Young Bill Jones ( Harry Carey ) lives on the banks of the Sacramento River and one day saves Jack Desparde ( William Bailey ) from drowning after he had jumped from a steamboat taking him to be hanged at Sandy Bar. Bill later helps the outlaw escape. When beautiful southerner Sally Corbin ( Jacqueline Gadsden ) arrives in Sandy Bar looking her husband, she discovers that he is the man known as Desparde, she takes to the bottle. When Bill's cabin is attacked by Indians, but he is saved from sure death by Desparde. Soon, Bill prevents Sally from running off with Jay Bird Charley, a cowardly bandit who once rode with Desparde. While riding into Sandy Bar one day, Desparde is surprised by the sheriff's men and barricades himself in the saloon, and Bill once again helps him escape. When the angry townspeople are about to hang Bill, Desparde plunges his horse over an embankment, killing himself to save his friend Bill. Bill and Sally now look to each other for consolation and a brighter future together.
The Flaming Forties was the sixth of seven features which short-lived motion picture company Stellar Productions released in 1924–1925 as Producers Distributing Corporation vehicles for Harry Carey. Hollywood's Golden Age film producer, Hunt Stromberg did produce this adventurous western, and it is now sadly considered a lost film.
The Flaming Forties was the sixth of seven features which short-lived motion picture company Stellar Productions released in 1924–1925 as Producers Distributing Corporation vehicles for Harry Carey. Hollywood's Golden Age film producer, Hunt Stromberg did produce this adventurous western, and it is now sadly considered a lost film.
