Daredevil's Reward

Continuing my sharing of some of the movie flyers that I bought several months ago. This one appealed because of the notable star as well being an early masked hero

For many, the idea of an old Western is probably one with John Wayne. My own first exposure to Tom Mix was as a character played by Bruce Willis in the move Sunset with James Garner playing Wyatt Earp. And, then as a character in the graphic novel Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop.

Daredevil's Reward also aired overseas as $5,000 Reward so this managed to serve double duty. This is a silent film from 1928. A little research revealed the movie was copyrighted and renewed. At least old newspaper listed it as being successful, airing several nights to capacity crowds. Finding information on the story was a little more difficult. IMDB had nothing beyond the credits. The carried more details.

Mix plays Texas Ranger Tom Hardy who has to adopt various disguises to capture a gang of stagecoach robbers, one of which would appear to be the masked man shown here. Judging from the flyer alone, I assumed the film to be a response to the popularity of the Zorro films, but it's hard to tell from the description whether he wore the mask and black outfit regularly or even if he's called "Daredevil" as in the title. However, the film description does raise an interesting comparison. A Texas Ranger who puts on a mask to fight crime? This is 5 years before a more famous masked Texas Ranger would debut on the radio and was apparently a popular film.