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The Mysterious Witness
(1923) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by [?] Ivor McFadden and/or Seymour Zeliff?
Cast: Robert Gordon [Johnny Brant], Elinor Fair [Ruth Garland], Nanine Wright [Mrs. John Brant], Jack Connolly [Ed Carney], J. Wharton James (Wharton James) [Jim Garland], Roy Bassett, Harry Smith, W.S. Weatherwax, Fannie Fitton, Fred Hank, Edward Heim, Jack Quinn, Adelbert Knott
[?] Ivor McFadden Productions and/or Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation? production; distributed by Film Booking Offices of America, Incorporated [FBO] [An Ivor McFadden Production; A Belasco Production]. / Produced by Ivor McFadden. Scenario by [?] William E. Wing or Eugene Manlove Rhodes?, from the novel The Stepsons of Light by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Production management by [?] Eugene Manlove Rhodes? Presented by Belasco Productions, Incorporated. / Released 24 June 1923. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From Exhibitors Trade Review, 30 June 1923, page ?]? Johnny Brandt leaves his aged widowed mother to go out into the world to make some money. He arrives on a ranch where he is given a job. Johnny stints himself and sends all his money back to his mother but writes her that he is making progress. Johnny is accused by the foreman of the murder of an old man and is put in prison. His mother failing to hear from him comes to the little town. She is met at the station by the foreman who takes all the money she has under the pretense of aiding her to secure her son’s release. During the trial Johnny asks to present his horse as a witness, proving that because of the animal being gun shy it would have been impossible for him to have committed the murder as described by the ‘eye witness.’ The verdict is not guilty and the foreman and his accomplices are held. Johnny is reunited with his mother and wins the owner’s daughter for his bride.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 19 April 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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