AllMovie

The first of several screen versions of Bret Harte's venerable action yarn Tennessee's Pardner was delivered to the movie-going public in 1916 by producer Jesse L. Lasky. Graduating from convent school, heroine Tennessee (Fannie Ward) heads Westward to meet her guardian Jack Hunter (Jack Dean), whom she believes to be her father. En route, she is kidnapped by outlaw Romaine (Charles Clary), who forces her to become his wife. What neither Tennessee nor Romaine know at this point is that Romaine's blowsy mistress Kate (Jessie Arnold) is really Tennessee's long-lost mother. All the facts come out when Jack Hunter leads a rescue party to save Tennessee from Romaine's clutches. The best-known cinemadaptation of Tennessee's Pardner was filmed in 1955, with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Ronald Reagan in the cast and Allan Dwan in the director's chair.