By the Sun's Rays
About By the Sun's Rays
Gold shipments from a Colorado mine keep getting robbed. Detective John Murdock is sent to help superintendent John Davis. The clerk, Frank Lawler, wants Davis's daughter Dora. She prefers Murdock. Murdock sees Lawler slip out of the office and flash a mirror to signal the bandits. With the men away, Lawler corners Dora in the office. She holds him off until help can get there.
Cast & crew
More about By the Sun's Rays
Charles Giblyn directed this one-reel western for Nestor. Universal released it on July 22, 1914, production number 0619. Wikipedia gives 11 minutes. Murdock MacQuarrie plays Detective John Murdock. Lon Chaney plays Frank Lawler. Seymour Hastings plays John Davis. Agnes Vernon plays Dora. Richard Rosson plays a bandit. Silent Era calls it the earliest surviving Chaney film. A still shows Chaney as Lawler. It is in the public domain in the United States.
Themes
Making
Giblyn stages the robbery tip as a mirror flash Lawler sends from the office window.
Preservation
Silent Era lists a surviving 16mm reduction positive and calls this the earliest surviving Chaney film. Public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Also filed as By the Sun's Ray and The Sun's Rays.
- The signal is a mirror from the mine office, not a written note.
- A 16mm reduction positive exists. A video release came out in 1995.
- Eddie Lyons is on the Silent Era cast list.
Scenes
- Lawler flashes a mirror to the bandits when a shipment comes in.
- He corners Dora in the office while the posse is out.
