'49–'17

1917 Western 62 minutes Directed by Ruth Ann Baldwin

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About '49–'17

Judge Brand, bored with city life after the 1849 rush, sends his secretary Tom Robbins to rebuild the abandoned camp of Nugget Notch and to look for his dead partner's daughter. Tom hires J. Gordon Castle's broke Wild West troupe and falls for Lady Ann Bobbett, whom the gambler Gentleman Jim Raynor wants kept clear of him. Raynor lowers Tom into a rocky pit; Tom climbs out, finds gold, and the make-believe camp becomes a boom town. A necklace identifies Ann as Lorena Adams, the missing heir. Raynor robs the camp and kidnaps her, and Brand and Tom run him down.

Cast & crew

More about '49–'17

Ruth Ann Baldwin wrote the scenario from William Wallace Cook's story "The Old West Per Contract," published in Argosy in May and June 1916. Universal issued it as a Butterfly picture. Shooting began in July 1917 at Universal City, with location work in San Diego. The New York Clipper said it was being made on a larger scale than any play Baldwin had handled.

Themes

Making

Stephen S. Norton photographed it. The cast also includes William J. Dyer as the showman J. Gordon Castle, Mattie Witting and George C. Pearce as Ma and Pa Bobbett, and Harry Rattenberry as Colonel Hungerford.

Reviews

A 1917 Exhibitors Herald review called '49–'17 "boresome" and said a viewer could shift in the seat and then fall asleep.

Look

Stephen S. Norton shot the five-reel picture, including the San Diego exteriors and the rebuilt mining camp.

Preservation

A complete print is held by the Library of Congress. Kino Lorber included a tinted copy in the 2018 Blu-ray and DVD set Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers.

Notes

  • Wikipedia and contemporary trade notes call it the first Western directed by a woman.
  • Leo Pierson, who plays Tom Robbins, was Baldwin's husband.
  • Jean Hersholt plays Gentleman Jim Raynor, and Donna Drew plays Lady Ann Bobbett.
  • ZaSu Pitts appears as a party guest.
  • Universal copyrighted the five-reel film on October 5, 1917, as LP11510.
  • Silent Era also lists the working title The Old West Per Contract.

Scenes

  • Raynor lowers Tom into the rocks, and Tom finds gold on the way out.
  • At the banquet, Brand recognizes the necklace that marks Ann as Lorena Adams.
  • Raynor robs Nugget Notch and rides off with Ann.

Influenced by

  • William Wallace Cook's story "The Old West Per Contract" (1916)

Also available

  • Kino Lorber, Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers (2018 Blu-ray and DVD)
  • Library of Congress