The Girl Stage Driver

After her father is killed by Mexican banditos, Edna Payne takes over his stage-driving duties.

This western from the American branch of the French company, Eclair, was one of more than fifty they shot in Tucson Arizona and may have been the last before they left for Los Angeles. The company had originally prospered by inventing the movie serial, but competition at home and abroad and the loss of an active market in Europe meant that production ended a couple of years later.

Lack of a good product was undoubtedly an issue. This two-reeler is a bit repetitious, as Edna Payne is rescued by sheriff Norbert Myles and vice versa in what comes off as an effort to pad the movie to two full reels. The photography is interesting to the modern eye: the desert around Tucson looks dry and dusty and little grows; buildings look like they were put together out of whatever was to hand, and you an see people in the distance actually doing their everyday chores. It's a far cry from the polished westerns of later years in which all the buildings are carefully built and maintained and towns are full of lush gardens.