Tom Mix is Grant Newbury, a deputy government agent intent on stopping an illegal ring that smuggles Chinese immigrants across the Arizona border to the Grand Canyon. His boss tells him his latest mission is to stop "200 Chop-Suey eating Chinamen" from sneaking into the USA. This western film is contemporary, not one that portrays the nineteenth century. So there are automobiles and an airplane, and the telephone has long been established. There is a brief scene of a western town that has traded in its horses for automobiles; at first glance it looks like a postcard town of the previous century. This picture has great stunts, especially one of Tom Mix (or his double) dangling from an airplane high above the Canyon. Tom also climbs the walls of the Canyon, and later leaps an eleven foot gap from one side of a cliff to another. Near the end of the movie Mix is chasing a desperado on horseback when his white horse takes a nasty tumble. Tom and his steed topple hard. Quickly brushing off a fall that could have had serious results, Tom merely remounts and continues the chase. The take was used in the film, and there was no double. That was Tom Mix, the man, all the way. By the way, Eva Novak is appropriate as the appealing love interest.
The picture is advertised as the first movie to depict aerial views of the Grand Canyon. And it is the National Park that is the main story here, along with the stunts. Although the film shows its age and is a bit faded, it can be viewed OK. In 1998 it was added to the National Film Registry.
The picture is advertised as the first movie to depict aerial views of the Grand Canyon. And it is the National Park that is the main story here, along with the stunts. Although the film shows its age and is a bit faded, it can be viewed OK. In 1998 it was added to the National Film Registry.