Dynamite Dan (Silent) (DVD)

When fast-fisted Dan McLeod decks his boss at the freight company, the shop foreman, Tony Garcia, sends all the other employees out to chase him down. While everyone's attention is diverted, Garcia robs the company safe and fingers Dan for the crime. Now a fugitive, Dan finds work as an athletic director at the boarding school where his young sweetheart, Helen, is enrolled. One afternoon, Helen is accosted by two thugs, and Dan brings his flying fists to the rescue, unwittingly knocking out boxing star "Brute" Lacy. The fallen pro's ex-manager hires Dan and promises to make him a champ, arranging a real match between newly-named "Dynamite" Dan and an angry Lacy. As Dan prepares for his bout with the "Brute", Helen fends off the sleazy advances of Tony Garcia, who she suspects of framing her beau for robbery. But even Dynamite's fists can't be in two places at once!

Dynamite Dan is a light-hearted silent gem from 1924 that is most notable today for an early screen appearance by Boris Karloff. The mild mannered English-born actor made his living through the 1920s playing a wide variety of exotic foreign and ethnic characters. He made over 75 films before achieving stardom with his brilliant portrayal of Mary Shelley's monster in the 1931 production of Frankenstein. From that moment forward, Karloff was the king of the horror genre.

• silent