, and Jim is chasing after a group of kidnappers when he enters Tacoma Jake's saloon and sees Jennie. Jim not only overcomes the bad guys, he gets the girl, too.

The Lure of Woman

September 1915 •English

John Found, a well-educated American Indian, works as an interpreter on an army post in the West. Although John Lane, a post officer, loves Katie O'Day, a rancher's daughter, he becomes the amorous target of the widowed Mrs. Van Allen. To rid herself of Katie, Mrs. Van Allen starts a rumor that Lane has a wife in an insane asylum.

The Bull-Dogger

January 1921 •English

The famous black cowboy Bill Pickett shows his prowess in rodeos. Only small parts of the film survive.

The Valley of Silent Men

September 1922 •English

The hunter becomes the hunted, an officer of the Royal Mounted, fleeing, fighting for his life. Guided to a secret valley in the frozen North by a hot-blooded French-Canadian beauty, with a secret of her own...

Fast and Fearless

September 1924 •English

Lightning Bill Lewis sets out to capture Gómez, the leader of a ruthless gang that has been tormenting a border town. He prevents Gómez from kidnapping his girl, Mary, but Gómez escapes. With the aid of Captain Duerta, Lightning Bill pursues the gang, and when it is captured by Mexican soldiers he is free to marry.

Shadows of the West

August 1921 •English

California cowpuncher Jim Kern and his pal enlist in the war against Germany and, shortly thereafter, meet Frank Akuri, who has pledged to colonize the United States for his homeland, Japan. While Jim and other white males are fighting in France, Akuri forces Jim's sweetheart Mary to sell her ranch, as she is not able to run it because the only men left, the Japanese, have pledged not to work for the whites. With the ranch, Akuri begins his colony. Mary counters by organizing her society women friends to appeal to Congress against the "yellow menace." When it seems that his plans will be thwarted, Akuri issues orders for the death of Mary and her friends, but Jim and his pal return and rescue them. Akuri then kidnaps Mary and takes her to his apartment, but with the help of Akuri's wronged Japanese lover, Jim learns her whereabouts. He organizes a posse of American Legion locals and rescues Mary just as Akuri is about to murder her. Akuri's group is routed out.

The Pony Express

September 1925 •English

The Pony Express is a silent 1925 Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze and starred his wife Betty Compson along with Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft.

The Ranchman's Daughter

November 1911 •English

Treat 'Em Rough

January 1919 •English

Daredevil cowboy Ned Ferguson is hired by John Stafford to stop the cattle rustling plaguing his ranch. On the way to the ranch Ned is bitten by a rattlesnake and is nursed by Mary Radford, who is writing a western novel. Ranch foreman Dave Leviatt tells Ned that Mary's brother Ben is behind the rustling. After Ben and Ned come to an understanding, Dave shoots Ben from under cover but Ben is sure that Ned double-crossed him. Mary will have nothing to do with Ned, even after Ned saves her life during a cattle stampede. Ned finally runs down the rustlers, and Mary sees him as a hero instead of merely putting him in her novel.

The Tiger Man

April 1918 •English

Outlaw Hawk Parsons, notoriously successful in his pursuits, has been caught by the local sherif of a New Mexico town in the 1850s. The overly prideful sherif and his lawmen are outsmarted and Parsons escapes. In the desert, he falls in with a reverend, his wife, and their group of missionaries, who hope to establish a church. After coming under attack by a tribe of Native Americans, Parsons strikes a deal: in exchange for the safe keeping of the missionaries, he takes the reverend's wife for himself. Ultimately a parable of Christian values, the film's narrative establishes and overcomes obstacles that test the virtue of men in the American West.

The Spoilers

April 1914 •English

The Spoilers is a 1914 film directed by Colin Campbell. It is set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with William Farnum as Roy Glennister, Kathlyn Williams as Cherry Malotte, and Tom Santschi as Alex McNamara. The film culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight between Glennister and McNamara. It was adapted to screen by Lanier Bartlett from the Rex Beach novel of the same name.

Woman's Man

October 1920 •English

A man almost loses his fortune, not to mention his fiancée, to a society scion.