Scout the Horse Movies

Easy-to-please rural audiences got two aging Western stars for the price of one with this low-budget silent oater directed by the ubiquitous Robert J. Horner. Art Acord stars as Johnny Douglas, a highwayman known as "the White Outlaw" because of his usual disguise of a white scarf and because he only steals from the greedy and the corrupt. But when double-crossed by nasty Jed Isbell (Lew Meehan), Johnny returns to his hometown and obtains a job as a ranch hand under an assumed name. The rancher, Colonel Holbrook (Howard Davies), is being squeezed by crooked gambler Chet Wagner (Dick Nores), who intends to marry his daughter Janice (Vivian May). The latter agrees to the proposal in order to save the ranch and a distraught Ted Williams (Bill Patton), who is in love with the girl, takes to robbing the stage wearing Johnny's trademark white scarf. The authorities naturally mistakes Ted for the outlaw, but Johnny not only saves the boy from a jail term but also manages to implicate the villainous Isbell. A family affair, The White Outlaw was penned by character actor Robert McKenzie, who also plays a comic pit part and whose wife, Eva, briefly appears as Douglas' mother. Playing the boss villain is one Dick Nores, a non-actor who was Acord's brother-in-law at the time. Al Hoxie appears as a sheriff courtesy of footage from an earlier Robert J. Horner oater. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Cowboy star Jack Hoxie spends an inordinate amount of time away from his horse in Looking for Trouble. In this one, he's preoccupied with bringing a gang of diamond smugglers to justice. Of courses, he's not too busy to spend a bit of quality time with the heroine, the gloriously yclept Tulip Hellier (Marceline Day). In the final reels, however, he mounts his faithful steed Scout and brings the villains' perfidious activities to a sudden end. Looking for Trouble contains far too little action to suit the fans of Jack Hoxie -- or Hoxie's critics, who delighted in complaining about the actor's constitutional inability to convey a believable emotion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi