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Whispering Smith
(1916) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by J.P. McGowan
Cast: Helen Holmes [Marion Sinclair], J.P. McGowan [Whispering Smith], Belle Hutchinson [Marion’s friend], Paul C. Hurst (Paul Hurst) [Murray Sinclair], Leo D. Maloney (Leo Maloney) [Du Sang], F. Van Norman (F.M. Van Norman) [Karg], Samuel Appel (Sam Appel) [Regstock], Walter Rodgers [Williams], [?] Thomas Fillingham or Thomas G. Lingham (Tom Lingham)? [Sheriff Ed Banks], E. Howland [the deputy sheriff], William Behrens [a bartender], C.U. Wells [Tom Smith], J.E. Perkins [Rooney, the chief dispatcher], N.Z. Woods (N.Z. Wood) [J.S. Bucks, the general manager], G.H. Wisschussen (G.H. Wischussen) [Superintendant B.O. Daley], Chance Ward [Superintendant George McCloud], William Brunton [Superintendent Tony Wickwire], Hugh Adams [a clerk in the superintendent’s office], Dixie the horse, Duchess the horse
The Signal Film Corporation production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [Helen Holmes Series; A Mutual Star Production]. / Scenario by Frank H. Spearman (Frank Hamilton Spearman), from the novel Whispering Smith by Frank Hamilton Spearman. Lighting supervised by Orrin Denny. Assistant director, Harold Warner Lloyd. Cinematography by S.A. Sues. Film editor, J.P. McGowan. Presented by Samuel S. Hutchinson. / Released 5 June 1916. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Originally shot as a serial, the serial was edited into two feature films: this film, followed by Medicine Bend (1916). The first film in the Helen Holmes Series of five-reel feature films. The novel was subsequently filmed as Whispering Smith (1926).
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Whispering Smith is a virile, fearless type of the true American whose theory of life is to give every man a chance to show what is in him. There is nothing of the bully or braggart about him. He is just a man who knows instinctively what is right and never falters in his steps to see that justice is given where it is deserved and crime punished on the same basis. Whispering Smith loved Marion, a carefree, beautiful Western girl. His love was that of the strong, clean-living man, who knows no physical danger, but is reticent and bashful in his love affairs. Lacking as a suitor the characteristics that made him esteemed and feared among his fellow-men, he was beaten out for her hand by Sinclair, a dashing devil-may-care sort of fellow among the women, but an unscrupulous and vindictive man at heart. Marion's life with Sinclair was not all joy and happiness. Slowly he was killing her love for him, but in the manner of his kind he believed that harshness was the way to rule women. When the story opens, Sinclair, who is foreman of a wrecking crew on a mountain section of a transcontinental railroad, is living in one of the company’s cabins in the small division terminal, “Medicine Bend,” a typical Western railroad and mining town. This town was located at the foot of a steep declivity, noted for the frequency of the wrecks occurring there, particularly among freight trains. The officials of the road were worried at the great number of the wrecks, but were more concerned with the robberies that took place after each collision. No trace of the thieves could be found. The railroad detectives had about given up in despair when Whispering Smith was sent to “Medicine Bend” to put an end to the robberies. Sinclair was never suspected. Smith, however, discovers soon after his arrival that Sinclair is the brains of the gang engaged in looting the freight cars. Smith, to save Marion the disgrace of having her husband branded as a thief, does not expose him, but causes the division superintendent, McCloud, to discharge him. Life for Marion soon becomes unbearable and she leaves him. This arouses to frenzy the desperate man, who plans to get revenge on the railroad by burning the “Smoky Creek” trestle. Assisted by several of the band who had been engaged in looting the cars, Sinclair sets fire to the trestle, causing a disastrous wreck. Smith, determined to capture the men responsible, discovers that Sinclair is at the bottom of the plot. Again his love for Marion induces him not to expose her husband until he talks with her. He effects a reconciliation between Sinclair and Marion and upon the former’s promise to lead a better life and to leave “Medicine Bend,” Whispering Smith lets him go with his wife, and the girl he still loves.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost: Incomplete print exists in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive [fragmentary 35mm acetate duplicate negative].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 6 November 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-ASFFDb; Website-IMDb.
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