William S. Hart in King Baggot's "Tumbleweeds" (1925) скачать в хорошем качестве

William S. Hart in King Baggot's "Tumbleweeds" (1925)

In 1893, on the Kansas-Oklahoma border, Cowboys sing of their rambling lifestyle as "tumbleweeds." And one of those tumbleweeds is their foreman Don Carver (William S. Hart), who respects the rattlesnakes and wolves that roam the prairie more than the land-grabbing homesteaders who will soon be arriving. The cattle are gathered at the Box K ranch, where Carver drops off a couple orphaned wolf pups before heading south to get details on the coming land rush. Cowhand Kentucky Rose (Lucien Littlefield) rides with the foreman to the cow-town of Caldwell, where the "advance guard" of the homesteaders is gathering. Kentucky meets a widow named Mrs. Riley (Lillian Leighton), who has come to claim a new homestead for her three children. But Carver can't wait to get back to his cows, which by government order need to be moved off the rich grazing land. On the trail drive west, the Box K crew comes across other ranchers moving their herd off the Cherokee Strip. The influx of settlers turns Caldwell into a teeming city almost overnight. That's where Carver has a run in with hooligan bullying a puppy-toting boy named Bart (Jack Murphy). After getting soaked in a horse trough by the cowman, the bully meets an old buddy, Bill Freel (Richard Neill). Carver takes the round-up report to his boss, Joe Hinman (James Gordon), who treats him and Kentucky to some whisky in the local saloon. Carver accidentally lassoes a several decades younger Molly Lassiter (Barbara Bedford). For the foreman, it is embarrassment and love at first sight. She has come to the Strip to stake a claim.with her older half-brother Noll Lassiter (J. Gordon Russell), and the boy Carver helped, her brother Bart. Molly introduces Carver to Noll, whom he drenched in the trough earlier. Signs are posted warning everyone not to jump the gun or they will be prosecuted as "Sooners." Kentucky finds Mrs. Riley in the long line of registrants for settling permits, and he holds her baby for her while she signs in. Noll gets Freel to report Carver to Cavalry Major White (Taylor N. Duncan) as a Sooner. The local Cherokees inform Carver that the "white soldiers" are coming after him. If he wants, the warriors will help the cowboy fight them, but Carver says he will go peaceably, arrested as a Sooner. Freel and Noll set out to stake a claim ahead of the rush. A mounted soldier spots them, but Freel shoots him, and shoots Kentucky's horse. As the duo ride off, Kentucky packs the dead man on his horse, rides back to town and notifies Major White. Molly is waiting at the hotel. The Hotel Proprietor (Fred Gamble) offers to lend Molly his horse and carriage. Carver grabs a long staff and uses it to pole-vault the wall. Guards fire on the escaping prisoner but he is too fast. There's a shoot out. Carver corners the two men, but Freel manages to gallop off to find Molly and tell her that Carver has jumped Noll's claim. Molly does not believe a word of it and insists on proof. When Molly, Bart and Freel arrive at the ranch house, Carver has already placed his claim marker in the front yard. Molly sees it and accuses her former romantic interest of being a thief as well as a Sooner. She orders Carver out of her sight. Land-hungry Noll and Freelride up on a defenseless elderly couple (George F. Marion and Gertrude Claire) and brazenly order them off their claim. Fortunately, the location is in Carver's path and he comes to the rescue, disarming both men, tying them up and escorting them back to Caldwell to face military justice for the death of the cavalryman. And being honest to a fault, Carver turns himself in for his alleged crime and escape. The Major, of course, knows a good man when he sees one and sends Carver over to the Caldwell House Hotel, where Molly has just returned. His sweetheart has forgiven him and we see them together, embracing and overlooking the vast tumbleweed-strewn prairie. A 1925 black & white American silent Western film starring and produced by William S. Hart, directed by King Baggot, also starring Lucien Littlefield, and Barbara Bedford. This was Hart's last movie.He retired to his ranch in Newhall, California and although producers continued to offer him roles in sound films, he refused to return to the screen. The script by prolific western screenwriter, Hal G. Evarts, is based on the historical Cherokee Strip land rush of 1893. The story dramatizes the government lands, that had been leased to cattlemen, that were to be opened for settlement by homesteaders in the late 19th century. All prospective homesteaders were required to register before the allotted start time. To give everyone a fair chance, a cannon shot was fired to signal the beginning of the land rush when registrants were allowed to enter the strip. Those who tried to get in beforehand were called "Sooners". The nickname of Oklahoma is the Sooner State. The film is said to have influenced the Oscar-winning Western "Cimarron" (1931), which also depicts the land rush.