WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.960 You know, when you sit down in a movie theater 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.320 today to watch like a massive summer action blockbuster. 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:09.060 There is a very specific sensory expectation 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.599 that you have. Oh, absolutely. You expect the 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.480 seats to literally rumble beneath you. You expect 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.199 the Dolby Atmos surround sound to just blast 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:19.780 you from 30 different angles with roaring engines 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:23.739 and shattering glass and visceral deafening explosions. 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:25.780 Yeah, it's a full body physical assault at this 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:28.260 point. Exactly. It is loud. It is overwhelming. 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:30.460 And frankly, it does a massive amount of the 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:32.140 cognitive work for you. Right. The spectacle 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:34.399 is essentially handed to you on a silver platter. 00:00:35.210 --> 00:00:37.789 You just have to sit back in the dark and let 00:00:37.789 --> 00:00:42.429 the sheer audio -visual force kind of wash over 00:00:42.429 --> 00:00:44.929 you. The filmmakers are doing all the heavy lifting, 00:00:45.469 --> 00:00:47.450 serving up a very passive kind of adrenaline. 00:00:48.350 --> 00:00:50.729 Your main job is just to sit there and absorb 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:52.450 the impact. Right. You're just along for the 00:00:52.450 --> 00:00:55.250 ride. But imagine stripping all of that away. 00:00:55.390 --> 00:00:57.149 You take away the directional surround sound. 00:00:57.210 --> 00:00:59.450 You take away the CGI explosions. You take away 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:02.350 the spoken dialogue entirely. Just poof. Yeah. 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.319 Gone. You rewind the clock a full century and 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.420 suddenly you're looking at a completely different 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:12.439 landscape of storytelling. And that is what we 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.480 are getting into in today's depth dive. We are 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.959 going to look at the absolute bare bones DNA 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:21.790 of the modern action thriller. which is just 00:01:21.790 --> 00:01:24.349 such a fun concept to explore. It really is. 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:27.609 And we are doing it by examining a single fascinating 00:01:27.609 --> 00:01:30.629 source. We are looking at the Wikipedia article 00:01:30.629 --> 00:01:35.390 for a 1924 American silent Western film titled 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:39.150 $50 ,000 Reward. A classic. Well, maybe not a 00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:41.530 classic in the household name sense, but structurally, 00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:43.810 it's fascinating. Right. We're going to take 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:46.209 this 100 -year -old 55 -minute black -and -white 00:01:46.209 --> 00:01:48.569 movie and basically extract the hidden nuggets 00:01:48.569 --> 00:01:50.620 that prove how the blueprint for everything every 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:54.400 high stakes chase sequence and corporate conspiracy 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.060 thrill you love today was forged a century ago. 00:01:57.159 --> 00:01:58.519 Yeah, the connections are actually kind of wild 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:00.159 once you start looking for them. They really 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:02.200 are. And honestly, for you listening, even if 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:04.959 you aren't a silent film buff, the chaotic energy 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.239 and the surprisingly modern clotting of this 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:09.819 movie's opening will completely hook you. So 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:11.800 OK, let's unpack this. Let's do it. Looking at 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:13.900 this Wikipedia page, the thing that immediately 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:17.449 jumps out at me is the runtime. 55 minutes seems 00:02:17.449 --> 00:02:19.710 like a very specific length for a feature film. 00:02:20.210 --> 00:02:23.150 Was this like considered a major blockbuster 00:02:23.150 --> 00:02:25.050 at the time? Well, in the grand scheme of the 00:02:25.050 --> 00:02:28.490 1920s film industry, a 55 minute runtime was 00:02:28.490 --> 00:02:31.789 a very solid, respectable feature. I mean, to 00:02:31.789 --> 00:02:34.289 set the stage here, we are looking at a production 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:37.900 directed by Clifford S. Elfelt. Okay. Yeah, it 00:02:37.900 --> 00:02:40.620 was released in December of 1924 and distributed 00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:43.139 by the Davis Distributing Division. And this 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:44.879 actually holds the distinction of being one of 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.439 Elfelt's longest -running films. Oh, wow. So 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.319 55 Minutes was in -typic for him. Exactly. Directors 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.860 at this tier were often churning out much shorter 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:55.780 two -reelers. So... You know, giving a narrative 00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:58.039 nearly an hour to breathe meant they were trying 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:00.500 to build a genuine, sustained thriller. That 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.699 makes sense. And of course, being a silent film 00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:05.120 released in the United States, it relied entirely 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.539 on English intertitles. Right, those stark black 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:09.979 screens with the white text. Yeah, exactly. They 00:03:09.979 --> 00:03:12.419 used those to convey all the dialogue, the exposition, 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:15.900 and in this specific case, sheer unadulterated 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.560 panic. Oh, man. That reliance on text brings 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:22.860 us right into the anatomy of a 1920s action opening. 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:25.610 Because before we even get into the plot, before 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:28.430 we understand who is chasing who and why, we 00:03:28.430 --> 00:03:31.330 really need to look at how this film throws the 00:03:31.330 --> 00:03:33.990 audience right into the fire. It does not waste 00:03:33.990 --> 00:03:36.210 any time. Not at all. The first five minutes 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:38.710 of this movie read like a master class in visual 00:03:38.710 --> 00:03:41.590 pacing. So the film is set in Western Montana 00:03:41.590 --> 00:03:44.610 in the 1920s. And the very first thing you see 00:03:44.610 --> 00:03:47.289 is an intertitle card setting a very specific 00:03:47.289 --> 00:03:51.460 mood. It literally says, quote, In Montana, things 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:54.379 often happen with a surprising suddenness. I 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:56.879 love that line. It's just a brilliant establishing 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.919 shot, but with words. Right. It bypasses the 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.439 usual slow sweeping landscape shots you might 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:04.580 expect from a Western, and essentially tells 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:06.620 the audience to buckle up. It's like a contractual 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.979 promise of immediate momentum. And it delivers 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:11.180 on that promise instantly. Like right after that 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:13.360 card, you get a black screen with just one word, 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:16.000 and it says, help, with an exclamation point. 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:19.089 Just boom, right into it. Yeah. And it doesn't 00:04:19.089 --> 00:04:21.449 just appear once. The summary notes, it appears 00:04:21.449 --> 00:04:24.110 multiple times in rapid succession. So it's like, 00:04:24.129 --> 00:04:27.629 help, help, help. And then it cuts to what looks 00:04:27.629 --> 00:04:30.449 like a massive brawl spilling across the street. 00:04:30.589 --> 00:04:33.649 Guns are drawn. It is total chaos. It's real 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:36.129 frontier riot. Exactly. And a business owner 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:38.370 sees the riot and calls for help. Then bam, another 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:39.870 black screen. Get him, boys. Don't let him get 00:04:39.870 --> 00:04:42.569 away. Then more intense physical brawling. Bam, 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:44.529 another black screen. I've got what you're after. 00:04:44.589 --> 00:04:46.899 Try and get it. Taunting the mob. Yeah, total 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:50.319 taunting. More fighting. Bam! Another hex card. 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:52.500 50 ,000 reward to the man who gets him. It's 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:55.379 just this relentless, rapid -fire succession 00:04:55.379 --> 00:04:58.459 of text and action. It honestly reminds me of 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.939 nothing so much as a really intense, fast -paced 00:05:01.939 --> 00:05:04.120 Twitter thread today. Oh, that's a really good 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:06.620 comparison. Or, uh, you know those TikToks where 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.379 the text overlays just keep aggressively popping 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:11.420 up on the screen to keep your attention locked 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:13.639 in? Yeah, just constantly resetting your attention 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.120 span. Right. It is pure, unfiltered hook building. 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:18.310 But, I mean, he— Here's where I kind of have 00:05:18.310 --> 00:05:20.629 to push back a little on the medium itself. OK, 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:23.129 let's hear it. Well, without sound, how effective 00:05:23.129 --> 00:05:26.970 could a black screen saying help really be? Like, 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:29.350 compare that to a modern movie, where you actually 00:05:29.350 --> 00:05:32.949 hear a visceral, blood -curdling scream that 00:05:32.949 --> 00:05:35.279 doesn't, reading the word help. kind of blunt 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:37.360 the adrenaline and slow the action down? You 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.459 would think so, right? But what's fascinating 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:42.620 here is that the absence of sound actually forces 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:45.899 the audience into a state of hyperactive participation. 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:48.779 Huh. Because in a modern film, like we discussed 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:51.060 earlier, the scream is provided for you. Your 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:53.740 ears process it passively. But when you are sitting 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:57.480 in a silent theater in 1924, and the action is 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:00.699 moving at this breakneck pace, and a stark black 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:03.410 card flashes the word help. in bold letters, 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:06.709 your brain has to supply the audio. Wow. Yeah, 00:06:06.790 --> 00:06:08.870 you are essentially forced to become your own 00:06:08.870 --> 00:06:10.629 sound designer. Oh, wow. I never thought about 00:06:10.629 --> 00:06:12.870 it like that. So instead of the movie doing the 00:06:12.870 --> 00:06:15.610 work for you, your brain is just working in overdrive 00:06:15.610 --> 00:06:18.089 to fill in the sensory gaps. Exactly. It is the 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:21.009 exact opposite of passive consumption. The filmmakers 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:23.449 couldn't rely on a sudden loud noise to startle 00:06:23.449 --> 00:06:25.649 you. Yeah. They had to rely on aggressive visual 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:28.240 pacing. So the rapid cutting between the brawl, 00:06:28.459 --> 00:06:31.360 the dust, the guns, and those punchy, urgent 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.040 lines of text, try and get it, don't let them 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.180 get away, it simulates auditory chaos. It's like 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:39.500 a visual rhythm. Precisely. It creates a psychological 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:42.300 adrenaline. The quickness of the cuts literally 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:44.800 mimics the quickened heartbeat of a panic situation. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:47.339 They were basically hacking the viewer's nervous 00:06:47.339 --> 00:06:50.899 system using nothing but light, shadow, typography, 00:06:51.379 --> 00:06:53.300 and honestly, the audience's own imagination. 00:06:53.550 --> 00:06:57.329 That sounds incredibly exhausting, but also completely 00:06:57.329 --> 00:06:59.250 exhilarating. Like you aren't just watching a 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:01.129 chase, you're mentally constructing the noise 00:07:01.129 --> 00:07:03.709 of the chase in real time. You are making the 00:07:03.709 --> 00:07:05.790 movie happen in your own head. Exactly. And the 00:07:05.790 --> 00:07:08.370 chase itself is incredibly cinematic. Like a 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:10.589 man named Tex Sherwood runs away, jumps on his 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:13.170 horse, and the whole mob of men hop on their 00:07:13.170 --> 00:07:16.149 horses to follow him. And he manages to scramble 00:07:16.149 --> 00:07:18.170 up this steep hill where the rest of them just 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:20.290 cannot seem to follow. It's a great physical 00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:22.610 stunt to cap off this chaotic five -minute intro. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.439 Yeah, it really is. But so you have this incredibly 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:29.199 visceral, chaotic mob chase. Men are literally 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:31.379 trying to kill each other in the street. What 00:07:31.379 --> 00:07:34.100 on earth could someone have done in 1924 Montana 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:37.879 to warrant a $50 ,000 bounty? I mean, $50 ,000 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:40.379 back then was life -changing generational wealth. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.920 What an absolute fortune. I mean, dropping that 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:44.540 massive number right in the opening sequence 00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:46.939 immediately anchors the audience. It tells them 00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:49.660 that whatever is happening, the stakes are astronomical. 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:53.079 There's far beyond a typical barroom over a spilled 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:55.899 drink. So the dust settles, the opening chase 00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:58.279 concludes, and an inner title introduces us to 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:01.860 our runner. We learn he is Tech Sherwood, described 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:04.379 in the source as a cow puncher from the Rio Grande. 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:07.160 Great title. Such a good title. So he's the cause 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:09.600 of all this excitement, and he's come up to Montana 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:13.060 to, quote, transact some business of a personal 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:15.319 nature. Which is a very polite, understated way 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.199 of saying he just acquired a crucial piece of 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:20.430 land. Exactly. But the real meat of the story, 00:08:20.610 --> 00:08:22.550 you know, the engine driving this entire plot, 00:08:23.050 --> 00:08:27.069 is the antagonist. We are introduced to Asa Holman. 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:29.910 The film describes him as the president of the 00:08:29.910 --> 00:08:32.570 bank and a big man in local affairs. Which is 00:08:32.570 --> 00:08:35.570 a very deliberate shift in villainy for the genre. 00:08:36.029 --> 00:08:38.450 Yeah. We aren't dealing with the train robber 00:08:38.450 --> 00:08:40.929 in a black mask here. We are dealing with the 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:43.409 classic institutional authority figure. Right. 00:08:43.450 --> 00:08:45.049 The guy in the suit. And here is the brilliant 00:08:45.049 --> 00:08:48.159 twist. This isn't just a dispute over a ranch 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.659 or like a herd of cattle. Holman is the sponsor 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:54.919 of a massive, a million dollar reclamation dam 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:57.740 project up in the mountains that is nearing completion. 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:01.379 Huge infrastructure. Massive. And Holman absolutely 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:04.460 needs the specific piece of land that Tex Sherwood 00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:06.539 just acquired. And there is a ticking clock, 00:09:06.580 --> 00:09:08.960 which, as we know, is the cornerstone of every 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.700 great thriller. Always. Holman knows that the 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:13.860 property deed must be registered the very next 00:09:13.860 --> 00:09:15.779 day. Right. It's the bureaucratic deadline. It's 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:18.080 a very modern stressor injected into a frontier 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.440 setting. It's totally the 1920s equivalent of 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:22.320 trying to get a massive wire transfer to clear 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.779 before the banks close at 5 p .m. Like, he's 00:09:24.779 --> 00:09:26.779 not waiting for a sheet audit high noon. He's 00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:28.580 waiting for the county clerk's office to open. 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:31.419 Exactly. So Holman tells his lawyer, a guy named 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:34.500 Eli Higgins, he says, I have millions at stake. 00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:37.799 If he records those papers, I am ruined. The 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:41.320 panic is real. It is. So to stop text from simply 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:43.480 walking into a government office and filing some 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.210 paperwork, Holman He even hires a man named Buck 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:48.850 Schofield, who is the leader of a lawless outfit, 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:52.690 and offers him that titular $50 ,000 reward to 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:55.289 get those documents by any means necessary. Whatever 00:09:55.289 --> 00:09:57.850 it takes. Right. And here's where it gets really 00:09:57.850 --> 00:10:00.789 interesting for me. This Asa Holman character 00:10:00.789 --> 00:10:03.970 feels completely transplanted from a 21st century 00:10:03.970 --> 00:10:06.490 corporate thriller. He really does. I mean, he 00:10:06.490 --> 00:10:09.529 has a lawyer to shield him legally, and he hires 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:12.250 mercenaries to do his dirty work. He is a modern 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:16.070 -day ruthless CEO. trying to execute a hostile, 00:10:16.549 --> 00:10:18.990 highly illegal takeover before the stock market 00:10:18.990 --> 00:10:21.129 opens the next morning. You know, if we connect 00:10:21.129 --> 00:10:24.009 this to the bigger picture, it reveals so much 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.250 about the shifting cultural anxieties of the 00:10:26.250 --> 00:10:30.230 1920s. Oh, how sad. Well, we often stereotype 00:10:30.230 --> 00:10:32.990 Westerns as simple morality plays, right? Like 00:10:32.990 --> 00:10:35.429 cowboys and bandits fighting over a bag of gold 00:10:35.429 --> 00:10:41.080 dust. Sure. But... $50 ,000 reward reflects the 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:45.080 very real, very grounded historical reality of 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.179 Western expansion at that time. That makes sense, 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:49.240 because honestly, a million dollar dam feels 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:51.120 like a massive piece of infrastructure for a 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:54.539 cowboy movie. I usually expect saloons and stagecoaches 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:57.440 and tumbleweeds. And that is exactly the point 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.779 the film is making. The Wild West was ending. 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:02.289 And it wasn't being ended by lone sheriffs with 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:05.190 silver stars. It was being tamed by massive capital, 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:08.190 by industrial infrastructure, and by bureaucracy. 00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:10.750 Right. I mean, you have to understand how a reclamation 00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:13.450 dam actually works. A reclamation dam isn't just 00:11:13.450 --> 00:11:15.889 a wall holding back water. It's an economic machine. 00:11:15.970 --> 00:11:18.289 Because it controls the resources. Exactly. It 00:11:18.289 --> 00:11:20.769 reclaims dead, arid land and makes it fertile. 00:11:21.269 --> 00:11:23.730 It dictates who gets to grow crops, who gets 00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:25.629 to build towns, and who controls the future. 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:28.600 Asa Holman needs that land. Because without it, 00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:31.059 his multi -million dollar irrigation network 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:34.399 might be entirely useless. The battles in the 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.860 West were no longer just about survival in the 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:39.580 wilderness. They were about water rights, which 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:41.879 were incredibly contentious and valuable. That 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.360 is fascinating. Yeah. They were about massive 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:46.940 land grabs fueled by corporate interests from 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:49.440 the East Coast. The villain here understands 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.039 that ultimate power doesn't come from a revolver. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:54.779 It comes from legally recording a deed at the 00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:57.200 county clerk's office before the other guy can. 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:00.700 If he records those papers, I am ruined. The 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:03.320 absolute terror of a properly filed document. 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:05.580 It highlights a fascinating transition in American 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:08.629 history and American cinema. The rugged individualist, 00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:10.250 you know, the cow puncher from the Rio Grande 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:13.129 is suddenly up against the crushing faceless 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:15.529 power of municipal development in corporate banking. 00:12:15.549 --> 00:12:17.909 Right. So the physical brawl we see in the first 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:20.970 five minutes is really just a street level manifestation 00:12:20.970 --> 00:12:24.210 of a much larger, much more sophisticated financial 00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:26.830 war. That is such a compelling way to look at 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:29.809 it. The lone cowboy fighting the hostile corporate 00:12:29.809 --> 00:12:33.149 takeover. So now that we know the massive economic 00:12:33.149 --> 00:12:35.710 stakes of this infrastructure battle, let's talk 00:12:35.710 --> 00:12:38.230 about the people bringing it to life. Yes, the 00:12:38.230 --> 00:12:41.549 cast. Yeah, we've got this complex web of bankers 00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:44.230 and lawyers. But who exactly is the audience 00:12:44.230 --> 00:12:46.610 rooting for in this fight against the corrupt 00:12:46.610 --> 00:12:49.549 system? Because the casting details and the source 00:12:49.549 --> 00:12:51.730 material give us some really great trivia here. 00:12:51.789 --> 00:12:53.929 Oh, for sure. The film features some notable 00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:56.370 names from the era, particularly for fans of 00:12:56.370 --> 00:13:00.070 early Hollywood history who track how stars were 00:13:00.070 --> 00:13:02.330 made. Right. So Tex Sherwood, our cowboy with 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:04.309 the crucial documents, is played by Ken Maynard. 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:06.669 And the article notes that this was one of his 00:13:06.669 --> 00:13:08.860 first features, and he quickly skyrocketed from 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:11.500 this to become a hugely popular star of early 00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:13.779 westerns. A real breakout role. Yeah, and you 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:16.299 can totally see why. I mean, he's athletic, he's 00:13:16.299 --> 00:13:18.179 doing these great hill climbing stunts on his 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:20.559 horse, and his leading lady, playing a character 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.580 named Carolyn Jordan, is Esther Ralston, who 00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:26.360 is noted in the source as a highly popular and 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:28.620 beautiful actress of the silent film era. She 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:31.529 was a massive star. But for me, the absolute 00:13:31.529 --> 00:13:34.590 standout detail of this entire cast list isn't 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:37.029 the rising star cowboy or the glamorous leading 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:39.610 lady. Let me guess. You're looking at the non 00:13:39.610 --> 00:13:41.570 -human cast member. I am absolutely looking at 00:13:41.570 --> 00:13:45.830 the horse. Texas horse is named Tarzan, and the 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.429 source explicitly points out an inner title that 00:13:48.429 --> 00:13:51.169 introduces the horse not just as like a mode 00:13:51.169 --> 00:13:54.950 of transportation, but as Tarzan, Tex Sherwood's 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:57.720 pal. by himself. He gets his own billing. He 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:01.059 does. The movie goes out of its way to establish 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:04.179 the horse as a named, distinct character. And 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:06.600 then there's this incredible scene right after 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:09.279 Tex escapes that mob by riding up the steep hill. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.340 Right. He pauses, looks at the horse, and an 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:14.879 intertitle pops up where Tex says, we fooled 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:17.059 him, boy, didn't we? And according to the plot 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:20.559 summary, Tarzan actually nods. He nods. The horse 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.860 literally nods his head in agreement with the 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:26.750 hero. It is a wonderful, highly detail for Wikipedia 00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:29.350 plot summary to preserve. It really is. So what 00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:31.590 does this all mean mechanically? Because today 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:34.549 we see writers use tricks all the time to make 00:14:34.549 --> 00:14:38.190 us like a character. Was making the horse a literal 00:14:38.190 --> 00:14:42.929 communicative pal who nods on cue... Basically, 00:14:43.029 --> 00:14:45.830 the 1920s equivalent of the save the cat screenwriting 00:14:45.830 --> 00:14:48.169 trope. You know, where you just have the hero 00:14:48.169 --> 00:14:50.009 do something nice for an animal so the audience 00:14:50.009 --> 00:14:53.009 instantly bonds with them. This raises an important 00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:54.909 question about the emotional mechanics of early 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:57.690 cinema. And honestly, you are spot on with that 00:14:57.690 --> 00:15:01.529 analogy. Yeah. It is a silent film emotional 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:04.269 cheat code. OK. I mean, yeah, on a surface level, 00:15:04.570 --> 00:15:06.230 audiences have always loved the smart animal 00:15:06.230 --> 00:15:08.809 trick. It's a crowd pleasing visual. Right. Everyone 00:15:08.809 --> 00:15:11.509 loves a smart horse. Exactly. Yeah. But on a 00:15:11.509 --> 00:15:13.990 structural level, it serves a vital narrative 00:15:13.990 --> 00:15:16.090 purpose. Think back to what we just discussed 00:15:16.090 --> 00:15:18.590 about the villain, Asa Holman. OK, the cold, 00:15:18.850 --> 00:15:20.990 calculating bank president who only cares about 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:23.049 million dollar dams and filing property deeds 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:26.629 on time. Right. Holman represents the cold, impersonal, 00:15:26.789 --> 00:15:30.570 deeply cynical world of modern commerce and corporate 00:15:30.570 --> 00:15:33.769 greed. Yeah. So to contrast that, the filmmakers 00:15:33.769 --> 00:15:36.090 need the audience to immediately bond with Tech 00:15:36.090 --> 00:15:38.470 Sherwood. They need a massive emotional anchor 00:15:38.470 --> 00:15:40.789 to weigh against the millions of is throwing 00:15:40.789 --> 00:15:43.450 around. Ah, I see. By anthropomorphizing the 00:15:43.450 --> 00:15:46.549 horse. By making Tarzan a pal who can essentially 00:15:46.549 --> 00:15:49.509 understand English and not in agreement, they're 00:15:49.509 --> 00:15:52.909 giving the audience an immediate, wholesome dynamic 00:15:52.909 --> 00:15:55.389 to root for. That makes so much sense. It proves 00:15:55.389 --> 00:15:57.509 that Tex isn't just a tough brawler who can survive 00:15:57.509 --> 00:16:00.700 a street fight. He has a warm, empathetic relationship 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:03.679 with nature. That is brilliant. The banker is 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.559 surrounded by lackeys. He has his sleazy lawyer, 00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:10.019 Eli Higgins, and his hired thug, Buck Schofield. 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.639 But the hero has a genuine, pure friendship with 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.620 his horse. It humanizes the protagonist instantly, 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.340 without him having to utter a single spoken word. 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:22.440 It's shorthand for morality. Right. You see a 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:24.779 man who treats animals with respect, who speaks 00:16:24.779 --> 00:16:26.659 to them as equals, and you instinctively trust 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:30.200 him. It is a cinematic trope that is incredibly 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:32.860 durable precisely because it works on such a 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.259 primal emotional level. Absolutely. Whether it's 00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:38.299 a cow puncher and his nodding horse in 1924 or 00:16:38.299 --> 00:16:40.899 a modern action hero risking his life for a stray 00:16:40.899 --> 00:16:44.019 dog, the mechanical dynamic is identical. It 00:16:44.019 --> 00:16:46.600 provides levity. It provides loyalty. And crucially 00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:48.460 for a silent film, it gives the hero someone 00:16:48.460 --> 00:16:51.340 to talk to. Right. You need an excuse to flash 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.940 dialogue on the screen to show the hero's internal 00:16:53.940 --> 00:16:57.059 state. Yes. Tex needs a reason to say, we fooled 00:16:57.059 --> 00:16:59.539 him, boy, so the audience knows he feels victorious 00:16:59.539 --> 00:17:02.080 rather than terrified. And the nodding horse 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.039 is the perfect charming vehicle for that exposition. 00:17:05.259 --> 00:17:08.099 Exactly. It is just amazing how every single 00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:10.920 piece of this 55 minute film, from the pacing 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:13.119 of the text cards to the trick performing horse, 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:16.940 serves a very specific, highly efficient narrative 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:19.109 purpose. It's tightly constructed. It really 00:17:19.109 --> 00:17:21.410 is. And that honestly brings us full circle. 00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:23.750 For you listening to this right now, you might 00:17:23.750 --> 00:17:25.529 have wondered at the start why you should care 00:17:25.529 --> 00:17:28.230 about a short silent Western from over a century 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:31.329 ago. And the answer is that everything we love 00:17:31.329 --> 00:17:33.650 about modern thrillers was already fully formed 00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:37.119 and thrilling audiences in 1924. The foundational 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.400 architecture of suspense just hasn't changed 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.240 a bit. It really hasn't. You have the ticking 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.920 clock, right? The deed must be filed tomorrow 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.019 or all is lost. You have the corrupt institutional 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:49.740 villain using vast corporate wealth and legal 00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:52.660 loopholes to subvert the law. The hostile takeover. 00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:57.069 Yes. You have the explosive, chaotic opening 00:17:57.069 --> 00:17:59.190 sequence that drops you right into the middle 00:17:59.190 --> 00:18:02.009 of the action and forces you to play catch -up. 00:18:02.069 --> 00:18:04.890 And you have the charismatic, rugged hero with 00:18:04.890 --> 00:18:08.690 his trusty, scene -stealing, non -human sidekick. 00:18:08.789 --> 00:18:11.029 All the pieces are there. They didn't have IMAX 00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:13.289 cameras or digital surround sound, but they knew 00:18:13.289 --> 00:18:16.410 exactly how to manipulate tension, stakes, and 00:18:16.410 --> 00:18:18.769 audience empathy. They were absolute masters 00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:21.390 of the tools they had available. And yet, for 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:23.500 all the clear narr - structure we've discussed. 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:25.920 Yeah. You know, the bankers, the dams, the cowboys, 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:28.759 the property deeds. There is one detail in the 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:31.319 source material that is wonderfully baffling. 00:18:31.619 --> 00:18:35.200 Oh. What is the missing puzzle piece? Well, it's 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:36.599 something that I think leaves us with a truly 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:39.000 fascinating final thought about the nature of 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.299 film history. Okay, I'm intrigued. If you look 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:43.779 closely at the cast list for $50 ,000 reward. 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:46.740 past Ken Maynard, past Esther Ralston, past the 00:18:46.740 --> 00:18:48.579 actors playing the corrupt banker and the hired 00:18:48.579 --> 00:18:51.599 thugs, you find a very strange cluster of credits. 00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:55.099 There are six different actresses listed. Their 00:18:55.099 --> 00:18:58.700 names are Olive Trevor, Fern Lorraine, Catherine 00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:03.180 DeForest, Edith Flynn, Grace Fay, and Nancy Zantz. 00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:06.380 Six actresses? Six of them. And every single 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:08.559 one of them is credited exclusively with the 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:11.940 character name Follies Girl. Wait, really? Six 00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:14.750 Follies Girls? Like... Glamorous cabaret dancers. 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:16.529 Six of them. Now, keeping in mind everything 00:19:16.529 --> 00:19:19.049 we just discussed, the gritty Montana setting, 00:19:19.490 --> 00:19:22.329 the ruthless corporate land grab over a reclamation 00:19:22.329 --> 00:19:26.210 dam, the violent mob chases up steep hills. How 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:29.069 on earth did an entire troop of glamorous Follies 00:19:29.069 --> 00:19:31.789 girls fit into this narrative? That is so weird. 00:19:31.849 --> 00:19:34.109 Did the bank president host a massive theatrical 00:19:34.109 --> 00:19:36.509 review in a frontier town to celebrate his dam? 00:19:36.829 --> 00:19:39.769 Maybe. Or did Tex Sherwood hide out in a traveling 00:19:39.769 --> 00:19:42.940 cabaret to escape the mob? We don't know. The 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:45.380 Wikipedia plot summary focuses entirely on the 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:48.279 cowboys, the dams, and the bankers. It leaves 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:50.960 the presence of these six follies girls completely 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.500 unexplained. That is incredible. It's like finding 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:56.140 a historical cast list for Die Hard and seeing 00:19:56.140 --> 00:19:58.259 half a dozen people credited as ballet dancer 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:00.380 with absolutely no explanation as to what they 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:03.259 were doing in the Nakatomi Plaza. Yes. And it 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:06.650 is a wonderful... Honestly, somewhat haunting 00:20:06.650 --> 00:20:09.970 reminder of the fragility of cinematic history. 00:20:10.349 --> 00:20:13.430 Yeah. When a film is over a century old and all 00:20:13.430 --> 00:20:16.490 we have, easily accessible, are written summaries 00:20:16.490 --> 00:20:19.109 of the main plot points, so much of the actual 00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:22.869 flavor, the weird tangents, the texture of the 00:20:22.869 --> 00:20:26.079 film itself is just lost to time. That is kind 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.180 of sad, actually. It is. We can perfectly analyze 00:20:29.180 --> 00:20:31.640 the central conflict of the water rights and 00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:35.299 the bank president. But the fringes of the story, 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.640 like half a dozen chorus girls inexplicably wandering 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.119 through a Montana land dispute, are left. entirely 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:44.319 to our imagination. But, you know, it invites 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:46.200 you to fill in the blank spaces yourself, which 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:47.900 is kind of beautiful. You start to realize that 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:50.380 the history of cinema isn't just what we meticulously 00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:52.500 preserve in archives. It's the mysteries that 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:54.579 slip through the cracks of a plot summary. Absolutely. 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:56.160 It really makes you think about that sensory 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:58.099 expectation we talked about at the very beginning. 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:00.359 When you sit down for a modern action movie, 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.839 the surround sound and the rumbling seats give 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:05.279 you absolutely everything. They leave nothing 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.779 to the imagination. But a hundred years ago, 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.230 a black screen with the word help forced you 00:21:11.230 --> 00:21:13.690 to build the entire soundscape in your own mind. 00:21:13.990 --> 00:21:17.789 And today, a century later, a mysterious cast 00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:20.390 list of Follies Girls forces you to build the 00:21:20.390 --> 00:21:22.769 missing scenes in your imagination all over again. 00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:24.309 That's a great way to look at it. Even after 00:21:24.309 --> 00:21:26.509 100 years, the movie is still making you do the 00:21:26.509 --> 00:21:28.750 work. And honestly, the story is better for it.