Summary
Transported from the sophisticated corridors of an urban seminary back to the rugged, unvarnished landscapes of her Missouri origins, Kate Vernon arrives with a veneer of elitism that blinds her to the quiet nobility of her surroundings. At the heart of this provincial drama stands Jim Radburn, a sheriff whose stoic exterior masks an extraordinary act of clandestine magnanimity: he is the anonymous benefactor who financed Kate’s ascent into high society. While Kate harbors a burgeoning disdain for Radburn’s perceived lack of refinement, she finds herself ensnared by the superficial charms of Robert Travers, a dandy from St. Louis whose urbanity conceals a predatory nature. The narrative equilibrium is shattered by a violent train robbery, an event that catalyzes a descent into suspicion and moral reckoning. When an innocent express messenger, Sam Fowler, is implicated, it is Radburn’s unwavering commitment to justice that secures his release, leading to the eventual unmasking of Travers as the true highwayman. The tension reaches a fever pitch when Travers, cornered and desperate, murders a detective, forcing Radburn into a psychological crucible. Bound by a personal code of non-violence and a profound respect for Kate’s misplaced affections, Radburn chooses the path of legal preservation over vigilante retribution. As a bloodthirsty mob descends upon the jail, the truth regarding Travers’ existing marriage and Radburn’s sacrificial patronage finally pierces Kate’s veil of arrogance, culminating in a poignant reconciliation that bridges the chasm between social artifice and authentic devotion.
Synopsis
Kate Vernon returns to "Mizzoura," after attending a fashionable seminary and looks down on her former suitor, sheriff Jim Radburn, who, unknown to Kate, paid for her education. When a highwayman robs the train, Sam Fowler, an express messenger, is arrested as being an accomplice. After Kate gently refuses Jim's marriage proposal, she plans to elope with handsome Robert Travers from St. Louis, whom she met at school. When Sam, freed with Jim's help, recognizes Travers as the highwayman, Travers kills a detective and escapes because Jim will not spoil his record of never killing anyone. Travers tells Kate that Jim has framed him, and she hides him. Jim tracks Travers to Kate's house, and although he thinks that the mob should have him, he takes Travers to his own house, to hold him for trial, out of respect for Kate and the law. When the mob prepares to raid Jim's house, Travers is killed trying to escape. After Kate learns that Travers was already married, and that Jim paid for her education, her love for him returns and they marry.
Review Excerpt
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To witness In Mizzoura (1919) is to step back into a transitional epoch where the American frontier was slowly being tamed by the encroaching tendrils of Victorian morality and the burgeoning machinery of the 20th century. Directed with a steady, if conventional, hand, this adaptation of Augustus Thomas’s celebrated stage play offers a fascinating glimpse into the cultural anxieties of its time. It is a film that grapples with the duality of identity—the tension between our rugged origins and..."
