Art Acord Movies

Cowboy Jack Manning (Art Acord) and his young sidekick Eczema (Moe McCrea) come to the aid of a circus clown (Cesare Gravina) about to be lynched for a bank robbery he didn't commit. Character actor Gravina, a rare guest in series Westerns, hails from Italy. Grotesque-looking and almost deformed, he became a particular favorite of director Erich Von Stroheim, who highlighted him in films such as Foolish Wives (1922) and The Wedding March (1928). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In one of his few surviving Westerns, silent screen cowboy Art Acord plays Dick Weatherby, a young rancher whose unscrupulous father "Bulldog" is making a fortune buying up the neighboring ranches and selling them to road builders. When Pete (Tom Bay), Dick's cousin, robs the Weatherby safe, Bulldog blames Tom Wayne (Jack Ponder), an especially recalcitrant neighbor, and orders Dick to get rid of the rest of the Wayne family. Instead of ousting her, Dick falls in love with Tom's pretty sister Nesta (Peggy Montgomery) and promises to help her keep the ranch. An angered Pete kidnaps Nesta, but she is saved by Dick. Out of jail on bail, Tom confronts Bulldog, who suddenly sees the error of his ways and has a reconciliation with Dick. Pete makes himself scarce and Dick proposes to Nesta. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Hard-drinking silent screen hero Art Acord starred opposite his then-wife Louise Lorraine in this Universal oater directed by a young William Wyler. The story is something about a fake army colonel (Albert J. Smith) who blackmails Acord into doing his bidding, including smearing a rancher and his pretty daughter (Louise Lorraine. Unfortunately listed among the countless missing silent films, this Acord vehicle remains the most obscure film in director William Wyler's portfolio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

William Wyler directed this fairly good Art Acord vehicle that also featured a very young Fay Wray in the female lead. Cowboy Lance Lighton (Acord) is known as "Lazy Lightning" because he's capable of riding like the wind but chooses not to. Lance is snapped out of his lethargy when little Dickie Rodgers (Bobby Gordon) -- the kid brother of the lovely Lila Rogers (Wray) -- is stricken with a fatal illness. Mounting his horse and riding hell for leather, Lance races through a spectacular rainstorm to rush a vial of life-saving serum to Dickie's bedside. Once this is accomplished, our hero sets about to foil the villain (Arthur Morrison) and win the heroine, Lila. Of the many "lost" films of Art Acord, Lazy Lightning would be worth seeing again if only as an early example of the directorial expertise of William Wyler. Vin Moore, otherwise a busy director of Universal western 2-reelers, played the sheriff. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Joseph Saneth produced this obscure silent western in which troubled star Art Acord plays a cowboy who must fight a former friend (Jack Richardson), now an alcoholic outlaw. Basically a preachment against the devil hop, Looped for Life ironically starred an actor whose life, marriages and, eventually, career were ruined by alcoholism. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Veteran serial star William Desmond earned a rare opportunity to play comedy in this well-received Universal western about an Arizona cowboy forced to live in a San Francisco mansion for a year. The cowboy, Sky Parker, is willed a fortune by an eccentric uncle but can only claim the inheritance after spending a year at the uncle's Nob Hill estate. Parker, who arrives with a retinue of five unruly cowpunchers, gets into all kinds of humorous situations, very much as a certain clan of hillbillies would decades later on television. Sky's evil cousin Miller (Stanhope Wheatcroft) hires a dancing girl, Maize (Ann Forrest), to further lead the cowboy astray, but she of course falls for the charming rustic and refuses to comply. But when Sky asks Maize to marry him, she guiltily takes the next train out of town. Undeterred, Sky chases the train, first in a car which he crashes, then on a stolen motorcycle. Boarding the train at full speed, Sky learns the truth from the repentant Maize, whom he quickly forgives. Directed by the capable Arthur Rosson, Ridin' Pretty was a popular success that did much to re-establish the aging Desmond. Forrest was a former stunt-driver from Denmark, who had earlier starred opposite William Farnum in the Zane Grey western The Rainbow Trail (1918). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In one of his better "Blue Streak" Westerns for Universal, Art Acord, playing Bill Bradley, saves Betty Brent (Velma Connor) and her kid brother, Mike (Jimsy Boudwin), from perishing in a forest fire. When word spreads that Betty is actually 18, a committee of citizens, headed by Cliff Barrowes (Edmund Cobb), marches into the Bradley homestead and forcibly removes the children. But Barrowes, whose father holds a mortgage on Bill's property, is soon wooing the girl himself. The girl gets herself kidnapped by a gang of outlaws, but is saved in the nick of time, not by Barrowes, but by Bill and his faithful dog, Rex. Bill receives a reward for rounding up the kidnappers, pays off his mortgage, and marries Betty. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Universal cowboy ace Art Acord once again rescued a damsel in distress from a runaway carriage in this well made silent Western. This time around, Acord played Pony Express rider Jack Marley, the damsel was Fay Wray, and the vehicle was a stagecoach. Mildred (Wray) is travelling West in search of her long-lost father when she catches the roving eye of wicked dance-hall proprietor "Hawk" Kent (Captain C.E. Anderson). She turns him down flat and Kent has his henchman Blaze (J. Gordon Russell) frame her in a crime. To keep herself out of jail, Mildred is compelled to work in Kent's dive, until the ever-gallant Jack once again comes to her rescue. Blaze offers to turn traitor and receives a bullet for his efforts. But before he expires, the ex-henchman reveals that he is Mildred's father. Still a relatively unknown starlet, Fay Wray was still little over four years away from her memorable encounter with King Kong. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In one of his few surviving Westerns, silent screen cowboy hero Art Acord plays Bill Strong, a U.S. Marshal witnessing Red Hank (Cliff Lyons) and his gang rob the Bear Valley mail truck and take the guard, Jake Grant (Horace B. Carpenter), hostage. Impersonating a foppish Easterner, Strong ("the Arizona Kid") infiltrates the gang, who come to admire his abilities with a gun. The situation gets complicated, however, with the arrival of Mary Grant (Carol Lane, Jake's daughter, whom Strong has rescued from a runaway horse. Red orders Strong to bring Mary to an abandoned shack for a romantic encounter but the Arizona Kid instead enables Jake to escape. While the gang takes up the chase, the Kid arrives at the shack just in time to prevent Hank from molesting Mary. The villain is subdued and his henchmen are eventually picked up by Sheriff Morton (Bill Conant) and his posse. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Betraying its origin, David Belasco's popular stage melodrama The Squaw Man reached the screen in February of 1914, courtesy of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Already an old wheeze by then, the story of miscegenation in the Old West was supposed to have been filmed on locations near Flagstaff, Arizona. Young Cecil B. DeMille, who was to share directorial duties with veteran stage performer Oscar Apfel, and the Lasky crew arrived in the middle of a storm and decided to remain on the train until the final destination. Debarking in sunny Los Angeles, the Lasky people rented half of a barn in the suburb of Hollywood where the Squaw Man finally went before the camera on December 29, 1913. The finished 6-reel-long melodrama thus became the first feature western to be shot entirely in Hollywood. The result is a terribly dull but typical Victorian romance about a English peer (Dustin Farnum) falsely accused of a crime actually committed by his brother. He escapes to the American West and marries an Indian maiden (Red Wing). Years later, on his deathbed, the brother confesses, thus freeing the hero to reclaim title and lands. The Indian wife, meanwhile, has conveniently murdered someone and is herself killed, leaving the Englishman able to return to home and hearth without suffering the embarrassment of being called a "Squaw Man." DeMille remained strangely sentimental about this -- his screen debut -- and filmed the play twice more, in 1918 starring Elliott Dexter, and again in 1931 starring Warner Baxter. The story didn't improve with age. The location of the now-famous Lasky barn, on Selma Avenue near Vine Street, became the headquarters of Paramount when Lasky merged with competitor Adolph Zukor. It remains today as the oldest film company located in geographical Hollywood. Always on the verge of being torn down, the old barn later saw duty as a gymnasium and, later still, was the train depot in the Bonanza television series. In the 1980s, the barn was moved to a new location on Odin Street near the Hollywood Bowl and functioned as a studio museum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Produced by Poverty Row company Truart and directed by comedian Billy Bletcher, this low-budget outdoors melodrama headlined the husband-and-wife team of Art Acord and Louise Lorraine, both formerly of Universal.The real stars of the film, however, were Rex, a dog, and Black Beauty, a horse. Dog and horse belong to Pattie, the "wild girl" of the title (Lorraine), who rejects a proposal from uncouth mountaineer Lige Blew in favor of romancing handsome photographer Billy Woodruff (Acord). Taking umbrage to the girl's decision, Lige frames Pattie's granddad (Andrew Waldron) for murder. The old man is shipped off to jail and Pattie is left in Lige's power. Rex and Black Beauty, however, manage to fetch Billy, who returns just in time to save the girl from a fate worse than death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Colorado-born Pete Morrison replaced Universal's own Art Acord as the star of this silent Western about a ranger falsely accused of being in collusion with cattle rustlers. Actually, Ranger Dave Mannion is framed by Blackie Braxton (Les Bates), a rustler dealing in deceased cattle. Having lost his badge, Mannion discovers that Braxton has deposited the cattle at the ranch owned by innocent Don Pio Mendez (Lafe McKee). Bruxton and his henchman Prang (Harry Von Meter), meanwhile, have kidnapped Mannion's girlfriend Doris (Trilby Clark), whom they bring to the Mendez hacienda. With the assistance of Doris' aviator brother (Charles King), Mannion parachutes into the hacienda, singlehandedly defeating the holed up villains. The boozy, brawling Acord, who was to have starred in this film, was once again on the outs with studio owner Carl Laemmle, and the property was handed over to the less prestigious Morrison unit. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide