The Call of the Canyon

(1922)

This is the story of Carley Burch, a young wealthy socialite living in New York City. As the story begins soldiers are coming home from the trenches of WWI, many of them damaged physically and emotionally. Among them is Carley's fiancé, Glenn Kilbourne. Glenn has already gone "out West", for reasons Carley doesn't understand, but it's clear she has deep affection for him. A letter from him from Arizona intrigues her on many levels, since he seems happy and changed in ways she doesn't understand. She decides to travel out there on a surprise visit, and though it's eminently clear she has no idea what to expect as she encounters life in the West, her intent is to bring Glenn back to New York so they can resume their former life in the gaiety of that post-war time. A series of shocks about Glenn's life as a rough farm hand come about, and in the process Carley shows her mettle soon after her arrival as a tenderfoot, no doubt emboldened by the discovery of a rival in Oak Creek Canyon, Flo Hutter. She is torn between her love for Glenn and her love of big city life, yet there is something about Arizona that captures her thoughts. In the background we also see a theme of the contrast between the brave men who sacrificed by going to war, compared to those who stayed behind living the easy life, the life Carley thinks she loved so much. How can she reconcile the love for this man and her love for this place he has gone so far away from?--Submitted by Gregory Pittman.

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