Desert Valley (1926)

Genres - Western  |   Release Date - Sep 25, 1926 (USA - Unknown), Sep 25, 1926 (USA)  |   Run Time - 57 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein

Based on a 1921 story by Jackson Gregory, this silent Western starred Buck Jones as Montgomery Wilson Fitzsmith, a roaming cowboy who comes to the aid of a beleaguered group of Desert Valley ranchers who are fighting an unscrupulous capitalist, Jefferson Hoades (Malcolm Waite). Hoades has cornered the valley's costly water supply, but before Fitzsmith can join the side of the righteous, he most prove himself innocent of stealing a pie. With sheriff's deputy Eugene Pallette in hot pursuit, our hero encounters Mildred Dean (Virginia Brown Faire), whose father (J.W. Johnston), is put on trial for breaking the water pipeline. Fitzsmith gallops back to town and proves that the real culprit is Hoades. A chase ensues, and Fitzsmith bests the evil Hoades in a well-staged fistfight. Having signed with Fox in 1919, Buck Jones would become that studio's runner-up to the great Tom Mix. By the mid 1920s, Jones was almost rivaling Mix's popularity, having adopted a less flamboyant but still pleasing style of his own. Jones' stardom lasted until his tragic death in a Boston nightclub fire in 1942.

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Keywords

accusation, cattlemen, chase, confession [criminal], father, land-scheme, land-war, water-rights