Across the Plains on AllMovie

Filmed in some small Southern California hamlet, this extremely low-budget silent Western should have been called "Across the San Fernando Valley" instead of Across the Plains. Handsome Pawnee Bill, Jr. (aka Ted Wells) starred as Jim Blake, an inveterate gambler and rabble-rouser who determines to reform after falling in love with Helen Williams (Ione Reed), the new waitress in White Sage. But Jim is soon forced to kill crooked Joe Stewart (Jack Richardson) in self-defense and Helen gives him the cold shoulder. Joe's equally crooked pal, Walla Walla Slim (Boris Bullock) demands satisfaction and Jim is forced to flee. Along the way, he encounters Helen's mortally wounded sister and baby niece, the victims of a stage hold-up committed by Walla Walla's henchmen. Jim promises the dying woman to bring the baby to Helen, but Walla Walla Slim, who wants Helen for himself, rudely interrupts the touching reunion. Happily, the posse arrives in the nick of time and Jim and Helen can embrace for a happy ending -- the dead sister in the desert apparently already forgotten.