''No Man's Law'' is a 1927 American
silent Western film
The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...
directed by
Fred Jackman
Fred Wood Jackman Sr. (July 9, 1881 – August 27, 1959), was an American cinematographer and film director of the silent era. He worked on 58 films as a cinematographer between 1916 and 1925. He also directed eleven films between 1919 and ...
, starring
Rex the King of Wild Horses, and featuring
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...
as a lustful villain.
Plot
Cast
*
Rex the King of Wild Horses as Nobody's Horse
*
Barbara Kent
Barbara Kent (née Cloutman; December 16, 1907 – October 13, 2011) was a Canadian film actress, prominent from the silent film era to the early talkies of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Barbara Kent won the Miss Hollywood Beauty Pageant.
Career ...
as Toby Belcher
*
James Finlayson as Jack Belcher
*
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...
as Sharkey Nye
*
Theodore Von Eltz
Julius Theodore von Eltz (November 5, 1893 – October 6, 1964) was an American film actor, appearing in more than 200 films between 1915 and 1957. He was the father of actress Lori March.
Early life
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Von Eltz ...
as Spider O'Day
Production
''No Man's Law'' has scenes, including in
flashback, of
Barbara Kent
Barbara Kent (née Cloutman; December 16, 1907 – October 13, 2011) was a Canadian film actress, prominent from the silent film era to the early talkies of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Barbara Kent won the Miss Hollywood Beauty Pageant.
Career ...
appearing to dive and swim in the
nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and no ...
, but she is actually wearing a flesh-colored moleskin bathing suit.
That footage created a minor scandal at the time, drawing special attention from review boards in various communities throughout the country.
[ In June 1927 in New York City, the entertainment trade publication '']Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the production an overall favorable rating but predicted trouble for that portion of the film: "Miss Kent looks and acts well. A couple of the almost nude scenes will not stand much chance with the censors out of town."
The original working title
A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...
of the film was ''The Avenging Stallion''. Filming took place on Hal Roach's Big Horn Ranch in Nevada.
Preservation
Prints of ''No Man's Law'' are located in the collections of CINEMATEK
The Royal Belgian Film Archive (; ) is a cinematheque located in the Centre for Fine Arts, in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as CINEMATEK (a homophone of ).
History
The cinematheque was established in 1938 as a film archive by H ...
, George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection
The George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York comprises about 28,000 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and experimental moving images. The collection is renowned for its holdings of silent f ...
, and UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
As a nonpro ...
.[ Everson, William K. (May 21, 1993]
''New School Film Notes''
/ref>
References
External links
*
1927 films
1927 Western (genre) films
1920s American films
1920s English-language films
American black-and-white films
American silent feature films
Articles containing video clips
English-language Western (genre) films
Films directed by Fred Jackman
Pathé Exchange films
Silent American Western (genre) films
Surviving American silent films
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