The Bandit's Wager

Francis Ford: The Bandit's Wager (US 1916) starring Francis Ford (the bandit) and Grace Cunard (Nan Jefferson). The production team Ford-Cunard were a major artist couple in Hollywood in 1912-1917. Photo lifted without permission from the excellent entry on this title in Fritzi Kramer's Movies Silently blog.

A Bandit's Wager (the title used by Il Cinema Ritrovato 2009).

    US 1916. D: Francis Ford. Ass. D: John Ford; SC: Francis Ford, Grace Cunard; CAST: Grace Cunard (Nan Jefferson), Francis Ford (il bandito), John Ford (il fratello); PC: Universal; 35 mm. Orig: 273 m. 245 m. 13’ a 16 fps. B&w. English intertitles From: BFINA / Printed in 2009 by the BFI from an original nitrate print. Presenta John Oliver, grand piano: Maud Nelissen, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 27 June 2009.

From John Oliver's introduction: In 1914-1916, John Ford worked in a number of capacities for Francis Ford and other directors such as Allan Dwan. John would later credit Francis as the greatest of influences on his own directorial career. During this period, it is believed that John acted in at least 13 films, all directed by Francis. With Francis as the titular bandit and Grace Cunard the heroine whom he promises to kiss, A Bandit's Wager is possibly the only one of these films to survive (John appears as Grace's brother).

AA: Print from a scratched source.

Grace Cunard is put to a test. She thinks she has been caught by a bandit (Francis Ford), but displays formidable resistance, destroying his effects, including the mirror and the guitar. In fact, the bandit is Grace's brother's (John Ford) friend. She passes the test. "You belong to the West".

...

"Nan comes west to keep house for her brother. She is considered, out in the land of cactus and sand, a mere child when it comes to the real nerve that is required out in that country. But Nan thinks otherwise. One day she and her brother go for a ride in their motor car and the machine breaks down as they near a hut. The brother nays that he will go to get aid and tells Nan that she better look out for a bandit that has been terrorizing the county. Nan enters the cabin and finds that it is the home of the bandit. She is frightened when the man himself comes in masked. A struggle follows when the man says that he will kill her; she rebels and gets hold of his gun. When he still persists she fires and he falls as though dead. She is frightened at what she has done and calls for help. Then her brother, who is the bandit in disguise, gets up and tells how the whole thing was to test her nerve and how he removed the bullets from the gun beforehand. Nan has proved her nerve."—Moving Picture World synopsis (From IMDb)