User Reviews

Of the more than two thousand films produced by Selig Polyscope from 1896 through 1918, very few survive. That is a tragedy for lovers of early films. However, several of the films that Tom Mix, the second cowboy superstar (after "Broncho Billy" Anderson) do. They were filmed out of Selig's Edendale studio, the first permanent studio in Los Angeles. This is one of them.

Tom goes out to Chicago to pick up Goldie Colwell, his mail order bride, but she has second thoughts. By the end of the picture, everything is sorted out well, but there is plenty of rough, realistic humor along the way in this very short effort.

Mix's movies were turned out at a breakneck rate in this period and there isn't much to the story, but there is a nice riding sequence and Mix shows an easy, lanky charm in his acting.

A Tom Mix comedy which contains some very funny scenes, involving a cowboy cast. The plot has to do with a newspaper advertisement for a wife which a city girl answers, but when she sees her prospective husband she kicks, but finally changes her mind. Tom Mix does some clever acrobatic stunts as usual. This is an enjoyable western release. - The Moving Picture World, February 6, 1915

Cactus Jim's Shop Girl (1915)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Cactus Jim (Tom Mix) places a singles add in a paper and gets a reply from a shop girl (Goldie Colwell) in Chicago. The cowboy goes to see her but she changes her mind so to avoid his friends making fun of him he decides to dress up a mannequin and bring it back as his bride. Yeah, you really do have to ask yourself if the friends would have made fun of him more for being shot down by a girl or sinking low enough to dress up a mannequin. Either way, I'm sure Mix wasn't expecting anyone to question a comedy so with that in mind this one-reeler isn't all that bad. Mix, the director, has a nice pace and keeps the film moving without it ever getting too boring. The story itself is pretty much a one-joke thing and this joke isn't all that funny. I thought the actor did a pretty good job in the role and managed to be quick on his feet during the comedy bits. I thought Colwell was incredibly charming and especially during the finale. At just 9-minutes this here is harmless enough for fans of the genre.