Synopsis
The film opens with views of snow-clad mountains, a river valley, and a glacier. A title identifies the setting as Canada. It is fall. The small settlement of Swan Creek is shown; the social center of this village is a saloon called The Stopping Place. The saloon is filled with riders drinking and gambling. A stranger (Bowers), dressed in city clothes, enters and asks for water. Bill Hendricks (Butler), the foreman of the Ashley Ranch, introduces himself and falls over backwards upon learning that the stranger is a parson, or sky pilot
, who wants to start a church. On the following Sunday, the church service is held in the largest space in town, the saloon. Townspeople enter. Hendricks and his riders assume exaggeratedly pious demeanors as they enter. The Sky Pilot asks for a hymn and leads a prayer. Hendricks laughs loudly and then refuses the Sky Pilot's request to leave. Soon the Sky Pilot and Hendricks are brawling. The foreman is knocked out, and the cowboys run the Sky Pilot out of town.
The Sky Pilot walks on alone and sits by a river. He is crushed and defeated; all his hopes and dreams are ended. Meanwhile, Hendricks has recovered and ridden to find him. The men sit by the river and shake hands. The foreman proposes that the parson get a job as a cowboy. He can work with the men. If he can gain their respect, they will listen to his religious teachings. The Sky Pilot looks astonished at this suggestion. However, he and Bill ride double to the Ashley ranch where Bill introduces the Sky Pilot to the owners, Honorable Ashley (Corrigan) and Lady Charlotte (Kathleen Kirkham). The Sky Pilot proves that he is willing to take risks and learn how to be a cowboy. He rides a bucking horse and stays on for a lot of jumps before being thrown off. Bill carries him to the bunk house, and he is accepted into the group.
The scene shifts to the cabin of the Old Timer (Todd). The Old Timer curses God because of the early death of his beloved wife. He lives apart from the other members of the ranching community. A title states that the only thing he loves is his daughter, Gwen (Moore). Gwen, wearing a shirt and pants, is shown standing in a small wagon and driving at a gallop. She falls out, gets up, and runs after the horses. Gwen is obviously unladylike and boisterous. Back at the cabin of the Old Timer, Duke (Donald MacDonald), a self-styled English gentleman, proposes the theft of Ashley cattle. The cattle will be moved to a hiding place through a tunnel on the Old Timer's ranch.
Bill and the Sky Pilot have become friends. The Sky Pilot is learning about ranch work, he is good company in the bunkhouse, and he is gaining the respect of the riders. He proves his bravery by walking up to a drunken cowboy who is shooting wildly. This cowboy seeing devils is trying to shoot them. The parson quiets him and takes away his gun. The Sky Pilot and Bill ride out to fix fences. The Sky Pilot goes to investigate an unusual noise. As he rides on a narrow bridge over a ravine, Duke and his men shoot at him. The Sky Pilot and his horse fall off the bridge. Gwen, riding nearby, sees the parson in the water, throws him a rope, and pulls him out. They ride double to her cabin where she warms him up. Bill, the Old Timer, and Duke ride up separately. When the Old Timer learns that the Sky Pilot is a preacher, he orders him out. Gwen also reacts angrily and tells the parson and Bill to leave. After they have left, Gwen sits on her bed and cries.
The Ashley riders are rounding up the cattle. At his cabin, the Old Timer and Duke are discussing their plan to rustle the cattle and run them through the tunnel. Gwen overhears them and objects strongly. She strikes Duke, and her father locks her in her room. Their Indian retainer releases Gwen, and she rides to stop her father and to warn Bill and the Sky Pilot. At the roundup, the shooting of the rustlers causes a stampede. Gwen rides into the path of the stampeding cattle. As she tries to avoid the stampede, she falls off her horse. The Sky Pilot gallops to her, jumps off his horse, and keeps the cattle from running over her. Gwen is carried home and examined by the doctor. Her legs are paralyzed. Gwen cries and pulls her hair in despair. The Sky Pilot comforts her. He says that God loves her, and that the injury may be a means of bringing her to Him. These words are soothing, and she wants to believe.
On Christmas day, Gwen has a tree in her room. Her father enters dressed as Santa Claus. Her gift is a large doll. Bill and the riders have been preparing a Christmas surprise for the Sky Pilot; they have built a church. When Bill and the parson ride to visit Gwen, they are held up by the disguised riders. The Sky Pilot is blindfolded and led to the church. The Ashley boys present the church and a bible as gifts to the Sky Pilot, who is touched. The Old Timer, who has been praying for his injured daughter, rides off to see the church. The Indian retainer puts Gwen in a sled, and they start toward the church. Before holding services, the Sky Pilot is riding over to visit Gwen. Duke and his gang, also going to the church, see the parson and shoot his horse. The Sky Pilot and the horse fall down a steep slope. The Sky Pilot is unconscious and injured. As Gwen and the Indian are passing, the parson revives and calls for help.
At the church, the congregation is waiting for the parson. Bill leads them in a hymn and a prayer, then pulls out his gun and begins an emphatic sermon. Outside, one of the Duke's men sets the church on fire. The congregation flees. Bill and the boys capture the arsonist who says that Duke sent him to burn the church. Bill and the boys ride to Swan Creek where they burn down the saloon. The Sky Pilot and Gwen reach the burning church, and the parson runs inside to retrieve the cowboy's gift, his bible. As he comes out, he is overcome by the smoke and collapses in the doorway. Gwen crawls to him and tries to pull him away. Her desperation stimulates movement in her legs. She gradually rises to her feet and drags him away from the fire. Her father, Bill, and the cowboys arrive. Everybody is grateful that Gwen can stand and walk.
A title card states that time has passed, and the Sky Pilot has been working hard. The scene and a title show that spring has arrived. The last scene shows the Sky Pilot marrying Gwen. He is completely integrated into the community.
Discussion
The Sky Pilot is based on a 1921 novel of the same name by Canadian author Ralph Connor. Within the trappings of a conventional Western, The Sky Pilot is a moralistic story of faith, commitment, and acceptance. All the major characters undergo turnarounds. At first the Sky Pilot is an outsider who is expelled by the cowboys. Ultimately, his determination, bravery, and kindness earn him their affection and respect, and they accept him into their community. Initially, Bill and the cowboys are irreligious, but they are voluntary members of the church by the end of the story. Gwen and her father also progress from antagonism and disbelief to acceptance of the pilot and his religion.
King Vidor's desire to present moralistic stories is expressed in this film. It is a fulfillment of his Creed and Pledge,
published in Variety in 1920, to make films which promoted the advancement of humanity and did not portray fright, suggest fear, or glorify evil.
The message here is that faith and goodwill bring happiness and acceptance. The frontier setting allows this message to be delivered in association with impressive scenery and Western-style action.
Standard Western elements are present: a small town with a large saloon, the cattle ranch, gun-carrying cowboys, bronco riding, a fistfight, and cattle rustling. These elements establish the character of the community which the Sky Pilot is joining. Action sequences occur fairly frequently, are relatively short, and keep the story lively. Most of the exterior scenes were filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, near Truckee, California, but other locations were also used. The scenic ravine into which the pilot and his horse plunge is Beale's Cut (north of Los Angeles, near Newhall, CA). In 1921, Beale's Cut was already a familiar filming location having been used in several films, including John Ford's Straight Shooting (1917). The horse and rider figures who take the plunge are obviously dummies. Near the conclusion of the film, a real stuntman and horse plunge down a snowy slope. The stuntman rolls down hill, but the horse takes a spectacular fall. It slides uncontrollably head-over-heels with legs thrashing. (Filmmakers were under no legal obligation to safeguard animal safetey until 1940.)
Vidor obtains good performances from his actors. John Bowers is a sincere and earnest hero. His acting is restrained and stresses the Sky Pilot's essential goodness. His look of astonishment at the idea of becoming a cowboy is quite amusing. Bowers' film career began in 1914. He appeared in more than ninety films, including four talkies, and had many starring roles, before his career ended in 1931. By 1936, he was divorced from actress Marguerite De La Motte, had been out of films for five years, and was reportedly an alcoholic. On the day of his death, Bowers rented a boat in Santa Monica and sailed into the Pacific Ocean. The next day his body came ashore on a Malibu beach. He probably committed suicide.
David Butler, as Bill the foreman, has a showier part with a broader range of expression, which he portrays believably. During his long career, Butler was an actor, writer, director and producer. He was born in San Francisco, California, on December 17, 1894. He began his acting career in 1910 and was an extra in D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). From 1919 through 1929 he appeared in almost sixty films, most notably with a showy part in Frank Borzage's 7th Heaven (1927). As Butler's acting career ended, his directing career began and continued steadily in movies and television until 1967. He directed films featuring many important actors, including Lilian Harvey in My Weakness (1933), Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Doris Day in Tea for Two (1950). David Butler died June 14, 1979, in Arcadia, California.
Gwen, played by Colleen Moore, is the least developed character in the film, and she is used mainly to carry along the story. The part does not require much more than liveliness and cuteness, and Moore supplies those easily. Gwen's tomboyish nature accentuates her helplessness once she is paralyzed, and her miraculous cure emphasizes the film's religious overtones. Her marriage to the Sky Pilot rounds out the plot.The Sky Pilot is the most notable of the few films produced by pioneering woman producer Catherine Curtis, who was able to supply Vidor with greater financial resources than he usually had at that time. Her company subsequently attempted to produce a version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, but legal difficulties concerning ownership of the dinosaur miniatures ended the production.
The New York Times review of The Sky Pilot called it a corking melodrama
with some obtrusive faults (which are not detailed) and an overdone ending. The review highlights Vidor's pictorial and atmospheric talents, and adds that Mr. Vidor takes special pride in his moral earnestness. The moral earnestness is on view and may have to be ignored in order to enjoy the melodrama. The best acting is that of David Butler. John Bowers is satisfactory most of the time. Colleen Moore does well except for the Broadway trappings of conspicuous makeup and a cabaret smile.
Variety commented The story contains little new or exceptional, but the direction, photography and detail are more than satisfactory. The story runs consistently with plenty of action interspersed with comedy and leads to a satisfactory conclusion. However, the uplift lesson — that sufficient faith will nearly cure all physical ills — is rather far-fetched.
The review commends the entire cast and concludes that the film won't create any sensation, but should please in the best cinemas.
Further Reading