...from director David Hartford. In a remote forest community named Fort O'God, the local company boss Duncan McDougall (Melbourne MacDowell) rules with an iron fist. His sleazeball son Bucky (Francis McDonald) has the hots for Nanette (Betty Blythe) who is apparently the only girl of marrying age in the area. She rebuffs Bucky's advances, though, just as she turns down a marriage proposal from nice-guy Mountie Mike O'Connor (Lewis Stone), because her heart belongs to long-missing trapper Raoul Challoner (Lon Chaney). When Bucky convinces Nanette that Raoul is dead, she agrees to marry him, but Raoul, along with his pet dog and pet bear, shows up in time to stop the wedding. This eventually leads to violence, and Raoul and Nanette head out into the vast Canadian wilderness to live as fugitives. O'Connor is assigned to track them down and arrest them.
Part of this plays as overwrought melodrama, other parts as outdoor nature comedy, with long passages of Chaney's pets cavorting in the woods. Some of the pets' shenanigans would give the modern day ASPCA palpitations, but no overt animal cruelty is shown. Chaney gets to play a normal, romantic leading man, which is odd, and also a bit boring. Stone is square-jawed, and already sports all-white hair. I'm sure the outdoor footage was a treat for viewers at the time.
Part of this plays as overwrought melodrama, other parts as outdoor nature comedy, with long passages of Chaney's pets cavorting in the woods. Some of the pets' shenanigans would give the modern day ASPCA palpitations, but no overt animal cruelty is shown. Chaney gets to play a normal, romantic leading man, which is odd, and also a bit boring. Stone is square-jawed, and already sports all-white hair. I'm sure the outdoor footage was a treat for viewers at the time.