''Sky High'' is a 1922 American silent

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film written and directed by

Lynn Reynolds Lynn Fairfield Reynolds (May 7, 1889 – February 25, 1927) was an American director and screenwriter. Reynolds directed more than 80 films between 1915 and 1928. He also wrote for 58 films between 1914 and 1927. Reynolds was born in Harlan ...

and starring

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He w ...

J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...

Eva Novak Eva Barbara Novak (February 14, 1898 – April 17, 1988) was an American film actress, who was quite popular during the silent film era. Biography On February 14, 1898, Eva Barbara Novak was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Joseph Jerome No ...

and

Sid Jordan Sid Jordan (August 12, 1889 – September 30, 1970) was an American film actor. Biography Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1889, Jordan was introduced to acting through his close friend Tom Mix, when both men were serving as the "Night Marsh ...

. The action in ''Sky High'' takes place in 1922 and while the characters ride horses and fight in saloons, they also use telephones, automobiles and even an aircraft. In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Grant Newbury (

), Deputy Inspector of Immigration at the US/Mexico border is asked by his boss to infiltrate a gang smuggling Chinese workers through the border at

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

, in order to identify and arrest their ringleader. Meanwhile, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Estelle Halloway (

) is disappointed because her guardian wrote that she would not be able to spend her holidays with him in Calexico as planned. When she wires him that she will come nevertheless with her roommate Marguerite (Adele Warner) and her brother (William Buckley), he tells her that they will meet instead near the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

as it is too warm in Calexico. In Calexico, Grant finds out that the ringleader is none other than Jim Frazer (

), Estelle's guardian. He becomes part of the gang and is requested to go and help taking of the Chinese now hidden in a camp in Grand Canyon. After having left discreetly the camp to fetch the police, he sees Estelle on the point of drowning in a river and saves her. He is caught by the bandit who have learned that he is a government agent but manages to escape first on horseback then in a motor car and reaches the little town of Williams where he gets the help of the police. While the police drives to the hidden camp in motor cars, Grant borrows an aircraft and flies into the Grand Canyon where he jumps in a river and manages to free Estelle. Jim Frazer is identified as the ringleader and arrested, but to protect Estelle, Grant accepts that he lets her believe that he is leaving for a long trip. Frazer asks Grant whether he would help take care of Estelle while he is in jail and Grant answers: "I'll look after her the rest of her life if she'll let me."

Cast

as Grant Newbury *

as Jim Frazer *

as Estelle Halloway - his ward *

as Andrew Bates * William Buckley as Victor Castle * Adele Warner as Marguerite Castle *

Tony the Horse The phrase Wonder Horses refers to the equine companions of cowboy heroes in early Western films. What makes these horses different from others that have appeared on the silver screen is their rise from trusty steed to a genuine screen personality ...

* Wynn Mace as Henchman Patterson * Pat Chrisman as Pasquale - Henchman

Production

Principal photography for ''Sky High'' took place at the Fox Films studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and on location at the

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often conside ...

, Arizona,

Williams, Arizona Williams ( yuf-x-hav, Wii Gvʼul) is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, located west of Flagstaff. Its population was 3,023 at the 2010 census. It lies on the routes of Historic Route 66 and Interstate 40. It is also the southe ...

, and the El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. While Tom Mix rarely used doubles, Bud Creeth was hired as a "stunt pilot", flying with

Dick Grace Richard Virgil Grace (October 1, 1898 – June 25, 1965), known as Dick Grace, was an American stunt pilot who specialized in crashing planes for films. Films that he appeared in include '' Sky Bride'', ''The Lost Squadron'', '' Lilac Time'', and ...

to film the dangerous stunt of hanging from a rope over the

Reception

In a modern reappraisal of ''Sky High'', reviewer Hans J. Wollstein described the film, "Diehard Western fans decried the lack of realism but audiences flocked to see this film which, more than perhaps any other, changed Mix from a popular Western star into an internationally recognized showman."Wollstein, Hans J
"Review: 'Sky high'."
''Allmovie.com', 2019. Retrieved: July 25, 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies''. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sky High 1922 films 1922 Western (genre) films American aviation films American black-and-white films Articles containing video clips Films about illegal immigration to the United States Films directed by Lynn Reynolds Films set in Arizona Films set in California Films set in Chicago Films shot in Arizona Films shot in Los Angeles Fox Film films Silent American Western (genre) films United States National Film Registry films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films English-language Western (genre) films