Tumbleweeds

1939 version reissued with sound: In sponsoring the revival of what perhaps was the greatest picture of one of the greatest western stars, Willim S. Hart of fond but not forgotten memory, Astor pictures has avowed a "desire not only to bring Bill Hart back to his old loyal fans, but to present him for the first time to a new generation as one of the greatest and most beloved film actors." The new version of the 1925 production carries a modern note in a prologue of eight minutes during which sequence Mr. Hart comes down from the hills in his California ranch home to speak a word of welcome. Sound effects and a rousing musical background lend atmospheric assistance. Despite the technical advances and changes in lighting, directing, acting and editing, the revival saga sports scenes depicting the opening of the Cherokee Strip to land settlement, material made memorable more recently in "Cimarron," that pack scope of magnitude, drama and thrills equal to any present day production output. For those whose memories may be a bit hazy as to story detail and for those to whom the plot is something new, the narrative is located in the Cherokee Land Strip between the states of Oklahoma and Kansas around the time of 1889. Mr. Hart plays "Don Carver," a character similar to the prairie tumbleweeds. With the new grant arrangement, he with the other cattle grazers finds himself without a job. At the homesteaders' settlement, he meets "Molly Lassiter" and through his attachment for the girl decides to enter the land sweepstakes. "Molly's" half brother, "Noll," and his equally villainous confederate, "Freel," frame "Carver." Then comes swift action. Comedy and a good grade of it is supplied by "Kentucky Rose."