Bells of San Juan

Bells of San Juan
	Newspaper advertisement
Directed by	Scott R. Dunlap
Produced by	William Fox
Written by	Rex Taylor
Based on	The Bells of San Juan; by Jackson Gregory
Starring	Buck Jones
Cinematography	Dev Jennings
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date	October 15, 1922;
Running time	35 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Bells of San Juan is a 1922 American Pre-Code Western film directed by Scott Dunlap and starring Buck Jones.[2] It was based on the Jackson Gregory novel The Bells of San Juan.[3] It was the first of five films where Claude Peyton was cast alongside Jones.[4]

Plot

Buck Jones plays Roderick Norton, a sheriff on a crusade to find and apprehend the man who murdered his father. Unable to restore order in the mining town where he is appointed, he loses favor with the townspeople. The villain, revealed to be Jim Garson (Claude Peyton) and his gang make life miserable for Norton, culminating with the abduction of his girlfriend, frontier doctor Dorothy Page (played by Fritzi Brunette), by Garson's henchmen the Rickard brothers, in order to entrap the hero. Roderick is successful in rescuing Dorothy, but in the process he suffers a head injury which changes his personality, turning him into a thief whom his friends are unable to trust. He is brought back to his old self through the medical ministrations of Dorothy, and is able to obtain a confession regarding the murder of his father from the Rickards, allowing the capture and arrest of Garson.[1][2][5]

Reception

Motion Picture News reviewed the film on October 28, 1922. It found the plot entirely predictable, and thought that it was one of Jones' weaker films.[2]

Cast

Charles "Buck" Jones as Roderick Norton
Fritzi Brunette as Dorothy Page
Claude Peyton as Jim Garson
Harry Todd Dr. Caleb Patton
Hardy Kirkland as John Engel
Katherine Key as Florrie Engel
William Steele as Kid Rickland
Otto Matieson as Antone
Sid Jordan as Tom Cutter

References

American Film Institute (1971). Munden, Kenneth White (ed.). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Issue 2. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780520209695.
Rainey, Buck (1988). The Life and Films of Buck Jones: the Silent Era. Waynesville, North Carolina: The World of Yesterday. p. 130. ISBN 0-936505-07-9.
Rainey, Buck (1988). The Life and Films of Buck Jones: the Silent Era. Waynesville, North Carolina: The World of Yesterday. p. 41. ISBN 0-936505-07-9.
Katchmer, George A. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 297. ISBN 9781476609058.
Langman, Larry (1992). A Guide to Silent Westerns. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 27. ISBN 9780313278587.

External links

Bells of San Juan (1922) at IMDb
Synopsis at AllMovie

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[afi-1] American Film Institute (1971). Munden, Kenneth White (ed.). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Issue 2. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780520209695.

[2buck-2] Rainey, Buck (1988). The Life and Films of Buck Jones: the Silent Era. Waynesville, North Carolina: The World of Yesterday. p. 130. ISBN 0-936505-07-9.

[3] Rainey, Buck (1988). The Life and Films of Buck Jones: the Silent Era. Waynesville, North Carolina: The World of Yesterday. p. 41. ISBN 0-936505-07-9.

[4] Katchmer, George A. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 297. ISBN 9781476609058.

[5] Langman, Larry (1992). A Guide to Silent Westerns. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 27. ISBN 9780313278587.