The Forbidden Trail (Silent)

A small wagon train driven by poor settlers is ambushed on the frontier by bandits. Cavalry Colonel Jim Merriwell gallantly tries to protect the defenseless homesteaders, but is shot and killed by outlaw leader Red Dugan. The only survivors of the ambush - family servant Mose and the infant Isobel - are kidnapped by Dugan's gang. More than a decade and a half later, Colonel Merriwell's grown son, Jack, has become a man of the law. Having finally learned the true circumstances of his father's death, Jack seeks revenge and justice. While undercover to try and locate the elusive Dugan Gang, Jack falls in love with the young and beautiful Isobel Dugan - the infant that Red abducted and raised as his own. Now, Jack must not only bring his father's killer to justice, but keep this mission from destroying the love he has found.

Champion rodeo star Jack Hoxie appeared in over 100 silent Westerns, based on his superior riding skills, but the advent of sound films was difficult for him (as it was for many of the silent era stars), and he only worked in a half-dozen talkies before retiring to his Oklahoma ranch in the late 1930s. Forbidden Trail was written and directed by prolific filmmaker Robert N. Bradbury, who would later helm many talking pictures featuring his son, popular cowboy star Bob Steele.

Silent screen star Jack Hoxie headlines this oater from 1923. As the tale opens, tragedy strikes: a ruthless band of outlaws, led by the vicious Red Dugan, ambushes a wagon train driven by impoverished settlers. Calvary Colonel Jim Merriwell attempts to save the day, but meets his fate from Dugan's bullets; Red then promptly kidnaps the survivors of his ambush, including Isobel, an infant child. The story jumps ahead fifteen years, when Jim Merriwell's son, Jack (Hoxie) learns of the events that precipitates his father's death, and sets out to avenge the original crime; in the process, he falls in love with Isobel, now a teenager well on her way to womanhood, who has been raised by the evil Red.