A Guide to Silent Westerns

(Hardback)

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Description

This film guide lists the screen credits and provides synopses of more than 5,400 silent Western features, documentaries, shorts and serials released from the 1890s through to 1930. Numerous one-, two- and three-reelers are included in this guide. These Westerns came from both the major and lesser known American film studios, many of which are long defunct. The term "Western" is hard to define; someone once commented that a Western has to have a horse in it. The genre generally applies to that post-Civil War period beginning with the great cattle drives and ending around 1890. But the author has included here tales about early California, Mexico, various Indian tribes along the Eastern seaboard, the building of the railroad, the gold rush of 1849 and the search for gold in the Yukon. Other films which seem to have less in common with the genre, such as northern Westerns, are listed in a separate appendix.

Reviews

Recommended for libraries with strong film collections, serving serious students of silent film.-Choice
This book should serve many reference uses for a long time to come. Research collections with film interests will need this book.-Book of the South West
"Recommended for libraries with strong film collections, serving serious students of silent film."-Choice
"This book should serve many reference uses for a long time to come. Research collections with film interests will need this book."-Book of the South West

Author Bio

LARRY LANGMAN is a film historian and writer, who has published extensively.