The Desert Man

The Desert Man — Plot

William S. Hart directs and stars in a film that is a typical Western of the era. He plays Jim, a prospector who lands in the town of Broken Hope, and the name pretty much describes its inhabitants. Jim meets and falls in love with Jennie (Margery Wilson), whose father (Walt Whitman) is gravely ill. Jim rounds up a reluctant doctor from another town to tend to the old man, but he dies anyway. The doctor, however, gains Jennie's trust and she runs off with him. Only then does he tell her he's already married. She leaves immediately, but is too proud to go home so she finds work as a dance hall girl at Tacoma Jake's saloon. Jim, meanwhile, finds gold near Broken Hope, which raises its inhabitants' attitudes considerably. But the bad element is still there, and Jim is chasing after a group of kidnappers when he enters Tacoma Jake's saloon and sees Jennie. Jim not only overcomes the bad guys, he gets the girl, too.

• Release date
• April 22, 1917
• Runtime
• 50 min
• Genres
• Western
• Director
• William S. Hart

The Desert Man — Cast

William S. Hart Jim Alton Margery Wilson Jennie

B

Buster Irving Joey

H

Henry Belmar Razor Joe

M

Milton Ross Tacoma Jake Jack Livingston Dr. Howard Walt Whitman Old Burns

J

Josephine Headley Katy