Widower John Wellington, a Virginia blacksmith, looks on with satisfaction as a doctor cures his son Johnny of a severe burn, although he knows a prominent scar will remain on the boy’s chest permanently. A few minutes later, the daughter of Sir George Thorne leaves with her new husband, Gentry Winters, who has caused an estrangement between Thorne and his daughter. One day Wellington attacks three men after overhearing them gossip about Thorne’s daughter, and during the melee, one of them shoots Johnny. Wellington, believing that his son is dead, then kills all three, thereby becoming a wanted man. Johnny lives, however, and is reared to adulthood by Thorne, who some years later decides to leave his fortune to Johnny, as his daughter died in childbirth and his granddaughter, named Gale, has disappeared. Johnny pledges to find Thorne’s granddaughter and goes to New Mexico, her last known whereabouts. In New Mexico, Gale and her father are worrying about Trent, a lawless man who has taken an unreciprocated fancy to her. When she spurns Trent’s advances, he rustles the Winters’ cattle. Winters, however, suspects his neighbor, who is actually Wellington, and is riding over to Wellington’s ranch with Gale when Trent shoots him and begins to pursue Gale. Johnny happens along and rescues her. Moments later, Wellington, using his alias of Rand, appears and assures Gale of his innocence, then sends her to his ranch to stay and promises her that Trent will be made to pay for his deed. Wellington confronts Trent and his henchman, Campus, at a saloon, and though he is outnumbered, Johnny has followed him and assists him in the subsequent brawl and shootout. Wellington invites Johnny, who is ignorant of his true identity, to become a ranch hand, yet orders him to stay away from Gale when a romance develops, fearing that she might marry someone Wellington considers a drifter. With the help of the Dobson gang, Trent, desiring revenge on Johnny, plans to attack Wellington and his men, and discovers that Gale is Thorne’s granddaughter. When two ranch hands pursue Gale into the desert, Johnny shoots one, Joe, thereby saving her. Nearby, Trent’s gang and Wellington’s men face one another, and a battle ensues. Wellington finds Joe, who tells him that Johnny abducted Gale, causing Wellington to go to the cabin where Johnny has taken the wounded girl. Refusing to listen to the couple, Wellington starts to fight with Johnny, until the latter’s torn shirt reveals a scar on his chest. Wellington recognizes it as the one his own son bore, and abruptly gives the couple his blessing, telling them to go back to Virginia. To save Johnny and Gale, Wellington steps outside the cabin wearing Johnny’s hat and coat and walks into an ambush he had overheard Trent preparing. Trent shoots him, and after sending his henchmen away, he is killed by Johnny when he enters the cabin in order to abduct Gale. Before dying, Wellington explains that he sacrificed himself because he knew Johnny’s father, who, Wellington says, died when he thought his son had been killed. Johnny and Gale, safe at last, start their journey to the East. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Between Men (1935)
