Alright, now I really want to find the rest of the Blue Streak series because if they're anything like The Stolen Ranch, then they must be fun and surprisingly affecting little short stories of films. I've some experience with this era and genre of film, mostly the early works of John Ford, but The Stolen Ranch is so competently made, intelligently written, and professionally executed that it's obvious that Wyler had used the opportunity of his first eight films (seven two-reel films in the Mustang series and the first in the five-reel Blue Streak series, of which The Stolen Ranch is the second) learning the new craft of filmmaking as well as anyone else of his generation. My only reservation is that I wanted more time in this little universe with these characters to get to know them better.
Breezy Humes (Fred Humes) and Frank Wilcox (Ralph McCullough) return from WWI to the America West where Frank's uncle left him a ranch in his will. The ownership of the ranch is in question because the overseer, Sam Hardy (William Bailey), has called the will a forgery and claimed ownership. Frank, though, has been greatly affected by his involvement in the war in Europe, and it's here where the film has a surprising emotional depth from the beginning.
It's obvious from some of Wyler's later work like The Best Years of Our Lives that he had great affection for the men who went to war, and it's interesting to see it manifest so early in his career in slightly different form. In the trenches, Breezy and Frank were hit with a gas attack, but Breezy's air mask had a tear in it, making it useless, so Frank shared his own mask with Breezy. This bond of friendship is deep, and it makes complete sense why Breezy would decide to set his own concerns aside to help Frank figure out what's going on with his house. This movie is only an hour long, largely concerned with action, and yet it spends the time to give flashbacks to the act and dialogue around the connection that establishes both characters extremely well. It's actually kind of remarkable to see this level of complexity in building of character in so short of time in a silent film. Throw in the fact that Frank is suffering from shellshock, and you've got two likeable characters to lead a film.
Anyway, Breezy goes to the ranch to get a job, and because he has no experience with horses, he gets a job in the kitchen alongside Mary Jane (Louise Lorraine). Now, for all my praise of the two central, male leads, the pair of romantic subplots are pretty much mundane and typical. They're not a drag on the film, but they don't provide much either. The other romance is between Frank and June (Nita Cavalier) whom he meets painting in the countryside, and it does create a plot connection that plays out later as well. These aren't bad, but they're just not nearly as interesting as the central relationship between the two men.
There are machinations around Sam finding out that Frank is somewhere nearby with some suspicion that Breezy has a connection to him. There's a chase back and forth from the shack Frank is holed up in and the ranch, and a moment for Frank to completely get over his shellshock (this turn is...fine, not great), and it's all heart warming by the end. That heart-warming quality comes from the fact that the two central male characters are so clearly defined and likeable. They've been through hell together. They have only each other, and they make their future together. That their romances feel somewhat perfunctory is unfortunate and probably a symptom of the fact that the film had to do everything in about fifty minutes. I will say that Mary Jane has a moment that feels like it's going to be eye-rolling nonsense when she overhears a conversation, turning a moment into empty melodrama for the sake of empty melodrama, but Wyler and his writers (Robert F. Hill and George H. Plympton) pull her out and make the character less simplistic than she could have been.
Wyler's impeccable visual sense isn't developed at this point (he made about 30 films in 4 years at this point, so there just wasn't time), but it's never less than perfectly competent, the framing of a talented young filmmaker who's working very quickly. Performances are good as well, nothing that would embarrass anyone, even deep into the silent period that this is.
The biggest effect this has had on me is wanting to find the rest of the Blue Streak series that Wyler made for Universal in the 20s. The Stolen Ranch is so well done on every major level of storytelling and filmmaking, that its resolution feels completely earned and fulfilling. It really needed more time for smaller characters to flesh out and Frank's healing is the kind of movie logic stuff that never quite satisfies, but everything else is so well built.
