J.P. McGowan
Birthday: 1880-02-23
Place of Birth: Terowie, Australia
Biography: From Wikipedia John Paterson McGowan (February 24, 1880 – March 26, 1952) was a pioneering Hollywood actor and director and occasionally a screenwriter and producer. J. P. McGowan, as he was usually known, remains the only Australian to have been made a life member of the Screen Directors Guild (now Directors Guild of America). Born in the then-bustling railway centre of Terowie in South Australia, McGowan grew up in Adelaide (Islington) and Sydney. He was a capable horseman and served in the Second Boer War with Montmorency's Scouts as a special dispatch rider. McGowan directed and often acted in the first 33 episodes of Kalem's 1914 adventure film series, The Hazards of Helen, which eventually ran to 54 episodes, some still with McGowan's participation. While filming he began a relationship with Helen Holmes, the film's star, and the two married. They left Kalem to set up their own production company, Signal Films, which successfully made a series of railroad melodramas but lost out when their distributor (Mutual) failed. The collaboration ended when they divorced in 1925. There was an adopted daughter, Kaye. McGowan successfully made the transition from silent film to talkies. While never a major star, in a busy career that spanned four decades he is credited with acting in 232 films—mostly strong roles like sheriff or villain—writing 26 screenplays and directing 242 productions. In 1932 he directed a young John Wayne in the 12-episode rail vs airplane serial The Hurricane Express for the independent Mascot Pictures. From 1938 to 1951, as Executive Secretary of the Screen Directors Guild, he fought to secure recognition for the director within the studio systems of the film and emerging television industry. J.P. McGowan died in 1952 in Hollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Movies
Covered Wagon Trails
Deputy Sheriff "Smoke" Sanderson (Bob Custer) is after a gang of smugglers, led by Brad Vogel (J.P. ...
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The Canyon of Missing Men
Dave Brandon (Tom Tyler) tries to break away from his life of crime, but his old gang won't let him....
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Arizona Days
A Cattlemen´s Association hires a detective (Bob Custer) to look into a series of cattle rustlings. ...
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'Neath Western Skies
Ranch owner Tex McCloud is convinced there is oil under his property and brings in a drilling rig an...
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The Hazards of Helen
The Hazards of Helen is an American melodramatic adventure film serial of 119 twelve-minute episodes...
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The Railroad Raiders
A silent movie serial now lost. CHAPTER TITLES: 1. Circumstantial Evidence; 2. A Double Steal; 3. I...
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Two Outlaws
Human cowboy hero is teamed with Rex, King of Wild Horses, an ornery critter but a magnificent anima...
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Plunging Hoofs
Jed Campbell, a "skypilot," and Nanette, a dance hall girl, meet when each goes to rescue Rex, "King...
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Stormy Seas
Two men in love with the same girl race to save her when she is trapped aboard a ship on fire in sto...
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Breezy Bill
A young rancher falsely accused of kidnapping his own stepfather, the aptly named Henry Pennypincher...
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A Texas Cowboy
Dick Carlysle returns home to find that his mother has married Brute Kettle who is really out to get...
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The Invaders
Two children--a brother and sister--are the only survivors of an Indian attack on a wagon train, and...
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When Lightning Strikes
Lightning the German Shepherd dog stars in this wilderness melodrama....
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No More Women
Two deep-sea divers, known only by their nicknames of "Three-Time" and "Forty-Fathoms," find that no...
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Perils of the Rail
A section boss for the railroad sets out to catch a gang of thieves who have been stealing ore shipm...
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Silver Spurs
Janet Allison witnesses Art Holden and his gang hold up the Station Agent. When she identifies Holde...
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Whispering Smith
Whispering Smith is a virile, fearless type of the true American whoso theory of life is to give eve...
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Somewhere in Sonora
John Bishop discovers a plot to rob a silver mine belonging to his girlfriend Mary's father and, to ...
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The Fast Freight
Eighth of a series of 8 features produced by Morris R. Schlank starring Helen Holmes and directed by...
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An Arabian Tragedy
Ayub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless. He e...
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Ireland, the Oppressed
The story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by hard-he...
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The Shaughraun
Robert Ffolliott is a young Irish lad who is done out of his land and sent off to a penal colony in ...
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King of the Circus
Eddie King goes up against a villainous circus owner in this action adventure which was directed by ...
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Do or Die
A 1921 movie serial directed by J.P. McGowan. Chapters: 1. The Buccaneer's Bride 2. The Hornet's Ne...
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The Chinatown Mystery
Restored by the George Eastman House in 2001, this 1928 serial was considered a “last hurrah” for th...
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The Flying Freight's Captive
Helen receives a cypher message about a jewel robbery and trails the yeggmen to their lair. Discover...
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The Black Diamond Express
When Dick, an aeronaut is wrongly accused of shooting Dan, a trouble-making, quarrelsome cowboy, Hel...
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The Escape on the Limited
Brandt, a defaulting cashier, hiding in Lone Point in his effort to throw detectives off his track, ...
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The Girl Telegrapher's Peril
Blake, a quarrelsome lineman, and a widower with two daughters, is in love with Helen, but she rejec...
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The Railroad Raiders of '62
Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his experienc...
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Helen's Sacrifice
In the first entry in the popular Hazards of Helen series, Helen, the night telegraph operator at Lo...
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The Broken Train
Helen spotting two jewel robbers sever the telegraph wires and hop onto a passing freight, jumps int...
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His Nemesis
With ruin staring him in the face, Manning, of Manning and Company, commits a theft which averts the...
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A Railroader's Bravery
When Helen learns that wiretappers have make a prisoner of Henry, the relief operator, she severs th...
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The Broken Rail
Spang, a tramp telegrapher, is knocked down by a freight car while walking up the siding near Lone P...
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The Mettle of Jerry McGuire
Helen is operator at Bells. Jerry McGuire, engineer on the local freight, and Tom Thornton, his fire...
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Medicine Bend
Whispering Smith, a railroad detective, is sent to Medicine Bend to suppress the looting of cars....
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A Desperate Leap
As the freight train on which are riding Mike and Leary, two knights of the road, passes the station...
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Hit the Saddle
Unable to legally capture and sell a herd of protected wild horses, corrupt rancher Rance Macgowan u...
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Guns and Guitars
A wrongfully-imprisoned man becomes determined to find who was responsible for the death of a local ...
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Elmo the Fearless
Elmo finds himself in 18 different hair raising and dangerous adventures always escaping in the nick...
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Stampede
A cowboy out to find out who murdered his brother discovers that the killers may not be who he thoug...
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Secret Patrol
RCMP Alan Barclay is sent to investigate the presumed murder of his friend and fellow RCMP Gene when...
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The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
A group of "Phantom Raiders" interfere with a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene; fortunately, U.S. ...
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Railroad Raiders of '62
Union raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War incide...
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Jungle Jim
Two safaris enter the African jungle intent on finding a white girl who is the heiress to a fortune....
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Kaintucky Bill
The old sheriff dies. In jest, the mountaineers nominate Kaintucky Bill, the worst moonshiner in the...
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Lawless Valley
A cattleman's association hires a range detective to track down and capture a notorious rustler know...
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The Girl and the Game
Irrepressible Helen Rhinelander, the daughter of a railroad president. A dastardly villain, Segrue, ...
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Dugan of the Dugouts
A young man joins the army to impress his girlfriend. He soon finds out that his sergeant is actuall...
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Hills of Missing Men
A US Army officer is sent undercover into the hills of Mexico's Baja California region to find and b...
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Senor Daredevil
Don Luis O'Flagherty (Ken Maynard), a daredevil comes to the rescue of his long-lost father, "Tiger"...
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The Red Raiders
Lone wolf, who is stirring up the Indians against the wishes of his elders, gets the job of scout at...
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The Code of the Scarlet
Assigned to catch a gang of outlaws, officers Bruce Kenton and Paddy Halloran rescue Helen Morgan wh...
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Gun Gospel
From Death Valley in the Mojave Desert to Mount Whittier, the outlaw gangs are wreaking havoc on the...
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The Lawless Legion
Cal Stanley goes undercover as a beef buyer in order to catch the gang responsible for stealing the ...
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Señor Americano
A U.S. soldier goes after bandits in California, although it is still owned by Mexico....
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The Royal American
Story of a young shanghaied sailor. Forced to work as a deckhand on a rough-and-tumble transport ves...
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The Leap from the Water Tower
Rand, a vengeful discharged fireman, tampers with the airbrakes of a large freight locomotive making...
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From the Manger to the Cross
The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land....
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Fury and the Woman
A tough Irishman tries to help a logging company owner on Vancouver Island who is being sabotaged by...
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The Silent Code
Northwest Mounted Police Corporal Jerry Hale is assigned to take over the district of a fellow-offic...
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Ships of the Night
In search of her fugitive brother, who wounded a man who was later murdered, Johanna Hearne encounte...
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The Last Roundup
There is trouble on the Bar D ranch as cowhand Mile Ahead plans to rustle the herd. He starts a fire...
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Robin Hood of El Dorado
In the 1840's Mexico has ceded California to the United States, making life nearly impossible for th...
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Code of the Fearless
When it appears that Fred Jamison is a member of Red's gang, he is kicked out of the Rangers. But it...
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Borderland
Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) t...
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Mississippi
A young pacifist after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in ...
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Stagecoach
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo...
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The Call of the Savage
Two competing teams of scientists search the African jungles for a secret formula....
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Bar 20 Rides Again
Cattle rustler Nevada dreams of living like an emperor in the West. Hoppy and the Bar 20 boys aim to...
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Murder in the Fleet
A traitor is lurking somewhere aboard the USS Carolina, and Lt. Tom Randolph is determined to find t...
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The Outlaw Tamer
A masked bandit being chased by a posse is wounded but manages to lose them. He is taken in by a fem...
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Kidnapped
Robert Louis Stevenson's hero David Balfour joins rebel Alan Breck Stewart in 18th-century Scotland...
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Whispering Smith Speaks
O'Brien is "Whispering" Smith, so named because he speaks softly but knows how to fend for himself. ...
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Quick Trigger Lee
Jeremy Wales, a crook who stays on the safe side of the law but bends it whenever possible,has trick...
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The Red Rider
"Red" Davison(Buck Jones), the sheriff of Sun Dog, sacrifices his job and his good name to save his ...
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Empty Holsters
Ace owns just about everything around except for the Bank, which is owned by John Ware. Ace also has...
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Slim Jim's Last Chance
The prison doors open and Tom Benton, a first timer, and Slim Jim, alias Red Davis, of the underworl...
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Heart of the Rockies
Cattle are being routinely stolen from a local ranch, and suspicion centers on a local mountain fami...
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The Three Mesquiteers
When a group of World War 1 buddies head west to farmstead, they run into trouble....
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Rough Riding Rhythm
When Jim and Scrubby arrive to see Scrubby's sister, they find her murdered and suspect it was her n...
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By a Woman's Wit
Captain Jasper, a Union officer, is sent on a secret service mission to the Confederate headquarters...
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Prairie Thunder
To increase profits for his shipping company, Lynch has goaded the Indians to attack both the telegr...
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Headin' Westward
Concern for her father, who is being slowly ruined by cattle rustling, prompts Mary Benson to do som...
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Diamond Jim
A loose biopic based on the life of Gilded Age tycoon "Diamond" Jim Brady....
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Sinner Take All
A young lawyer is determined to identify who is murdering members of a wealthy New York publishing f...
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Rustlers of Red Dog
A movie serial in 12 chapters: After gold is discovered in the town of Nugget, the titular band of ...
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The Lost Express
Kidnapping and marital reconciliation drive this action film set on a millionaire's private train....
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Flaming Gold
Two friends working a jungle oil field clash when one marries a lady of the evening....
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The Lad from Old Ireland
A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home....
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Slave Ship
Action-filled drama about a ship captain, ashamed of his background in the slave trade, forced again...
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When the Dead Return
acques and Antoine are both in love with the same girl, but Jacques proves the winner and marries Ma...
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Below the Deadline
Beau Nash is a "gentleman crook" who headquarters his gang of jewel thieves in a run-down boardingho...
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The Colleen Bawn
A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will st...
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The Accusing Finger
A proud, pro-capital punishment district attorney with a 90% execution rate, finds himself wrongly c...
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The Lady and the Bandit
Highwayman Dick Turpin rides 200 miles to save his wife from the gallows in 18th-century England....
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East of Java
Survivors of a shipwreck find refuge on a tropical island--but so do the ship's cargo of lions and t...
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Outwitted
After being captured by T-Man Jack Blaisdell and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor on a counterfei...
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The Fighting Terror
Bill attempts to apprehend the villain who killed his brother. Unfortunately, a crooked border-town ...
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Crack O' Dawn
The Thompson-Thorpe automobile was once a great car but dissension between the owners led to the bre...
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Barriers of the Law
When a woman who belongs to a bootlegging gang asks the gang for help when her father is arrested, t...
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The Black Ace
Story of a a Texas Ranger whose foster-father has been falsely accused of a series of crimes....
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The Fiddler’s Requiem
The old musician playing his fiddle in his garret home dreams of his youth and his lost love. As the...
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When Lovers Part
A young couple’s love is forbidden by the girl’s father. He forces her to write a farewell letter. T...
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Rory O'More
Based on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad about h...
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His Mother
An Irish mother uses her life savings to pay for her son, a talented musician, to study in America....
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A Sawmill Hero
Jim Hemminway went to college, but did not make good. He had a fine time, but flunked in his studies...
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Winning a Widow
While crossing the Atlantic, Jim White, an American tourist, is attracted by a charming young widow....
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Captured by Bedouins
An American officer disguises himself as an Arab in order to rescue an American woman kidnapped by A...
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The Oklahoma Kid
A cowboy is ambushed by a gang of outlaws and later falsely accused of being one himself. He ultimat...
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She Had to Eat
An Arizona gas station owner faces comic adventures after traveling with an eccentric millionaire to...
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The Special Messenger
During the Civil War, a woman helps her injured husband by delivering an important message to his ge...
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The Whipping Boss
Prison inmates are leased by the state to a lumber company, which makes them work under atrocious an...
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Red Signals
Sabotage on the railroad with trains being derailed and looted. Good coverage of the Santa Fe La Gra...
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O'Malley Rides Alone
Mounties O'Malley and Calhoun are sent to see why miners are not returning with their gold. Arriving...
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Les Misérables
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless po...
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Tragedy of the Desert
An English doctor based in Egypt finds his wife in the arms of a local diplomat, and in a madness-in...
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A Two Fisted Tenderfoot
Pampered Easterner Tom Ransom is sent West by his father, a meatpacking tycoon, to buy a large herd....
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The Wives of Jamestown
The romance between Bryan O'Sullivan and Lady Geraldine is broken when he unjusily suspects that she...
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Hunted Men
Notorious racketeer Joe Albany kills James Flowers when he discovers he is embezzling from the club ...
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Far from Erin's Isle
Kathleen leaves behind her sweetheart in Ireland to emigrate to New York, finding a position in a sw...
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The Fishermaid of Ballydavid
Kathleen, the daughter of a fisherman meets Henry, the son of a Wall Street Broker, her father forbi...
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The Mayor from Ireland
Shamus, humiliated at a Country Dance by Bridget leaves Kerry to travel to New York, where he meets ...
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The Prisoner of Shark Island
After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth, responsible for the assassination of Presid...
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Savage Fury
Separately released feature version of the 1935 Serial, Call of the Savage....
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Pioneers of the West
The express company had been robbed and a man is caught and sent to prison but the loot is not recov...
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