Pelas Alturas

In this silent, Tom Mix plays a federal agent who is investigating a ring that is smuggling illegal Chinese people into the country via the Grand Canyon!! This is pretty lame, but the rest of the film surprised me. Although not really a western, I was very impressed by the location shooting as well as the great stunt work. Some of it, particularly the long shots, were probably not Mix himself but they were impressive nonetheless. And some clearly were Tom doing some amazing climbing and other acts of rugged manliness! When you then consider the gorgeous location shoot, it's a film of the genre well worth seeing--especially because the production values of this film are actually much better of the average sound western of the following decades. Not a brilliant plot but exceptionally well executed.

Sky High (1922)

*** (out of 4)

I'll admit that the story to this Tom Mix Western is pretty weak but thankfully there are enough great stunts for two movies. In the film Mix plays a border agent who is trying to bust a group of men who are illegally transporting Chinese through the Grand Canyon. On one of his journeys the man discovers a woman (Eva Novak) near her death. The two of them strike up a relationship but she's soon kidnapped by the same group who are smuggling the Chinese. SKY HIGH is an awfully silly movie on one hand because the story is so far-fetched that you can't take it too serious. Everything that happens between Mix and the woman can be chalked up as really lame melodrama and by the end of the picture you really won't have a burning desire to see the two together. However, it's doubtful people in 1922 were going into a Mix film wanting romance. I'd say crowds wanted to see their cowboy hero doing wild stunts, shooting it out with the bad guys and of course getting into a few fights and all of that happens here. I'd say there's enough action for two movies because they cram quite a bit into the brief 60-minute running time. If you've seen the remaining fragments of Mix's HEARTS AND SADDLES then you'll notice some amazing stunts where he (or his double) are climbing up and down the side of a cliff. Well, that stunt is done at least six or seven times here as the Grand Canyon is certainly put to good use and it really does become its own character. The stunts are just amazing to watch and it's clear, at times, that Mix is doing his own work. Just take a look at a quick sequence towards the end where Mix must jump from one side of the cliff to the other. I'm not sure if a trick was done to pull this off but it really looks like a tremendous fall could happen if he jumped the wrong distance. The film ends with a large fight with countless extras and before that we get one chase, fight or some sort of other bit of action. It should come as no shock but Mix does his part justice as does J. Farrell MacDonald and Sid Jordan in their roles. I wasn't overly thrilled with the performance of Novak but she's not too bad. SKY HIGH isn't remembered by too many but once you see it I'm sure you'll be impressed enough to try and get someone else to watch it as well.

Tom Mix is Grant Newbury, a deputy government agent intent on stopping an illegal ring that smuggles Chinese immigrants across the Arizona border to the Grand Canyon. His boss tells him his latest mission is to stop "200 Chop-Suey eating Chinamen" from sneaking into the USA. This western film is contemporary, not one that portrays the nineteenth century. So there are automobiles and an airplane, and the telephone has long been established. There is a brief scene of a western town that has traded in its horses for automobiles; at first glance it looks like a postcard town of the previous century. This picture has great stunts, especially one of Tom Mix (or his double) dangling from an airplane high above the Canyon. Tom also climbs the walls of the Canyon, and later leaps an eleven foot gap from one side of a cliff to another. Near the end of the movie Mix is chasing a desperado on horseback when his white horse takes a nasty tumble. Tom and his steed topple hard. Quickly brushing off a fall that could have had serious results, Tom merely remounts and continues the chase. The take was used in the film, and there was no double. That was Tom Mix, the man, all the way. By the way, Eva Novak is appropriate as the appealing love interest.

The picture is advertised as the first movie to depict aerial views of the Grand Canyon. And it is the National Park that is the main story here, along with the stunts. Although the film shows its age and is a bit faded, it can be viewed OK. In 1998 it was added to the National Film Registry.

I have heard the legends around Tom Mix for decades. This is the first of his features that I've seen. Some legends of the past don't hold up a century later. That's not true with Mr. Mix. He was King of the Cowboys then. He's clearly King of the Cowboys now.

Sky High is a great showcase for his talents. He ropes, rides, lassos and leaps from planes. He was never the troubled antihero struggling between right and wrong. He was always the model of unambiguous virtue.

I gave this picture seven stars. It probably deserved eight. I felt compelled to reduce its score because of the racism against Chinese people displayed in the story. It was a dark thumbprint on an otherwise fun and fast paced film.

I saw this late at night on TCM. !!! I spent years hiking down in the Grand Canyon, and this is the real thing. The plot is not important. The footage of the Canyon is not made of Southern California location shots, but spectacular film of various places on the South Rim, and in the side canyons below. I recognize many stretches of the Bright Angel Trail, though how they got a horse to gallop up it, I have no idea. The NPS pack mules slog along slowly, and most humans, myself included, manage only two or three miles and hour, up hill. Watch this movie, if only to see the Grand Canyon as it was before the "improvements" of the 21st century!