The New Klondike

The New Klondike is a 1926 blackandwhite silent romantic comedy sports drama film directed by Lewis Milestone for Famous PlayersLasky. The film was set against the backdrop of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, and stands as Ben Hechts first film assignment.

Smalltown pitcher Thomas Kelly Thomas Meighan is sent to Spring training with a minor league baseball team in Florida, but is fired by its jealous manager, Joe Cooley Jack W. Johnston. Kelly is then talked into being the celebrity endorser for a Florida real estate firm, and his former teammates invest money in the firm through him. Still jealous of Kellys popularity, Cooley conspires with crooked broker Morgan West Robert Craig to sell Kelly and the investors some worthless swampland. Kelly and his friends lose their money, but Kelly struggles to recoup the losses. He eventually makes a fortune, repays the investors, and is himself appointed team manager in place of Cooley.The New York Times wrote, The wild scramble for Florida real estate is served up in a fairly humorous light in Thomas Meighans latest production, The New Klondike, which is Thomas J. Geraghtys adaptation of a special story by Ring Lardner. They noted that the film was predictable and not overburdened with suspense, but that the film did provide several amusing incidents concerned with the activities of the realtors and their victims. ........

Source: Wikipedia