The Hoosier Schoolmaster
Cast & Crew
Lewis D. Collins
Norman Foster
Charlotte Henry
Dorothy Libaire
Tommy Bupp
Otis Harlan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Ralph Hartsook, a Yankee Civil War veteran, joins other veterans seeking land in Indiana promised as compensation; however, when the group arrives in Flat Creek, they are told that there is no land and that they will have to move on. Although the townspeople will allow the veterans to stay on the outskirts of town for only a few days, Ralph soon learns that Flat Creek needs a schoolmaster, and he is given the position. On the first day of school, Ralph is challenged by one of the adult students, Bud Larkin, and wins him over, thereby insuring that he will not face opposition from any of the others. Ralph rents a spare room in the home of Jake Means, whose daughter, Martha, is attracted to him and makes plans to win him over. Ralph, however, is interested in the Means's bound servant girl Hannah, until he is informed by Larkin that she is already committed to him. After discovering that the town's unrest has been caused by "nightriders" and the manipulation of land grants by crooked politicians, Ralph, at the request of the veterans squatting on the outskirts of Flat Creek, writes to the federal government accusing Means, Doc Small and Squire Hawkins of illegally obtaining the lands that should have been given to the veterans. When Means, Small and Hawkins learn of the government's investigation, they make plans to discredit Ralph. After Ralph deliberately loses a spelling bee to Hannah, who mistrusts him because she thinks that he is in love with Martha, he is fired. Ralph prepares to leave town and sets up camp in an old barn, but Means, Small and Hawkins plot to kill him in order to eliminate any threat to their lands. Hannah, who has come to realize that Ralph can be trusted, follows him to the barn and announces that she and her brother Shocky are running away from their servitude in the Means household. Ralph hides Hannah and Shocky from their pursuers, but the trio are discovered by a mob of townspeople who take them into custody and make plans to execute Ralph. After managing to escape, Shocky alerts the veterans who are still camping outside town, and in the subsequent battle, Larkin is killed. The veterans ultimately win the fight against the corrupt townspeople, and when the Adjunct General arrives from Indianapolis, he rules against Means, Small and Hawkins. Ralph regains his position as schoolmaster of Flat Creek and wins the love of Hannah.
Director
Lewis D. Collins
Cast
Norman Foster
Charlotte Henry
Dorothy Libaire
Tommy Bupp
Otis Harlan
Fred Kohler Jr.
William V. Mong
Russell Simpson
J. E. Bernard
Wallace Reid Jr.
George Hayes
Sarah Padden
Ann Bupp
Crew
Trem Carr
E. R. Hickson
Charles Huber
Reggie Lanning
Charles Logue
Paul Malvern
Harry Neumann
Harry Neumann
Carl Pierson
Junius Stout
J. A. Stransky Jr.
John A. Stransky Jr.
Mack Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to Hollywood Reporter production charts, shooting took place at the Trem Carr ranch. The film opens with a shot of the spine of a book bearing its title, which opens to reveal the credits. Grosset and Dunlap issued a special photoplay edition of the novel with a dust jacket photograph depicting a scene from the film, and a 10,000-word fictionalization appeared in the July 1935 issue of Screen Romances. In 1914, Masterpiece Film Manufacturing Co. produced a film based on the novel, which Max Figman directed and in which he starred (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.2042); Whitman Bennett produced a remake in 1924, which was directed by Oliver Sellers and starred Henry Hull (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2585). Both versions of the film were entitled The Hoosier Schoolmaster.
