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William Clifford (left).
Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
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Dodging the Sheriff
(1912) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by [?] Robert Goodman and/or Gaston Méliès?
Cast: William Clifford [Bobby Trevor], Henry Stanley [the sheriff], [?] Francis Ford?
Méliès Star-Film [American] production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. / Released 8 February 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? A young English aristocrat is disowned by his gouty old father for refusing to marry the old gentleman’s ward. The son felt that he should be allowed to see the world before undertaking matrimony, and departs for America to earn his living. We next observe him arriving at a California ranch town where he intends to try his luck. On the same coach is a winsome new schoolmarm whose destination is the same. California girls are difficult for a young Englishman to resist, or any other class of men for that matter, as we soon discover by the attentions that are paid her at the country schoolhouse by the young Englishman and the local sheriff, who proves to be an amicable rival. Meanwhile the Englishman has proven himself to be a good fellow and gets on well with the cowboys. One night at the tavern somebody shot the bartender in the foot, and all hands fled, including the tenderfoot, supposing that the rumseller had been killed. In this way they became fugitives from justice without any great cause. Shortly afterward an attorney arrives from England in search of the tenderfoot to inform him that he is heir to his deceased father’s property. When the young man found out that he was being sought he made strenuous efforts to escape, but was caught playing ‘possum’ by the schoolmarm herself. She collected the reward that the lawyer had offered for him, and the young man was much surprised to know that he had been running away from a good thing. He got the fortune surely enough, but he did not get the schoolmarm because his father’s ward had come from England and looked better to him. For that the sheriff was grateful, as it gave him an opportunity to win the pretty schoolteacher, which he did. / [From Méliès promotional materials] Refused the payment of his debts unless he marry, Bobby Trevor quits his Uncle’s luxurious London home to seek his own fortune in Western America. A fight in the town saloon culminates in a shooting affair, and Bobby, fearing that he may be implicated, flees with the guilty ones. Soon a placard is wanted offering a reward of $1,000 for the finding of Bobby Trevor, and a wild time he has evading the Sheriff. But when at last he is led to the Sheriff, by a fair captor, it transpires that he is only wanted to inherit his late uncle’s entire fortune.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Law: Enforcement: Police: Sheriffs
Listing updated: 14 October 2022.
References: Thompson-Star p. 231 : ClasIm-226 p. 55 : Website-IMDb.
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