Silent Western Double Feature: Big Stakes (1922) / A Desperate Chance (1925) (DVD)

Jim Gregory catches the eye of sexy senorita Mercedes Aloyez. The spoiled girl is engaged to the overbearing Captain Montoya, and sees the handsome cowboy as her way out of an unhappy marriage. Jim is more interested in the homespun charm of pretty waitress Mary. Regardless of his true feelings, Jim is challenged to a duel by Montoya for the hand of the shapely Mercedes. While the two men prepare for battle, Mary is kidnapped by the Klu Klux Klan. With the woman he loves about to be burned at the stake, Jim must dispatch Montoya and race to her rescue.

Big Stakes is one of the few surviving films of silent cowboy star J.B. Warner (1895-1924). After parts in several Universal Westerns and supporting Tom Mix in For Big Stakes (1922) he was given a starring role in this film, which was similarly titled to capitalize on his prior success. Warner headlined several pictures for independent studios over the next two years until he was suddenly struck by illness. He tragically died of tuberculosis at the age of 28. The lovely Elinor Fair (nee Crowe) was the wife of cowboy actor William Boyd. Hilliard Karr, one of the "Three Fatties" from the Ton of Fun series, provides comic relief. Directed by Clifford S. Elfelt.

PLUS: A Desperate Chance (Silent, BW, 1925): Dick Sutherland has returned to the West for revenge. Years before, "Bulldog" Prentice, a greedy land developer, had swindled Dick's father out of his ranch. Shortly afterwards, the old man took his own life. Hardened from years abroad, Dick is infuriated when he learns that Prentice is about to ruin kindly rancher Fred Forman just like he did his father. When the scoundrel takes Forman's daughter hostage, Dick must settle the score between him and Prentice once and for all...and at last make the robber baron pay for destroying his father's life.

Bob Reeves (1892-1960) was one of Universal's "B" Western stars of the silent era. The studio often paired him with Hoot Gibson, as in The Thrill Chaser (1923) and Taming of the West (1925). Once sound rolled around, Reeves was considered too old to keep working in Westerns. However, he continued to pop up in small roles in major films. He was one of the mailmen dumping bags of letters to Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Unfortunately, soon even those parts dried up. Bob Reeves died of a heart attack while waiting on the unemployment line at age of 68. Starring Bob Reeves and Slim Whitaker. Directed by J.P. McGowan.

• silent