AllMovie

Young action director W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke was thrown into the lion's den in this 15-chapter Western serial starring the headstrong Ruth Roland. Van Dyke directed the action scenes -- working more with stunt man Robert Rose than Roland herself -- while William Bowman took care of the performance aspects of the serial. Thus, Van Dyke and Roland's almost instinctive dislike for one another didn't really erupt until the following serial, White Eagle (1922), where their full-blown enmity nearly brought filming to a screeching halt. In The Avenging Arrow, the brunette Roland played Anita Delgado, whose female ancestors all have been killed by a mysterious arrow on or about their 21st birthday. No shrinking violet, Ruth decides to break the spell and spends 15 furiously paced two-reel chapters evading the mystery killer, aided in a rather minor way by foppish leading man Edward Hearn. The serial was based on a story, The Honeymoon Quest, by Arthur Preston Haskins.