bjgreen
By Betsy J. Green
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 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.
