{{short description|1925 film}} {{Use American English|date=July 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Fear-Bound | image = Fear-Bound (1925) - 1.jpg | caption = Still with Welch and Daw | director = William Nigh | producer = | writer = William Nigh | starring = Marjorie Daw<br />William Nigh<br />Niles Welch | cinematography = Edward Paul | studio = Nigh-Smith Pictures | distributor = Vitagraph Company of America | released = {{film date|1925|01|18}} | runtime = 6 reels | country = United States | language = Silent<br />English intertitles }} '''''Fear-Bound''''' is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by William Nigh and starring Marjorie Daw, William Nigh, and Niles Welch.<ref name="AFI">{{cite book |date=1997 |editor-last=Munden |editor-first=Kenneth W. |title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1 |publisher=University of California Press |orig-date=1971 |page=234 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlLbRAPOgP0C |isbn=0-520-20969-9 }}</ref><ref>[http://silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/Fearbound1925.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''Fearbound''] at silentera.com</ref> The film was produced by Nigh-Smith Pictures Corp. and released by Vitagraph in January of 1925.<ref name="afi">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/8972-FEAR-BOUND |title=AFI Catalog of Feature Films: ''Fear-Bound'' |work=afi.com |access-date=May 17, 2026}}</ref>
==Plot== As described in a review in a film magazine,<ref name="MPW">{{cite journal |last=Sewel |first=Charles S. |author-link= |title=''Fear-Bound''; Vitagraph Offers Will Nigh in Powerful Characterization of Heavy and Intensely Dramatic Role |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=72 |issue=7 |pages=703 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=14 February 1925 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor72janf/page/703/mode/1up |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> deserted by her shiftless husband and three sons, Ma Tumble works the little farm and raises her infant daughter Falfi. Fifteen years later Falfi meets a stranger who proves to be the youngest son Jim. Falfi pleads so with Ma that she lets him stay. The arrival of the sheriff finds Jim crazed with fear as he had aided his father and brothers in a bank robbery. A soldier appears and tells the family that Jim died in France a hero in the war. To escape the law, the family moves to another state and Falfi opens a restaurant. All goes well until Pa and the brothers appear. The soldier Tod, now a mine owner, gets Jim a job as a guard at the mine and, though afraid, he accepts. When money for the mine is to be transported, his shiftless father makes him change uniforms with his brother and they go to rob the money wagon. Jim, cowering in fear, binds himself to his bed. Ma discovers him and the deception, and Jim admits he always was a coward and says he hid in France so as to be captured. He slinks away from the house and meets his father and brothers. The youngest taunts him about being yellow, and Jim suddenly finds himself and fights them all. When the youngest brother starts to help, they subdue the others. Jim is once again proclaimed a hero and Tod decides to marry Falfi.
==Cast== {{Cast listing| * Marjorie Daw as Falfi Tumble * William Nigh as Jim Tumble * Niles Welch as Tod Vane * Louise Mackintosh as Ma Tumble * Edward Roseman as Pa Tumble * James Bradbury Jr. as Luke Tumble * Warner Richmond as Ed Tumble * Dexter McReynolds as Alkali Red * Jean Jarvis as Fluffy Ralston * Frank Conlan as Cooky }}
==Preservation== ''Fear-Bound'' is currently presumed lost.<ref name=''LOC''>{{cite web|date=2017-01-05|others=|title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''Fear-Bound''|url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5169/default.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321012543/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5169/default.html|archive-date=2023-03-21|access-date=2026-05-17|website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref> In February of 2021, the film was cited by the National Film Preservation Board on their Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films list.<ref name="Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/SFF-LostFilmsList020421.pdf|title=7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29)|publisher=National Film Preservation Board|date=2021-02-04|access-date=May 17, 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Fear-Bound}} *{{IMDb title|0015797}}
{{William Nigh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fear-Bound}} Category:1925 films Category:1925 American films Category:1925 English-language films Category:1925 lost films Category:1925 Western (genre) films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:English-language Western (genre) films Category:Films directed by William Nigh Category:Lost American silent Western (genre) films Category:Vitagraph Studios films