The Hawk's Trail

A con man engineers a forged will to take over a wealthy estate, then adopts the persona of the dead man's brother to make his claim appear legitimate. He sets out to eliminate the two heirs, sisters who stand between him and full control, while keeping his scheme carefully hidden. Complication arrives when one sister, Claire Drake, harbors feelings for the forger's son, creating divided loyalties and rising tension. The story unfolds through silent-era action and melodramatic confrontations, focusing on the clash between the impostor's manipulations and the daughters' attempts to hold on to what is rightfully theirs, without revealing the film's resolution.

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke and released in 1919, The Hawk's Trail credits John B. Clymer and Nan Blair for the source material. The cast includes King Baggot as Sheldon Steele, billed as The Hawk, with Grace Darmond and Rhea Mitchell portraying the Drake sisters, and Stanton Heck and George Siegmann in supporting parts.

Box office figures for The Hawk's Trail are not well documented. As with many films from the 1910s, distribution records and revenue tallies have gaps, so there is no reliable information about its commercial performance or nationwide grosses.

Contemporary reviews are scarce, which makes full appraisal difficult today. The film leans into themes of deception, contested inheritance, familial loyalty, and romantic conflict. Its storytelling relies on visual suspense and clear moral oppositions, common to adventure melodramas of the silent period, with plot mechanics that hinge on assumed identities and escalating threats.

While not widely known to general audiences now, the picture holds interest for silent film historians and collectors, especially as an early credit for W.S. Van Dyke, who later became a prominent studio director. Performances by established silent-era actors like King Baggot and Grace Darmond offer a window into acting styles and production practices of postwar American cinema.