James W. Parker interested in Cynthia Ann but rather in her uncle James who had searched for her for eight years after her abduction." Historians and film critics have speculated on the inspiration for the character of Ethan Edwards in the John Ford movie The Searchers, with many saying that the character was based on James Parker. Critics and historians noted that James W. Parker, Cynthia Ann's uncle, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsessive search for his niece, like Ethan Edwards in the film. In addition, the "rescue" of Cynthia Ann, during a Texas Ranger attack on
Riders of the Purple Sage (1925 film) Riders of the Purple Sage (1925 film) Riders of the Purple Sage is a 1925 American silent western film directed by Lynn Reynolds and starring Tom Mix, Mabel Ballin, and Warner Oland. Based on the 1912 novel "Riders of the Purple Sage" by Zane Grey, the film is about a former Texas Ranger who pursues a corrupt lawyer who abducted his married sister and niece. His search leads him to a remote Arizona ranch and the love of a good woman. The film is preserved today. When corrupt lawyer Lew Walters (Warner Oland) is run out of a Texas town,