''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 *

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

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 {{short-silent-comedy-film-stub