AllMovie

The early silent era provided leading roles for women in all genres of films, including action adventures, westerns and serials. By the late 1910s, male stars began dominating the action field, with women relegated to play the obligatory shrinking violet. But a few women western stars remained, including Edythe Sterling, the wife of cowboy star Art Acord. In The Arizona Catclaw, Sterling heads a tough border ranch and gets her hands full when her property is threatened by a gang of Mexican cutthroats. There was the obligatory hero (played by Leo Maloney, a budding western star himself), but Edythe Sterling was, as always, very capable of taking care of herself.