Heart of Texas Ryan / A Child of the Prairie

A real-life Texas Ranger, Wild West show performer and rodeo champ, Tom Mix was one of the most authentic and most popular of silent Western movie stars. His riding, shooting and fighting skills are on display in these two vintage action-adventures.

Heart of Texas Ryan (1917, B&W, Silent): "Single-Shot" Parker, the newest cowpuncher on Colonel Ryan's Southwest Texas ranch, loves the colonel's college-educated daughter, who prefers men who use their brains rather than bullets. To please her, Parker relies on his wits instead of his guns as he battles a crooked marshal and a marauding gang of Mexican cattle rustlers. Starring Tom Mix, Bessie Eyton, Frank Campeau, George Fawcett, Charles Gerrard; Directed by E.A. Martin.

A Child of the Prairie (1925, B&W, Silent): : "Slippery Jim" Watson steals off with Nell, the unhappy wife of honest rancher "Square Deal" Tom, and the couple's knee-high daughter. In wild, mountainous country, the child wanders off, and Watson and Nell abandon her. Tom swears an oath of vengeance against Watson and spends 15 years of his life hunting him down.Starring Tom Mix, Rose Bronson, Ed Brady, John Maloney, Fay Robinson.

• western