The Bandit's Wager
About The Bandit's Wager
Grace Cunard is out West visiting her brother, played by John Ford. A masked bandit, played by Francis Ford, rides up to the tree where she is reading and demands a kiss. She refuses. He bets that one day she will kiss him of her own accord. The next day she and her brother run out of gas while motoring. He walks to town for more. She waits in a house, and the bandit walks in.
Cast & crew
More about The Bandit's Wager
Francis Ford directed and played the bandit. Grace Cunard wrote the one-reel story and played the sister. John Ford, Francis's younger brother, plays her brother. Universal released it in 1916. IMDb dates it 5 November 1916. The BFI National Archive holds a print.
Themes
Making
Ford used his own small company: himself as the masked rider, his brother as the man who goes for gasoline, and Cunard, who had written the scene, under the tree with a book.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
The BFI National Archive holds a one-reel print.
Notes
- Cunard and Francis Ford had joined Universal together in 1913. They were not married, and the publicity did not treat them as a couple.
- John Ford appears here years before he directed features.
- The Women Film Pioneers Project lists it as A Bandit's Wager, one reel, black and white, scenario by Cunard.
- The wager is a kiss given freely, not taken.
- A surviving copy is at the BFI National Archive.
Scenes
- The masked rider stops at the tree where she is reading and asks for a kiss.
- The car runs dry. Her brother walks to town, and Francis Ford comes into the house where she is waiting.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-bandits-wager)
- BFI National Archive
