Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
The Home Trail Synopsis
Tom Evans, the fearless range boss of the Double X Ranch, falls in love with a romantic schoolteacher from the East named Clara. They marry and for a time are happy, but in Tom's absence, his partner Blackie persuades the restless young wife to run away with him. Blackie soon deserts Clara, and she is forced to earn her keep at a disreputable dance hall. After robbing a stage, Blackie returns, and Tom, who has been waiting for his former friend, goes after him. In a gun battle with Tom and his posse, Blackie kills Clara and escapes, but Tom follows him into the desert and takes his horse, leaving him to die of thirst. Tom returns to Elsie, the girl who had secretly loved him all along, and marries her.
Money Magic Synopsis
Bertha Gilman, helping her mother run a small hotel, is courted by Marshall Haney, gambler and saloonkeeper. She promises to marry him if he will give up his gambling habit and live on the income of $100,000 which he receives yearly from the mines he honestly acquired. A miner who has been fleeced of his money in the gaming hall after Haney sells out shoots Haney. Bertha and Haney are married, and she nurses him back to health, though he remains badly crippled. They move to Colorado Springs, and buy a magnificent home. Later Bertha meets Ben Fordyce, an honorable young man, engaged to Alice Heath, a consumptive. Haney and his wife go east at the same time that Ben takes his affianced wife back. The four travel on the same train, and during the trip Ben and Bertha become more attached to each other. Both, however, remain loyal to their trusting ones. In the east Bertha's longing for Ben becomes almost unbearable. Her husband, noting her morose condition and being apprised of the cause of it by Alice just before she dies, suggests to his wife that they return to their home in Colorado Springs. So that he might bring happiness to the two young lovers, Haney whose heart is weak, deliberately climbs a mountain. As he reaches the top he dies, and Bertha and Ben realize as they gaze upon the body of Haney what a great sacrifice he has made that their lives might become one.
"The Home Trail" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Money Magic" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
The Home Trail