Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1913)

344 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD "The Millionaire Cowboy" (Selig) Reviewed by James S. McQuade. MANY thousands of exhibitors will recall "The Millionaire Cowboy," in one reel, released by the Selig Polyscope Company, October 21, 1909. At the time, the film made a decided sensation, and requests poured in from all quartets for more films of a similar kind. Since then, "Ranch Life in the Great Southwest," by the same company, appeared August 9, 1910, and the "Diamond S Ranch," February 29, 1912. All these subjects were of one-reel length, and the two last named showed a decided superiority over the first. Some time ago, William N. Selig decided to make an upto-date production of "The Millionaire Cowboy," in two reels, and the result will be seen in the special feature under that title, which will be released early in February. This production, when compared with the release of 1909, will show the great stride which has been made in cinematographic art within the past three years. Great improvement will be observed in the action and dramatic value, while the nurnber of people employed and the equipment and accessories used show a greatly increased outlay. The photography and technique of these films reveal also a pronounced advance in quality. The entire producing staff of Selig's Eastern studio took burros hold one's attention at fever pitch all through the amazing program. Bear in mind that a bronch is a horse from the range which has never felt the touch of a saddle nor suffered the humiliation of a man astride his back, and you will understand better the fighting fiend he becomes, when subjected to both for the first time. Sometimes you see as many as three men at his head, one of whom holds an ear of the bronch between his teeth, in the effort to subdue him, while a fourth throws the hated saddle in place and cinches it tight before launching himself on the brute's tempestuous back. All kinds of bucking bronchs are seen in the street of the dust-laden city. That big gray is a holy terror! See him stop dead in an onward dash, his front legs as rigid as boundary posts and his head low down between them. But the rider instinctively leans far back in his saddle and foils the catapulting intention of the fiend beneath him. Watch the antics of another as he bucks sideways, the rider just escaping a bad fall. Look at the big horned steer as he thtows his rider, and at another which gores the cowboy who attempts to bulldog him. See still another maddened steer, plunging head first through a heavy wooden fence, with a man dangling between his sweeping horns. And laugh, you must, at the little burro which throws a masterful rider again and again with the utmost ease, and calmlj awaits the next trial of his skill. "The Millionaire Cowboy." "Bud" (Carl Winterhoff) and His Wife (Miss Winnifred Greenwood) at Home. part in this feature subject, and a small army of the most skillful and daring cowboys in the country were brought together to assist in the production. The leading dramatic parts were sustained by Carl Winterhoff, who appears as "Bud" Noble; Miss Winnifred Greenwood as Mrs. Noble, and Mac Barnes as Colonel Carter, foreman of the Diamond S Ranch. The mythical Diamond S Ranch is located somewhere near Prescott, Ariz., and we are treated to a Saturday afternoon's doing of the boys from the ranch, in one of the streets of that city. The stunts performed by these breakneck riders on untried bronchs, wild steers and vicious "The Millionaire Cowboy." "Bud" on His Bucking Broncho. But all such strenuous doings must have an end, and in this case they end happily. "Bud" Noble, the foreman of the Diamond S, who has carried off the honors of the occasion, is handed a telegram, and, after reading it, calls the boys around him. It is from a Chicago firm of attorneys advising him that his uncle died and left him several millions of dollars, and that he must come to Chicago at once. Next day he takes the train and is given a rousing farewell. "Bud's" first expe.riences in the Windy City are comical to behold. Almost at the very first step among city folks, he meets the girl of his heart. She is none other than the stenographer in the office of the lawyers who have charge of