Caipiras e Caiporas

Hearts and Saddles (1917)

This two-reeler was the first short released between Tom Mix and William Fox but sadly it's one of thousands of titles that is sadly missing. At least this one here is available with eight-minutes worth of footage and this remastered footage has been released from Alpha. The footage isn't just an eight-minute sequence but instead it contains footage from what I believe is all through the short. We start off seeing Mix giving his sweetheart (Victoria Ford) a gift and having the other cowboys laugh at him. Another man then tries going after the girl and soon he and Mix are trying to prove which one deserves her. It's a real shame that not all of the film is available because what's here looks very interesting. There's some over-the-top comedy including a bit where a man tries to throw a pumpkin at Mix but he ducks and it ends up hitting the girl's father. There's also quite a bit of action including a terrific scene where Mix ties a rope to a mule and tries walking down the side of a cliff only to have the mule keep pulling him back up. Another nice scene has a group of people fighting on top of a cliff and then they all fall and end up crashing through the roof of a house. Fans of Mix will certainly want to see this footage and hopefully one day the complete thing will turn up.