At Bear Track Gulch (1913) User Reviews

Generally Entertaining, If Rather Broad-Humored, Comic Western

[Snow Leopard · 26 September 2005]

This is a generally entertaining comic western, which makes decent use of the standard story ideas and techniques of its time. Most of the humor is pretty broad, but it's good-natured tone helps it to come off well enough.

The story is set in a mining community, and most of the humor and the plot derive from their response to the first woman to visit their camp. Many of the gags can in fact be seen in later westerns that use the same theme. All of the characters are likable, and that enables it to hold your interest through a fairly routine story.

The technique is solid, and is mostly typical of its era. There are a number of scenes in which many are characters on-screen at once, and some of the time the frame is a bit too crowded. But otherwise, it tells its story clearly and gives you a couple of smiles doing it.

Despite a rather silly story . . .

[cricket30 · 7/10 · 9 June 2013]

. . . this 14 minute, 32.34-second short, AT BEAR TRACK GULCH (1913) is far from the worst output from the notorious Edison Manufacturing Company. While I do not recall seeing any actual bears in this film, that's actually a good thing, since a president would probably step off Mount Rushmore monument to murder them for no good reason, as happened in the Edison short, THE "TEDDY BEARS." Furthermore, no beloved circus animals are chained down and fried alive, as happened in the Edison short, ELECTROCUTING AN ELEPHANT. Instead, a young school teacher travels West (with no money!) for the sake of her father's health, and Pops, of course, dies immediately. So all the geezers in this child-free mining camp volunteer to be "pupils" (of exactly what, is never explained) and appoint veteran silents heroine Edna Flugrath (as the teacher, "Alice Lorraine") to be their educator. Complications ensue, but all's well that ends well (and murder-free).