Court-Martial

This late silent film from Columbia stars Jack Holt as a Union spy and Betty Compson as a rebel queen in the closing days of the Civil War.

Compson plays Belle Stone, a character based on Belle Starr. After a Union solider shoots and kills her plantation daddy, she vows revenge and turns rebel and gathers a gang of men who ambush Union supply wagons and scouting parties.

Holt infiltrates the gang and the sparks fly between him and Compson and his assignment is endangered by the romance. Will love win out or will he do his duty?

Handsome production with lots of outside action shots. Co-stars include Frank Lackteen, Pat Harmon, and Zack Williams.

The only surviving print does not contain the two color sequences. They have faded away beyond repair, but they survive in B&W.

Union captain Jack Holt is ordered to capture bandit queen Betty Compson, and bring her in, dead or alive. So Jack sets off to do just that. He convinces her and her gang of toughs he is well-known crook. But when he has a chance to carry out his mission, he deliberately fubs it, because he loves the girl. Instead, he is found guilty of disobeying his orders and must suffer the punishment she was to receive: shot by firing squad. Will Miss Compson ride to his rescue?

It's pure potboiler from Columbia Pictures under the direction of John Seitz. He spends most of the schedule having cinematographer Joseph Walker shoot them beautifully, and they are a good-looking pair. Unhappily, not all bits of the release are of top photographic quality. Some of the outdoor shots are unhappily a bit low in contrast. Still, with a good score by David Drazin, it a good 65 minutes for fans of these actors.

Interestingly, the IMDb lists Miss Compson's character as Belle Starr -- a real life women was who a member of the Cole-Younger gang. Credits and titles on the screen call her Belle Stone. Make of that what you will.