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The Rustler’s Daughter
(1912) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by [?] Gaston Méliès and/or Robert Goodman?
Cast: Mildred Bracken [Molly, the rustler’s daughter], Francis Ford, [?] William Clifford? [the sheriff]
G. Méliès production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. / Released 30 May 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [From Méliès promotional materials] Molly, acting as her own detective, finds that her father and his men are horse thieves. Returning, she helps a stranger who has met with an accident, takes him home, where to her horror she learns that he is the Sheriff searching for horse thieves. The Gang returns home and on dividing up the spoils an argument follow in which Molly’s father is shot. The Sheriff, hearing all, telephones to his posse. Upon their arrival they arrest the Gang. Molly, grieved over the death of her father, begs to be arrested also, but the Sheriff refuses, remembering her kind act. // [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Molly, curious to know where her father and his men got so many fine horses, acts as her own sleuth. A noise in the bushes arouses the gang, one of whom goes to investigate only to find that it was the girl he loved. Thus to her astonishment she learns that her father is a horse thief. The sheriff, being notified by the governor that horse thieves are busy in his vicinity, disguises himself as an easterner in order not to draw suspicion. Molly, homeward bound, watches the stranger on horseback, and seeing him fall over the cliff, owing to the saddle girth breaking, rushes to his aid. She brings him home and, while taking off his coat, spies his badge. Her father returns with the men, and an argument in the next room in which her father is shot, tells the whole story to the sheriff who has been in hiding. He telephones to his deputies that he has discovered the thieves. On their arrival they arrest the gang. Molly, grieved over the death of her father, begs to be arrested also, but the sheriff, remembering how she saved his life, refuses to do so and begs her forgiveness in playing the part of a spy.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 15 June 1912, page ?] This picture shows some good scenery in the vicinity of Santa Paula, Cal. The title role is taken by Miss Mildred Bracken, who, as Molly, discovers, when her father and his men bring home a number of horses, that he is a rustler. The sheriff, in response to a complaint from the Governor, starts out alone and in disguise, to discover the thieves. On the edge of a cliff his saddle girth breaks, the sheriff is thrown down the rocks, and is found by Molly, who has seen the mishap. Molly assists the law officer to her home, where, on removing his coat, she discovers his star and instantly realizes his mission. The unfolding of the story, showing the sale of the horses, the entrance of the thieves into the house to divide the spoils, while Molly conceals the sheriff behind a door; the quarrel over the division of the money, the shooting of the father and the arrest of the culprits by the sheriff’s men, who have come for him in response to his telephone message, is coherent and well done. The sheriff, of course, did not know he was in the presence of the thieves until the trouble started with Molly’s father dead and her sweetheart under arrest for his murder, she accepts the hand of the sheriff, somewhat sudden, to be sure, but it makes a good windup for a stirring melodrama.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 24 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star p. 231 : ClasIm-226 p. 55 : Website-IMDb.
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