Athletic Ambitions

The efforts of an elder brother, who is sheriff, to save the younger from a lynching, the latter having been falsely accused of shooting a girl.

Professor Duane, an ethnologist, and his assistant, Roscoe Harding, plan a journey into the wilds of Hindustan. Harding is in love with Lydia, the daughter of Professor Duane, and they are engaged to be married. Lieutenant Tavish, a British army officer, is attracted to Lydia and plans to take her away from Harding by fair means or foul.

Claim jumper Dave Marco and his boss Earl Foster, a crooked investment broker, hire chemist Ralph Brandon to falsify papers that a certain worthless mine is valuable then convince Ralph's mother to invest all her money in the mine. Ralph’s sister Holly meets Jack Mason, whose mine is actually valuable though not yet profitable, and they fall for each other. Once Mrs. Brandon finds out she has been duped, though forced into silence by the threat of having Ralph’s malfeasance exposed, and Marco attempts to jump Jack’s claim events come to a head until the happy conclusion.

Ruby Blackwell, typical young girl of Arizona, lives with her brother Tom, and their widowed mother in a cabin in the mountains. One day Tom takes Ruby on a lion hunt. They track a puma, or mountain lion. Tom shoots the beast, which, wounded, bounds into the canyon. Tom instructs Ruby to proceed to the ridge and await him there, while he follows the puma up the mountainside. Ruby discovers the cubs belonging to the puma which Tom has shot, and she immediately becomes so engrossed in playing with the huge kittens that she forgets the rendezvous her brother had appointed. Tom finally locates her. The cubs are taken home. They grow up around Ruby like friendly dogs. Pete Lopez, a bad Mexican, who admires Ruby very much, tries to steal one of them at night, after Ruby has refused to sell the animal to him, and the baby puma defends itself vigorously until Tom and Ruby rush to its rescue...

Jane Croft is the subject of cruel gossip in Silver Creek, Arizona, in 1880, and is nicknamed "The Sage Hen." The Home Purity League drives her out of town with her son, John. She sends him back to town on a horse when they are attacked by Indians. There he is adopted by the Rudds; and when they move away, Jane loses contact with her son for 20 years. In the meantime, she becomes housekeeper to George Sanson and a "mother" to his daughter, Stella. A gold rush brings John back as a lieutenant of cavalry. He falls in love with Stella, but Craney, a gambler, threatens to expose Jane's past unless she gives Stella to him. The father is killed, but John saves his mother and Stella from further jeopardy. Jane confesses her past to her son and is able to find happiness after years of sorrow.

War hero Captain November Jones tries to sneak into his hometown of Gold City, Nevada undetected but when he rescues a child from being run over by a train he’s recognized and obliged to receive the town's congratulations. Meanwhile, unscrupulous stockbroker Samuel Barnes and adventuress Teddy Craig are trying to get control of the Bluebird Lode from New Yorker Jackson J. Joseph, who is coming West to meet his daughter Nedra. Teddy tries to ensnare November to help fight Joseph, claiming he's trying to take her mine, but he refuses. Teddy's accusation of Jones's cowardice does not bother him until he falls in love with Nedra, who shuns him, believing Teddy's rumor. When Mr. Joseph is kidnapped and Jones saves him Nedra learns the truth and agrees to marry him.

Ranger Job "Blue Streak" McCoy helps a miner and his pretty young daughter who are trying to protect their valuable mine from a gang leader who wants to take it.

Ranchmen try to play a joke on one of their associates by signing his name to a letter addressed to Sarah Smith, who has advertised in a matrimonial journal. A mix-up occurs on the day of the arrival of the lady when a younger woman, sent to buy stock, also appears on the scene and is mistaken for the prospective bride.

In Hell's Valley, Texas Ranger Captain Wally kills Jose Valdez, leading Jose's brothers, Carlos and Manuel, to seek revenge at the Flores ranch. Wally is wounded pursuing them but is saved by Rosita Flores, his original sweetheart's daughter, who nurses him but secretly seeks his torture for her father, and also for herself. Carlos and Manuel fall for Rosita, but she, in turn, falls for Wally, leading to Carlos accidentally killing Manuel and Don Flores killing Carlos, with Wally and Rosita's relationship solidified.

A native Californian guide is discharged by the leader of a wagon train because he dares to make love to the latter's daughter. Sometime later he comes upon them again and is in time to save the girl he loves from an attack by the Indians.

As a baby, John Ermine is stolen from a wagon train by the Crow Indians and is adopted by Chief Fire Bear. John grows to manhood, ignorant that he is a white man until his parentage is disclosed to him by Crooked Bear, a white hermit who is on friendly terms with the Crows. Crooked Bear teaches John the language and customs of the white man's civilization, impressing upon him that it is his sacred responsibility to keep peace between the white men and the Indians.

For Nita Valyez, who is half-Spanish and half-Irish, Carlos represents potential violence and danger, two things to which she is both attracted and repelled. In contrast, she has only a passing interest in Big Jim, the town's honest, good-hearted sheriff. Then, after Carlos kills a faro dealer, he forces Nita to make an escape with him.

Drifters Tom Williams and Joe Morgan have a chance meeting with the sheriff's daughter and learn that her brother Jim is being held prisoner in Line Hollow by Wolf, who aspires to be the next sheriff. They aid the sheriff in finding the outlaw gang and rescuing Jim. Tom decides to stop drifting and stay near the sheriff's daughter.

Miner Dan Stuyvesant finally strikes it rich, but on his way to report his claim, he is shot. When Jack Dedlow, the head of a gang of outlaws, hears this news, he rides to Stuyvesant's cabin intending to secure the claim for himself. There the outlaws find Stuyvesant's daughter Hilda, the sweetheart of Tom Flynn, and are about to draw cards for her when Dago Sam pulls out his guns and spirits her out the door. Because Tom is his only friend, Sam determines to protect Hilda from the gang, but when Tom suspiciously questions his intentions toward Hilda, Sam decides to live up to the town's poor opinion of him.

Jack Darling of the North West Mounted Police is ordered to track down and arrest murderer Alec Young, whose girl, Dancing Pete, performs in the Nugget dance hall. En route to Nugget, Jack meets Hope Ross, who is caring for her sister's baby. Although the two fall in love, the outlook for a happy romance appears hopeless, because he believes that she is a married mother, and she thinks that he is an outlaw.

Returning to House of a Thousand Candles a mystery unfolds involving two lookalike girls...or is there only one very crafty one?

The Jaws of Steel is a 1922 Silent Western.

In this Western, Frank Keenan has a dual role -- kind-hearted gambler John Lynch and evil bandit Big Rivers. The only person who realizes there is a resemblance between the two is dance hall girl Nita (Maude George), who was abused by the outlaw and cared for by Lynch.

Hired ranch hand Tex Smith is smitten with Lucy Blake, who lives in the cattle settlement of Marco. Meanwhile, Indian chief Brave Bear despises the encroachment of white people and conspires with Sam Hardman to steal the town's cattle during a rodeo.

The Northwest Mounties are after Cheyenne Harry for the murder of an Indian boy, and the only witness to the crime is a priest - who can't tell what he saw because the real killer, Black Michael, has confessed to him.