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Tumbleweeds
USA 1925
produced by William S. Hart for William S. Hart Productions/United Artists
directed by King Baggot
starring William S. Hart, Barbara Bedford, Lucien Littlefield, J. Gordon Russell, Richard Neill, Jack Murphy, James Gordon, George F. Marion, Gertrude Claire, Lillian Leighton, Taylor N. Duncan
story by Hal G. Evarts, screenplay by C. Gardner Sullivan
silent
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Don (William S. Hart) and his sidekick Kentucky (Lucien Littlefield)
have been cowboys for pretty much all their lives, drifting from one place
to another wherever they were needed, and have been enjoying it, too.
Presently they work on a cattle farm at the Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma, but
that area has been written over to homesteaders by the gouvernment now,
with homesteaders arriving a dime a dozen, all eagerly awaiting the signal
for the "land rush", only after which it would be legal to stake
any claim on any land. Don and Kentucky decide to move on, until they meet
two homesteaders they come to fancy, Molly (Barbara Bedford) and widow
Riley (Lillian Leighton) - and thus they suddenly decide to settle down.
And while Kentucky has no problems getting on good terms with the latter,
Don is naturally shy, especially with pretty woman like Molly, and acts
all clumsy around her even if she's clearly fond of him. Problem is, Molly
has a half brother, Noll (J. Gordon Russell), who's a rather bad apple,
and he wants to marry Molly to crook Freel (Richard Neill). Noll and Freel
soon notice Don will be a threat to their sinister plans, so they have him
arrested, accusing him to be a "sooner" (a person trying to
stake a claim before the official signal) and having him thrown into the
slammer so he'll miss the land rush as such, and it also gets him out of
favour with Molly. But Don has Kentucky bring his horse to the corral he
and the other sooners are held at, then escapes, doing a bit of pole
vaulting, and ultimately he catches Noll and Freel when they try to steal
an old couple's (George F. Marion, Gertrude Claire) land - and of course
in the end not only is his record cleared, he also gets the girl ... Tumbleweed,
last starring movie of silent western superstar William S. Hart, is a film
that sure has its moments - especially the extended sequence of the land
rush itself is breathtaking, as it manages to portray the event as a
pretty merciless race, which each homesteader giving their all, and not
always with a happy ending. The story surrounding that historical
event from 1893 (so just over 30 years prior to the film) on the other
hand is pretty much routine stuff of the "boy finds girl, boy loses
girl, boy wins girl back" variety, and while admittedly William S.
Hart's stoic and thus a bit stiff acting lends itself surprisingly well to
the comedy moments of the romance part of the movie, in all the story
doesn't rise above standard fare, which is a pity as above-mentioned
scenes would have well deserved a better vehicle.
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