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Movies & Million-Dollar Mansions, Behind the Scenes at the "Flying A," Silents on the Islands, Way Back When: SB in 1924

SILENTS ON THE ISLANDS

Image: Moving Picture World, May 25, 1919

The Tiger's Trail on Santa Cruz Island


On April 20, 1919, the first episode of the 15-part silent serial called The Tiger's Trail was released. Ruth Roland was the star. One episode was filmed on California's Santa Cruz Island.
A group of Hindu tiger worshippers and a gang of Western outlaws try to cheat a young woman out of rich mines that belong to her. In one episode, she is put into a cage with a live Bengal tiger, and in others she is the victim of kidnapping attempts. And since there are 15 episodes in this serial, she does a darn good job of defending herself.


"In order to familiarize herself with boxing . . . Ruth Roland spent several hours each day . . . learnin' to jab and uppercut in the correct style – and she learned. She knocked the villain cold, and he had to be sprinkled with water mixed with equal parts of ice." – Film Daily, April 4, 1919


This serial is one of the many lost silent films.

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