Border Blackbirds

The Desert Man

1917

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 Valley of Silent Men

1922

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...

The Trail To Yesterday

1918

Shadows of the West

1921

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.