Upcoming special project for “Trail of the Horse Thieves” (1929)

Coming up in 2026, our fifth installment of the lost Tom Tyler silent film reconstruction series, "Trail of the Horse Thieves" from 1929 with Bee Amann has been selected. As usual, the basis for this reconstruction will be the film's derivative published by Biblioteca Films. Existing copies of stills, promotional materials, and movie cards will be included in this project.

Once "Trail of the Horse Thieves" is translated, it will be posted here on the Aventuras de Tom Tyler Blog plus social media pages.

It’s here! The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Kickstarter

I am very happy to report that a Kickstarter has been launched by me to raise funds for the Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection! This silent film restoration project will be for the following two Tom Tyler silent films: “The Law of the Plains” and “The Man from Nevada”, both from 1929 and directed by J. P. McGowan.

Pledge $25.00 in U.S. dollars or more to this Kickstarter and you will receive a Blu-ray of these two silent films, shipped to anywhere in the world.

The official commercial release of “The Man from Nevada” and “The Law of the Plains” will be available on both Blu-ray and DVD from Undercrank Productions.

Please contribute to this Kickstarter and Share it across your social media pages, any film forums you are a member of, and tell your friends and family about it. Make this go viral!

Click the following link to view the Kickstarter and make your contribution!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/aventurasdetomtyler/the-tom-tyler-silent-film-collection

Texas Ranger Tom Tyler: A review of “Fast Bullets” 1936 on Blu-ray

Blu-rays of low budget westerns from the 1930’s are a rarity, although the recent release of “Fast Bullets” (1936) from The Serial Squadron is a milestone for a couple of reasons. One, it remains the very first Blu-ray release for a Tom Tyler starring western from that decade, and two, it marks one hundred years since Tom made his first appearance in a silent film: “Three Weeks” from 1924, an MGM romantic drama based on the Elinor Glyn novel of the same name.

It is hard to believe that 2024 marks the one-hundred-year anniversary of Tom Tyler’s career, considering his start was in silent film, and remained so up until 1930 when the last of the silent film theatres were transitioning to synchronized sound. Even more rare was the handful of western stars making silent films being successful in signing contracts with production studios while the majority saw their film careers end with the advent of synchronized sound. Luckily, “Fast Bullets” is one of Tom’s low-budget westerns which has plenty of action, rugged western scenery, and fist fighting.

“Fast Bullets” opens with Tom as a Texas Ranger, interrogating a member of a gang headed by Al Bridge who is considered responsible for the murder of two other Rangers. With the permission from his superior, played by William Gould, Tom and his colleague Robert Walker leave on a mission to Red Rock Canyon near the Mexican border to avenge the deaths of their fellow officers. Their job is to round up the criminal gang headed by Al Bridge, a regular heavy in Tom’s westerns from the 1930’s. Spying and chasing two of the gang members on horseback, Tom finally catches them, and with the help of Walker, brings them in. Yet one of the men, Rex Lease, escapes, to which Tom soon discovers is making breakfast over an open campfire. Tom initially calls Lease a kid, even though there is a slight age difference between the two men in real life, Rex being older than Tom by seven months. As they eat bacon sandwiches, Tom speaks with him about turning his life around and engage in honest living. With the help of his new friend, Tom is introduced to Al Bridge, who also happens to be the owner of the El Camino Cantena. When Bridge sees a demonstration of Tom’s prowess with a gun, he addresses Lease, saying “Your pal certainly carries fast bullets”, from which the film title is derived.

Tom discovers why Lease and his sister, played by Margaret Nearing confide everything in each other, no matter what the situation might be. She is a working girl, often dancing at the cantina to the tune of playing fiddles to entertain the male customers. Her admiring audience never seems to lose sight of her gams, her blond hair perfectly coiffed. Once Tom takes sight of Nearing, he becomes interested in her on a personal level. Trapping Bridge and his henchmen, a clever ambush is created by the Texas Rangers using mannequin dummies to catch the criminals off guard and arrest them.

Comparable to the Canadian Mounties, the Texas Rangers are a formidable group of tough, rugged men who always manage to achieve their mission. As Tom, Lease and Nearing sit around a campfire listening to the fiddle music playing at twilight, Lease is proud to be a new member of the Texas Rangers, working beside Tom, who is now married to Nearing.

Directed by Henri Samuels and written by Jay J. Bryan and Carl Krusada, “Fast Bullets” was filmed at the Walker Ranch nestled in Placerita Canyon in Santa Clarita, California. Tom Tyler is every inch the fighter against Charles Whitaker and Charles King, henchmen for Bridge, and it is always fun to see Tom take on guys who are physically bigger than he is. Of note is the shirt Tom wears, the side zippers instead of an open front button-down western shirt more commonly worn during his silent film years.

The Serial Squadron includes a colorized version of “Fast Bullets” as well as the original black and white on the Blu-Ray, giving Tom blue eyes instead of his brown eyes, perhaps as a form of poetic license. The scan for this film print was painstakingly cleaned up to a crisp, sharp picture with few vertical lines during the first few minutes of the western. There are a total of four extras on the Blu-ray, one which is a cartoon preceding “Fast Bullets”: a Looney Tunes black and white cartoon from 1930 featuring the character Bosko; a detailed history of “The Captain Marvel Chronology” which features the history of the superhero through the Tom Tyler serial, up to modern day; the first chapter of the Gene Autry serial “The Phantom Empire” co-starring Frankie Darro, Tom Tyler’s co-star during his silent film years; and a live action-stop motion animation Charley Bowers short, “The Metal Eating Bird” which is a bit of a novelty.

Overall, “Fast Bullets” remains one of Tom Tyler’s best oaters, the Blu-ray is worth purchasing through The Serial Squadron website if only for its uniqueness in being the only release to date of one of Tom’s B-westerns. For Tom Tyler fans, it is a must have, and should encourage the further release of his starring westerns fully restored in Blu-ray format, which is long overdue.

Phantom of the Range 1928: Two film releases?

One of Tom Tyler’s silent films from FBO which underwent additional filming for its final release was “Phantom of the Range” (1928). While additional filming may seem common for most feature-length silent films produced by major studios, it was relatively rare for “oaters” made by B-film producers. At one point, “Phantom of the Range” was available on Youtube for viewing, this particular copy having originated from Spain, complete with intertitles in Castilian.

Of note on the original release of “Phantom of the Range” was its viewing length of 46 minutes, according to a review in Variety dated February 8, 1928, barely an hour long like the majority of Tom’s silent films made for FBO. Oliver Drake is credited as being the writer of the screenplay, with James Dugan as director. One main difference in the location of where this silent film was reviewed is given as “the projection room”, probably referring to the one located on the FBO studio lot.

Variety, February 8, 1928

In the second review of this silent film in the May 2, 1928 issue of Variety, however, there are a number of differences, perhaps most surprisingly in the writer’s credit: Frank Howard Clark. This may be the case of the story extension added to lengthen the film to 60 minutes. Variety also reports “Phantom of the Range” as having premiered at Stanley Theatre in New York City.

Variety, May 2, 1928

Having been lucky enough to view “Phantom of the Range” when it was on Youtube, I can only make a guess that the additional footage appeared in the final third of this silent film where the story consists of “filler material”. Hopefully the year 2024 will see a more widely available release of “Phantom of the Range” when it enters public domain.

Tom Tyler mistaken for...Tom Keene?

 As incredible as it may sound, Tom Tyler’s name has been confused with another early sound film western star of the same first name, Tom Keene. This has been noted in a film production blurb in Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, April 12, 1930 which mentions the name Tom Tyler but it also mentions the name of a popular silent film classical dancer, Verna Mersereau. The dead giveaway in this blurb is the producer name, Ben Wilson, and the writer’s name, W. C. Tuttle. To further narrow down the time slot, Verna Mersereau returned to the United States in 1929 after her trip around the world with the Wilbur Players in the performance “Rain” where she was the lead dancer. Having never worked under Wilson nor any westerns written by Tuttle, Tom Tyler’s name was mistaken for that of Tom Keene.

From Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, April 12, 1930

In evaluating which movie Verna may have appeared in with Tom Keene it was most likely “The Cheyenne Kid” (1933), based on Tuttle’s story, “Sir Piegan Passes”. Because Verna was in a California sanatorium with tuberculosis, Mary Mason took her place in this movie. That was not the only replacement in the making of “The Cheyenne Kid”, however. Producer Ben Wilson died in August of 1930 at the age of 54 from heart disease. In his place, David O. Selznick and David Lewis were involved in the production of this western. Bob Hill directed this B-western, and if this name sounds familiar to Tom Tyler fans, it should be; Hill directed Tyler westerns like “Mystery Range” and “Feud of the Trail”, both from 1937.

So while Tom Keene was busy making “The Cheyenne Kid”, Tom Tyler was busy making “When a Man Rides Alone” (1933), sans the name Verna Mersereau; instead, our hero got Adele Lacy for a leading lady. Not a bad tradeoff for a co-star, at that.

 

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Growing up: Mature themes in Tom Tyler’s films “The Desert Pirate” and “Partners of the Trail”

Tom Tyler with Frankie Darro in "The Desert Pirate"

Since the beginning of his career as a leading man in western silent films, Tom Tyler’s films were intended for a young audience. The stories were cut and dried with the occasional creative plot such as the King Arthur theme in “The Sonora Kid” in 1927, but it was also that year when a more mature theme made its appearance in “The Desert Pirate”. For a story that dealt with the hero turning initially villainous to a young boy’s eyes marked a rite of passage to adulthood to the youthful audience, as was the case during the first four decades of the twentieth century. 

Ten years old when he filmed “The Desert Pirate”, Frankie Darro is Jimmy Rand, a boy whose father John (Vester Pegg) is the leader of a gang of criminals who engage in cattle rustling. Nicknamed “The Desert Pirate”, John Rand pulled off his biggest job yet, along with his henchmen, shuffling off their new booty across the Great Basin Divide. Sheriff Tom Corrigan (Tom Tyler) is hot on their trail, having already caught six of John’s henchmen. Much to Rand’s consternation, one of his men, Shorty Gibbs (Thomas G. Lingham), left the gang on his own volition, only to try and rejoin. Late on night, Rand and Gibbs end up fighting while hiding out by Rock of the Snakes. At the center of the fight is Rand's young son Jimmy. Rand is under the impression that his son has no idea as to what is going on with regards to his illegal activities, and he seems blind to the fact that Jimmy is indeed aware, a fact brought up by Gibbs. Having no mother, the last thing Jimmy needed to know was that he did not have a real father figure in his life. For Rand, having to worry about his son knowing that he is an outlaw, was just as bad as worrying about Corrigan tracking him down and shooting him. Later that evening at the Rand homestead, John seriously asks his son Jimmy if he knew about the cattle rustling the elder Rand was involved in. It is at this moment when Jimmy feels like he has already lost his father, even though his father loves the boy very much, but not to the point where he is willing to go straight, and is not in a position to go straight, being unable to afford supporting a son. For all intents and purposes, the last person John Rand needs to lose is his son, but the law finally catch up with him.

In a major ambush, Tom Corrigan shoots The Desert Pirate, and discovering Jimmy, takes him under his wing. Tom feels bad for having shot the boy’s father, has a crisis of conscience before turning in his sheriff badge before moving away with Jimmy to a remote area and starting a new life together. The two pals arrive upon a distant ranch house and meet Ann Farnham (Duane Thompson), whose father is the owner. After making a gambling deal of his ranch to a bandit named Norton (Edward Hearn), the elder Farnham appeals to Tom to help save the property. More than happy to help the Farnhams due to his growing romance with Ann, Tom successfully defends their side while having it out with the crooked Norton. With the Farnham ranch in the clear, Tom marries Ann, and become new parents for Jimmy, the boy who lost his birth father through traumatic means, yet a much greater good happened for him which made for a happy ending.

“The Desert Pirate” marks the onscreen reunion of Tom Tyler with Frankie Darro after Tom's fans wrote in to FBO complaining about their separation during “The Cherokee Kid”.  In many ways, “The Desert Pirate” is a milestone in Tom Tyler’s silent film career for its portrayal of a hero who needs to become a father figure to a young boy who lost his own father at the hands of the hero. As part of the mature themes in this silent film, having a “crisis of conscience” is explored in more than one character in the story. More importantly, Tom Tyler’s character as a former sheriff has the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of a young boy, and does so, when he takes on the crook who is intent on stealing the Farnham ranch for himself.

Written by Frank Howard Clark, and Tom Tyler's early Hollywood friend Oliver Drake who created the scenario, "The Desert Pirate" offers the viewer a different facet of Tom's onscreen persona, possibly the earliest of its kind, pre-"A Rider of the Plains" (1931). Tom’s role as sheriff is in an awkward position in the story, assuming a responsibility he had not planned for but felt he had a moral obligation to do so with regards to his relationship with Frankie Darro’s character.

Film reviews and synopses have proven to be scarce for “The Desert Pirate” although one film booklet in Spanish does exist, “El Pirata del Desierto”, issue number 13 in the series Los Films del Far-West. Upon completing the translation of this film booklet to provide a synopsis for this silent film’s page of the Aventuras de Tom Tyler website, I discovered the story to be much more than another western full of adventure and intrigue; there is solid dramatization included that evokes an image of reality. Additionally, film stills and movie posters do exist, as well as some arcade and exhibit cards containing scenes of Tom Tyler with Frankie Darro.

                                                                   ~~~

“Partners of the Trail” (1931) is a pre-Code sound film made for Monogram Pictures, a company formed the same year this film was released. Its adult themes are different from those as presented in “The Desert Pirate”; here, infidelity, friendship with the accused, and murder are intertwined to make a gripping thriller for Tom’s maturing audience.

Tom Tyler portrays Larry Condon, a man who discovers his wife has been having an affair behind his back. Intent on taking the law into his own hands, Larry waits silently in his house for the right moment to catch his wife with her lover, and shoots at him. Believing that he killed the man, and not getting a clear look at him in the dark, leaves the house and a sleeping wife for the state of Arizona to avoid being caught by the local authorities. Larry meets a man named John Durant (Reginald Sheffield), who was implicated in the affair with Larry's wife. Both men use pseudonyms upon meeting each other face to face, and not knowing about each other’s backgrounds, immediately become friends. It is not long before Larry and John share an eye for a beautiful local girl, Ruby Gerard (Betty Mack).

The two men spend time with each other in town until one day when local law enforcement takes note of one of the men who they suspect was involved with the shooting crime. Durant gets arrested by Sheriff McWade (Lafe McKee) and put in jail for the crime that Larry committed. Thinking that he is safe for now, Larry continues to stay in town and lay low, until Durant eventually breaks jail. Finally recognizing Larry for who he is, Durant wants to shoot him in an act of revenge but decides against it. Striving to make amends because he valued the friendship he has with Larry, Durant resolves the conflict between them. Sheriff McWade discloses to the two men that the person shot dead was Larry’s wife, which means that her lover was Durant. Confessing to the crime, Larry is escorted off to jail while Durant ends up marrying Ruby.

“Partners of the Trail” seems to be the perfect western to follow “A Rider of the Plains” (1931), another Monogram Pictures film. According to The Western: From Silents to Cinerama (1962) by George N. Fenin and William K. Everson, "Partners of the Trail" describes a rather unusual scene for a common fanfare western of the early 1930's: an inebriated Durant scribbling his name on the adobe wall in his residence. The authors explain the reason for scenes like this is due to the fact that they could be done, before the Hays Code went into place in 1934. Post-Code Hollywood, the exhibiting of a drunk character, especially the protagonist, would not be seen writing all over the walls inside a house, regardless of what the written words may be. Likewise in the use of the theme of infidelity – a topic which until “Partners of the Trail” remained non-existent in Tom Tyler westerns. So why infidelity? Aside from the Hays Code, it is possible that this one-dominant topic of many a dramatic silent film might be viewed as more translatable to sound film in Tom’s case. As the fourth feature-length sound film Tom Tyler starred in, his first-generation audiences were certainly old enough to understand this adult concept, especially as they approached the age of marriage and full-time employment. That carefree interval known as teenage years remained yet to exist, being established in the 1950’s. What also needs to be taken into consideration is that Tom’s character is originally perceived to be chivalrous towards his wife, supposedly protecting her from the man who Larry thinks he shot but did not. Surprisingly, “Partners of the Trail” was marketed in such a manner to maintain the friction between Tom Tyler and his nemesis Reginald Sheffield in the movie and downplay exactly who Tom murders in the story. Moreover, the actress who does play Tom’s wife remains unnamed, possibly due to her very limited onscreen time at the beginning of the story.

"Partners of the Trail" was written by Will Beale and adapted by George Arthur Durlam who also wrote the screenplay, and while this remains Beale's only story to make it to the silver screen ("Partners of the Trail" was later remade as "Sagebrush Trail" in 1933 with John Wayne and Lane Chandler in the starring roles), such descriptions as the above mentioned scene and Durlam's work on Tom Tyler's "Two Fisted Justice" (1931) suggest that the writing is tight enough to receive some degree of acclaim and perhaps notoriety of being a lost film. As with many of the lost Monogram Pictures films, film stills and posters from "Partners of the Trail" have survived, along with synopses from Hollywood trade publications. Considering the nature of Tom Tyler’s character in this western, it is easily comparable to his role of an outlaw in “A Rider of the Plains”, quite possibly even an extension of Blackie Saunders, had the character’s name not been changed. On the plus side, “Partners of the Trail” and “The Desert Pirate” remain the earliest examples of mature themes in Tom’s films which he clearly had no trouble handling at all when he fell into role.  For those who have seen and understood the intensity of Tom Tyler’s performance as Luke Plummer in “Stagecoach” (1939), the vast majority of his starring roles in westerns have been heroic, with few variations, but depict the fine actor he truly was.

Seeking an angel donor for “The Man from New Mexico”

Note: This blog entry has been updated with an incentive to find an angel donor or two to restore Tom Tyler’s 1932 western “The Man from New Mexico”.

Aventuras de Tom Tyler is seeking an angel donor for the restoration of "The Man from New Mexico", released in 1932. This is a complete 35mm Monogram Pictures film which has not been seen since its release and has in fact been considered one of Tom's "lost films" for many years. If you know of someone who is interested in helping preserve Tom Tyler’s film history for a future DVD release, please spread the word. "The Man from New Mexico" was directed by J. P. McGowan, and also stars Caryl Lincoln as Tom's leading lady, with Lafe McKee and Robert Walker in supporting roles.

The author of the story that “The Man from New Mexico” is based from is Frederick Ryter’s short story “Fang Branded” and he appears in this early sound western as a villain, a rarity for a writer of western stories. “Fang Branded” was originally published in three installments in the publication, The Golden West Magazine, issues August, September, and October 1930.

The time has come to help make this restoration happen.

For further details, please contact me at: aventurasdetomtyler_@_triggertom.com (remove the underscores).