William S. Hart was one of the original stars of the Triangle Film Corp. He had a contract with Ince which he regarded as a personal bond and which caused him to turn down offers from Paralta and Essanay out of loyalty to Ince. But Ince saw him as an employee and was not above exploiting Hart by keeping him in the dark as regards his popularity and paying him minimum wages. One of the company's founders then imported some Broadway stars (Douglas Fairbanks, Olive Thomas etc) at huge salaries, then almost at the same time he found out how popular he really was. The writing was on the wall and Hart resigned from Triangle - which then collapsed (lucky he didn't go to Paralta which went under the following year)!!!
The reviewer from "Moving Picture World" (1916) gave it a glowing critique - very soon it was to be that even a below par Hart western would find high praise from the critics. "The Return of Draw Egan" finds Hart in terrific form as an outlaw returning from the dead to settle an old score. Flowery titles are as much a part of Hart's West as the gritty realism, so the town Yellow Dog is described as "a mongrel of the desert, inclined to show it's teeth to strangers".
Draw Egan has escaped the fiery gun battle that pitted him and his gang against a sheriff's posse and has been deputized by a reformer from the lawless Yellow Dog who sees how Egan's strength and steeliness quell a rampaging mob. Enter "Arizona Joe" ("concealing beneath an air of bluster a streak of yellow as wide as a barn door"), Draw's old gang nemesis and once again covering his cowardice with lots of bragging. Poppy (old faithful Louise Glaum) the dance hall queen, convinces Joe (old stalwart Robert McKim) to make trouble - because Draw has fallen in love with the reformer's daughter Myrtle (Margery Wilson) and has let the town go to pot!! It is easy for Poppy and Joe to bring loose living and recklessness back to popularity!! Joe threatens to tell the whole town and Myrtle in particular about Joe's unsavoury past, if the boys are not given a free reign but when they try to run the "amen shouters" out of town Draw finally finds his missing courage.
Margery Wilson's main claim to fame was as "Brown Eyes" in the French story from "Intolerance". Rescued by D.W. Griffith from the never ending grind of shorts she was immediately given the heroine's role in "The Return of Draw Egan" but she looked a typical 19teens actress - all eyes, sweetness and sausage curls, she didn't have enough personality to stand out from the rest of the "sweet young things" and so she faded from view!!
The reviewer from "Moving Picture World" (1916) gave it a glowing critique - very soon it was to be that even a below par Hart western would find high praise from the critics. "The Return of Draw Egan" finds Hart in terrific form as an outlaw returning from the dead to settle an old score. Flowery titles are as much a part of Hart's West as the gritty realism, so the town Yellow Dog is described as "a mongrel of the desert, inclined to show it's teeth to strangers".
Draw Egan has escaped the fiery gun battle that pitted him and his gang against a sheriff's posse and has been deputized by a reformer from the lawless Yellow Dog who sees how Egan's strength and steeliness quell a rampaging mob. Enter "Arizona Joe" ("concealing beneath an air of bluster a streak of yellow as wide as a barn door"), Draw's old gang nemesis and once again covering his cowardice with lots of bragging. Poppy (old faithful Louise Glaum) the dance hall queen, convinces Joe (old stalwart Robert McKim) to make trouble - because Draw has fallen in love with the reformer's daughter Myrtle (Margery Wilson) and has let the town go to pot!! It is easy for Poppy and Joe to bring loose living and recklessness back to popularity!! Joe threatens to tell the whole town and Myrtle in particular about Joe's unsavoury past, if the boys are not given a free reign but when they try to run the "amen shouters" out of town Draw finally finds his missing courage.
Margery Wilson's main claim to fame was as "Brown Eyes" in the French story from "Intolerance". Rescued by D.W. Griffith from the never ending grind of shorts she was immediately given the heroine's role in "The Return of Draw Egan" but she looked a typical 19teens actress - all eyes, sweetness and sausage curls, she didn't have enough personality to stand out from the rest of the "sweet young things" and so she faded from view!!