Turner Classics debuted this film about a week ago as I write this, showing the 1923 re-issue of the original 1916 film. It was an early starring vehicle for Douglas Fairbanks as well as Bessie Love who was his romantic interest in the story. The difference in their ages is palpable as Fairbanks was thirty three at the time and Love was still a teenager of eighteen.
Fairbanks' character in this early Western goes by the name of 'Passin' Through', likely in recognition of not staying in one place very long due to his outlaw nature. However that outlaw nature arises from a Robin Hood like quality of robbing for food and minor baubles that he presents to widows and children less fortunate than himself. Fairbanks actually wrote the story with a bit of an autobiographical slant, as his own father left the family when Doug was only five years old. When Passin' Through eventually hooks up with lawman Bob Evans (Pomeroy Cannon) who knows a bit of his mother's history, he becomes fixated on finding the man who killed his father and made him an orphan, due to the mother's inability to cope with her loss.
The movie offers generally competent performances from the principal players, but what compelled me more was the location photography. With the restored 1923 print we get some impressive desert scenery with riders on horseback threading their way through brush filled landscape that's quite competently filmed. There are also a couple of scenes of Maverick City that resemble, how can I best describe it, an era picture postcard. Within this milieu, the story plays out pretty much as a standard Western most fans are used to, with the good guy posse chasing down the outlaw bunch, and Passin' Through's nemesis The Wolf (Sam De Grasse) gunned down by Marshal Evans and the film's hero.
For me it's always a treat to experience something new, in this case an early silent film with Fairbanks in the lead role. This would have been only the second time I've seen him; for a much more athletic performance I'd have to recommend his 1926 picture "The Black Pirate". In quickly looking up Bessie Love's career stats on IMDb I was genuinely surprised to learn that her film career lasted right up until 1983, a span of almost seventy years! It's bits of trivia like that, that make being a film fan so rewarding.
Fairbanks' character in this early Western goes by the name of 'Passin' Through', likely in recognition of not staying in one place very long due to his outlaw nature. However that outlaw nature arises from a Robin Hood like quality of robbing for food and minor baubles that he presents to widows and children less fortunate than himself. Fairbanks actually wrote the story with a bit of an autobiographical slant, as his own father left the family when Doug was only five years old. When Passin' Through eventually hooks up with lawman Bob Evans (Pomeroy Cannon) who knows a bit of his mother's history, he becomes fixated on finding the man who killed his father and made him an orphan, due to the mother's inability to cope with her loss.
The movie offers generally competent performances from the principal players, but what compelled me more was the location photography. With the restored 1923 print we get some impressive desert scenery with riders on horseback threading their way through brush filled landscape that's quite competently filmed. There are also a couple of scenes of Maverick City that resemble, how can I best describe it, an era picture postcard. Within this milieu, the story plays out pretty much as a standard Western most fans are used to, with the good guy posse chasing down the outlaw bunch, and Passin' Through's nemesis The Wolf (Sam De Grasse) gunned down by Marshal Evans and the film's hero.
For me it's always a treat to experience something new, in this case an early silent film with Fairbanks in the lead role. This would have been only the second time I've seen him; for a much more athletic performance I'd have to recommend his 1926 picture "The Black Pirate". In quickly looking up Bessie Love's career stats on IMDb I was genuinely surprised to learn that her film career lasted right up until 1983, a span of almost seventy years! It's bits of trivia like that, that make being a film fan so rewarding.