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The Pirates of the Plains
(1914) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Otis Thayer
Cast: Joe Ryan [Joe Webster], Josephine West [Nell], Bud Chase (Colin Chase) [Jim Webster], Jack Donahoo [the sheriff], Otis Thayer [the priest]
[?] Miller Brothers 101 Ranch or Colorado Motion Picture Company? production; distributed by Warner’s Features, Incorporated. / Released March 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / A print of the film survived in a private film collection in Antigo, Wisconsin, and the information was made public in 1993.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Joe and Jim Webster, brothers, are as different as day and night. Jim is an honest and respected rancher; Joe is the ringleader of a desperate gang of horse thieves. At the State Fair, Jim wins the championship broncho riding title of the world, for which he receives a handsome silver mounted saddle. He becomes engaged to Nell Owens, the pretty daughter of a prosperous stockman. One of Owens’ post riders discovers a gang of horse thieves on the ranch and gives the alarm. Joe, their leader, breaks his saddle, and anxious to make his escape and join the thieves, takes his brother Jim’s horse and heads for the Mexican border. The ranch hands give chase, hoping: to overtake the rustlers before they can cross the international boundary. In a running fight, Joe kills the sheriff, but has the horse he is riding shot from under him. The posse recovers the saddle and arrests Jim for the sheriff’s murder. Nell prevents his lynching and demands that he be given a trial by law. Later he is convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to be hanged. On the day set for the execution, Nell finds Joe mortally wounded and secures a confession from him that exonerates Jim. By much hard riding she reaches the prison yard in time to prevent Jim’s death.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 12 October 2023.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 207 : Website-IMDb; Website-Wikipedia.
Home video: VHS.
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