Winds of Chance (1925)

Frank Lloyd, who directed The Sea Beast, tried to create another epic with this Rex Beach tale of the 1897 gold rush. The story, however, isn't all that interesting, and there are too many important characters that muddy the plot. Pierce Phillips (a miscast Ben Lyon) loses his stake in a shell game and winds up hiring himself out to carry goods for the McCaskeys to the next camp. He meets and joins up with Tom (Claude Gillingwater) and Jerry (Charles Crockett), two old prospectors, and also meets the beautiful Countess Courteau (Anna Q. Nilsson). Phillips helps her take her belongings through the rapids, but they are estranged when she reveals that she is already married. Phillips gets work as a gold weigher in a dancehall, where Laura (Dorothy Sebastian) tries to vamp him. When he turns her down, she teams up with McCaskey (Fred Kohler). They try to frame Phillips for a robbery. The Count (Philo McCullough) has gone to inform the police, but he is killed en route. Phillips is blamed for this too, but it's finally revealed that one of McCaskey's clan did the job. After all these confusing events, Phillips and the Countess find happiness. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi