Happy New Year 2024!

How time has flown since 2015 when Aventuras de Tom Tyler actively became involved in the search for Tom’s lost silent films and lost Monogram Pictures films. While 2023 has not seen any rediscovered lost films, progress has been made with the original website, and blog, as well as social media accounts with Twitter and Facebook. One thing which needs to be mentioned about 2024 is this: all of Tom Tyler’s silent films from 1928 enter public domain. Of the six silent films Tom made in 1928, the good news is, three of them plus a fragment have survived:

Phantom of the Range (1928)
The Texas Tornado (1928)
Terror Mountain (1928)
The Avenging Rider (1928) (fragment)

A note on “The Texas Tornado”: a complete version is stored at BFI.

If any readers of this blog own a complete print of “The Avenging Rider” or any other lost silent films/Monogram Pictures Tom Tyler has appeared in, please contact Aventuras de Tom Tyler – we would love to speak with you! The time has come for these silent films to be restored.

British titles of Tom Tyler films

"The Avenging Rider" 1928. From Perthshire Advertiser,
December 11, 1929

It seems logical that the vast majority of films made in Hollywood during the silent film period would be released under their original titles in other English-speaking nations like the United Kingdom. Curiously enough, not all of Tom Tyler’s silent films had a uniquely British title change, but it seems at least half did, at least compared to the handful of 1930’s westerns and two from the 1940’s which he made. In at least two cases, Tom’s silent films were released under two different titles in England, “Wild to Go” (1926) and “The Cowboy Cop” (1926). For those unfamiliar with the plot or synopsis of many of Tom’s silent films or have not read the ones written by me on the Aventuras de Tom Tyler website, some British silent film titles may seem outright baffling. For example: “The Mystery Bracelet” from 1925 – which is the most important object in “The Cowboy Musketeer”, released the same year. The plot involves an heirloom bracelet containing a map bearing the location of a gold mine on the property worn by actress Frances Dare which soon becomes the target of the ranch’s foreman, Tom London. A second example with more detail is the blog article “Lost in translation: How ‘Tyrant of Red Gulch’ became ‘The Sorcerer’ across the pond”  With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive for the titles below.

Let's Go Gallagher (1925) - Odds on Gallagher

The Cowboy Musketeer (1925) - The Mystery Bracelet

"The Cowboy Musketeer" (1925). From West Middlesex Gazette, March 26, 1927

The Arizona Streak (1926) – The Fatal Card

Wild to Go (1926) - A Gamble in Hearts, also released as The Pals Again

The Masquerade Bandit (1926) - The Tables Turned 

The Cowboy Cop (1926) - Broke to the Wide, also released as The Money Grabbers

Tom and His Pals (1926) – Movie Struck

Lightning Lariats (1927) – A Throne for a Saddle

The Cherokee Kid (1927) – The Stranger

Terror Mountain (1928) - Tom's Vacation 

The Avenging Rider (1928) - Partners

Tyrant of Red Gulch (1928) – The Sorcerer

Trail of the Horse Thieves (1928) - Double Lives

Gun Law (1929) – A Swift Lover

A Rider of the Plains (1931) - The Greater Love 

Single Handed Saunders (1932) - Wyoming

Honor of the Mounted (1932) - Beyond the Border

Trigger Tom (1935) – Dangerous Mission

Fast Bullets (1936) – Law and Order

Ridin’ On (1936) – Unseen Enemy

Cherokee Strip (1940) – Fighting Marshal

Sing Me a Song of Texas (1945) – Fortune Hunter 

"Wild to Go" (1926). From The Bioscope, November 18, 1926