Joe Bonomo

Movie serial Perils of the Wild

Joe Bonomo played circus acrobat Welles "Red" Landow, Louise Lorraine was the heroine, tightrope artist Trixie Tremaine, and such studio stalwarts as Slim Cole, Sam Polo, Monte Montague, and Albert Prisco

Restored by the George Eastman House in 2001, this 1928 serial was considered a “last hurrah” for the silent-era serial, and brought together some of the biggest names of the era: director J.P. McGowan, actors Francis Ford and Joe Bonomo (a carnival strongman-turned-actor), producer Trem Carr (who would later help found Monogram Pictures), and a slew of silent-era supporting icons such as Ruth Hiatt, Grace Cunard, and more. Chapter names like “The Clutching Claw,” “The Devil’s Dice, “Galloping Fury,” and “The Invisible Hand” offer all one needs to know of the film’s concerns: to promise and deliver as much action and suspense as possible, and move our intrepid hero and heroine from one perilous situation to another. One of the biggest stars of the early silent era and a successful serials director in his own right, Francis Ford was the brother of director John Ford.

The search for a lost gold mine hinges on a secret branded onto the neck of a great horse, White Fury.

The only key to a young woman's fortune lies in a marking on the leg of a horse called The Ghost of the Gauchos. But the woman's guardian, her uncle, plots to steal her wealth.

The Sign of the Wolf

In the great white north, a trapper searchers for the thief who has been stealing his furs while a local trader seeks to take advantage of the situation.

A present-day stereotypically-Irish American politician is vaulted into ancient Greece after receiving a bump on the head.

A frontier newspaper editor Kirby battles outlaw Tiger Morris who is causing indian uprisings to drive away settlers so that he will can claim a gold deposit as his own. With the help of General Custer, right wins out. Presented in serial form in 12 episodes.

On her way to the theater, Vera, star of a Russian vaudeville troupe, is rescued from a falling girder by Eugene Foster, a wealthy broker who persists in his efforts to win the girl. Foster engages the troupe to perform at his home, and Vera, stunned by a fall, awakens to find Foster pleading his love, while Norodin, her partner who loves her, sees them embrace. Norodin, who performs an underwater stunt, asks Vera not to be present for his act and causes her to believe him dead; heartbroken, Vera tells Foster of her mistake; and enraged, he attempts to seize her. The magician appears, pins Foster to the wall with knives, and advises him to leave before the last blade is thrown.

A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Company, but the rightful heir has a secret army of her own to protect her rights.

A young man's father is murdered and the man convicted of the crime escapes prison, leaving a note intimating that seven local men know the real killer's true identity. The murdered man's son sets out to locate the seven men and find his father's slayer in this ten episode serial.

Silent Film drama...now a lost film. Julian Ramos is a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles, Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice versa. When Charles begins pitching woo at aristocratic Amy, Julian runs interference by pretending to be in love with the girl himself. As time passes, of course, he stops pretending.

Chester Carr, owner of a dude ranch in the Rockies, caters to guests seeking the thrill of the Wild West. Among his guests are the wealthy Spruce Meadows and his daughter Susan. But the West isn't wild anymore and most of Carr's guests are bored and about to leave. He is in despair when a caravan carrying a broke-down-and-out troupe of actors---Jennifer, Judd, Mrs. Merridew and her daughter, Alice---crashes down the hill and wrecks the hotel sign.

The adventures of fur trappers in the Pacific Northwest, as they fight Indians, the elements and each other.

A lady reporter and two college students search for the "Gold Special," a train that disappeared without a trace.

In 19th Century Paris, a maniac abducts young women and injects them with ape blood in an attempt to prove ape-human kinship but constantly meets failure as the abducted women die.

A Secret Service agent seeks his missing brother in Africa, and finds his mission complicated by ivory thieves, a girl with a mysterious past, and a troublesome gorilla.

An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.

Bob Langdon, a young Pony Express rider, is given an appointment to West Point, but is forced to leave the academy as the result of political intrigue stirred up by enemies of his friend, General George A. Custer. Bob returns to the west and is made a scout for Custer's 7th Cavalry. At the Battle of Little Big Horn, Custer sends Bob with a message for aid, and Bob becomes the only survivor of the battle.

The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.

In 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.

Corrupt politicians resort to murder and blackmail when a young boy accidentally witnesses them taking payoffs.