The Auteur's Selection Complementing the Tone of The Girl-Shy Cowbo...

Dir: Harris Gordon

A man named Chandler, claiming to be a novelist in search of local color, arrives at a town near the Mexican border, where he makes advances toward Jo, a girl living a solitary life on a desert ranch. Manning, a cowboy, suspects Chandler's motives, and his suspicions are strengthened when Chandler is caught cheating at cards. Following a gang of Mexicans to their mountain retreat, Manning learns that Chandler and the Mexicans are smuggling opium across the border. Two gang members are killed in the ensuing fight, but Chandler, wounded by Manning after a chase on the cliffs, escapes to Jo's home, where he denounces Manning as a smuggler. Manning arrives and dispels Jo's misgivings about him by revealing that he is a Texas Ranger, sworn to secrecy. Chandler is allowed to escape, and Manning and Joe are united.

Dir: George Ridgwell

Young Buffalo sets out on the trail of a criminal sheriff who works recklessly and commits murders and holdups with considerable regularity and no evident fear.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Law of the Border perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Lambert Hillyer

Tough outlaw 'Sierra' Bill falls in love with traveling violinist Nelly Gray and forces her to marry him. They have a child, but their cozy family life is interrupted by gambler Ringo, who not only persuades Nelly to leave her husband but also ruins Sierra at the gaming table. With thoughts of vengeance, the angry Sierra breaks out of jail and goes after Ringo.

Dir: Denison Clift

Upon inheriting the H. C. Ranch, young Easterner Jane Hunter ventures West to take possession of her legacy. Soon after arriving, she appoints a cowboy named Hepburn as the foreman. Ranch hand Tom Beck suspects that Hepburn may be in league with the band of rustlers who are victimizing the ranch, but says nothing. An attachment springs up between Tom and his boss, and when Dick Hilton, Jane's former suitor, follows her West and begins making unwelcome advances towards her, Tom intervenes and orders him from the house. With Hepburn's resignation as foreman, Tom takes over the job and, after a quarrel with Jane, sets out to track down the rustlers. Captured by the outlaws, Tom is left to die in a remote canyon. As Tom struggles to free himself, the gang is apprehended and brought to trial. Jane is sentencing them as the escaped Tom appears in the courtroom. Overjoyed, she rushes towards him, and in the ensuing chaos, the gang escapes. A shootout follows and Tom wins both the fight and Jane.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Testing Block perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Tom Mix

Wealthy Eastern railroad magnate Buchanan Atkinson sends his wayward son Timothy to Calm City, Arizona for safe keeping. Once there, Timothy falls in love with Alice Spencer whose father, the superintendent of the railroad in Calm City, is threatened with the loss of his position because of the great number of recent train robberies. To prove his love for Alice, Timothy decides to track down the bandits. Locating their hideout in a cave, he discovers that they are about to abduct Alice and escape across the Mexican border. Timothy rescues Alice, saves the loot and becomes the town hero. Accompanied by Alice, he returns East and is redeemed in his father's eyes.

Dir: Clarence G. Badger

Ort Hutchins is a confirmed loafer who spends all of his time fishing while his wife toils over the washtub. One day, while digging for worms, Hutch uncovers a box containing $100,000 in bills, the loot of a bank robbed in the next town. Realizing that he cannot spend the money without arousing suspicion, Hutch resigns himself to taking a job for cover. Accepting an offer from banker Hiram Joy to work his abandoned farm in exchange for a share of the land, Hutch finds himself successful and the farm prospering. Returning to retrieve his treasure, Hutch is sickened when he finds the box gone and in its place a note from the robber. However, Hutch makes an abrupt recovery when he is offered $10,000 for his share of the farm, an offer that forces him to realize that he has become a self-made man.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Last Straw perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Jay Hunt

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Lynn Reynolds

Tex Benton, riding across the country, sees a turtle, catches a jack rabbit and tests out the old fable of the tortoise and the hare; when the rabbit wins, Tex vows to model his behavior on that style. In a border town, he rescues an Indian, "Bat," and the two become friends. In Wolfville, Tex enters a rodeo. Meanwhile, a stalled Eastern train carries Alice Marcum, the girl Tex decides he wants. Tex competes with an Easterner for the girl's attentions, but Tex, the "hare," loses to the Eastern tenderfoot, the "tortoise." Tex then concludes that he is not the marrying kind.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Daredevil perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Clifford Smith

Sergeant Tim Ryerson of the North West Mounted Police is commissioned to round up a gang that smuggles Chinese laborers across the border. While visiting his fiancée, Sylvia Sturgis, at her father's ranch, Tim becomes suspicious of ranch foreman Ferdinand Baird, who is the leader of the smugglers. One night, Tim catches Baird smuggling Chinese across the border to the U.S., but Baird escapes and flees to the Sturgis house where he abducts Sylvia. Tim pursues Baird to Vancouver's Chinatown, raids the smuggler's headquarters, and rescues Sylvia.

Dir: Emmett J. Flynn

Rancher Joe Cumberland finds "Whistling Dan" in the desert and gives the boy a home, rearing him with his daughter Kate. Dan, grown to manhood, remains untamed, possessing a hot temper which ignites his eyes into a yellow glow when he is angered. Dan's eyes glow and he vows revenge when outlaw Jim Silent tries to kill him in a saloon brawl. Kate goes to the outlaw camp to prevent Dan from killing Silent, but is taken prisoner. The confrontation between the two men escalates when Dan captures Lee Haines, one of Silent's men, and Silent retaliates by imprisoning Kate's father. After a trade of prisoners, Dan trails the outlaws and exterminates the entire gang except for Silent. The two adversaries then slug it out, with Dan strangling his tormentor. His revenge accomplished, Dan is somewhat tamed and settles down with Kate.