AllMovie

Based on a 1901 novel by Marah Ellis Ryan, this silent Western starred Blanche Sweet in the title-role of Montana Rivers, whose cardsharp father, Lee Holly (Edward Peil, Sr.), raised her as a tomboy. When the gambler is kicked out of town, Montana seeks shelter with the Indians, by whom she is taught womanly ways and assumes the name Tana. She falls in love with handsome but married prospector Dan Overton (Mahlon Hamilton) but an acquaintance of Overton's, the villainous Jim Harris (Frank Lanning), recognizes her as Lee Holly's brat. The girl is denounced by both Harris and the jealous Mrs. Overton (Claire Du Brey), but events take a new turn when Lee Holly reappears, revealing that Montana is not his child at all but the offspring of Harris. Holly is killed by the enraged Harris, and the unfaithful Mrs. Overton suffers the same fate in the hands of a jealous lover (Jack Roseleigh), leaving Overton and Montana to plan a future together. A major star of the early silent screen, Sweet was suffering something of a career-slump when she appeared in this romantic clap-trap produced by Jesse D. Hampton. Hamilton is perhaps best remembered as Mary Pickford's benefactor Jarvis Pendleton in Daddy-Long-Legs (1919).