The Desert Scorpion

1920 American silent Western film by Otis B. Thayer

January 15, 1920 (1920-01-15)

Running time

6 reelsCountryUnited StatesLanguagesSilent
English intertitles

The Desert Scorpion (originally titled The Last of the Open Range) is a 1920 American silent Western film directed by Otis B. Thayer and starring Edmund Cobb and Vida Johnson. The film was shot in Denver, Colorado by the Thayer's Art-O-Graf film company.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Plot

A feud between sheepherders and cattlemen heats up when the cattlemen set fire to the sheepherder's homes. The Sheepherder, who is in love with the Cattle Queen's daughter, leads a robbery on the cattlemen's bank. The Sheriff's daughter is impregnated and deserted by the Cattle Queen's daughter's fiancé. The sheepherders rescue her and abduct the Cattle King's daughter to nurse her back to health. The cattlemen track them back to the cabin where everything is revealed and forgiven. And the Cattle Queen's daughter falls in love with the Sheepherder.

Cast

Edmund Cobb as the Sheepherder
Vida Johnson as his daughter
Clare Hatten as the Cattle Queen
Otis B. Thayer as the Sheriff
Gretchen Wood as a sheepherder's wife
Zelma Edwards
Frank Gallager
A. E. McCormick
Dave Campbell
Babe Courvoisier
Fred Shafer
Lewis Milner

Crew

Otis B. Thayer Managing Director
Vernon L. Walker Head Cameraman
H. Haller Murphy Cameraman

References

^ "A Guide to Silent Westerns" By Larry Langman, Greenwood press 1992, page 116
^ "Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits 1903-1995: Section I. Actors and actresses. Section II. Directors, producers, and writers" by Harris M. Lentz, McFarland, 1996, pages 169, 771
^ "Eighty Silent Film Stars: Biographies and Filmographies of the Obscure to the Well Known" by George A. Katchmer, McFarland, 1991, page 144
^ "The strong, silent type: over 100 screen cowboys, 1903-1930" by Buck Rainey, McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub, 2004, page 159-160