Just before his demotion to the ranks of minor character actors, Monte Blue starred in an above-average series of programmers for Allied Pictures (one of the many forerunners of Monogram). In
The Stoker
, Blue plays Dick, a wealthy young man who is betrayed by his faithless wife Vera (Natalie Moorehead). Dropping out of sight, Dick goes on the bum along the waterfront, eventually landing a job as a ship's stoker on a vessel bound for South America. He ends up on a below-the-border plantation, where he rescues the pretty owner (Dorothy Burgess) from the skullduggery of bandit leader Santono (Noah Beery Sr.) For an actor who was considered a has-been, Monte Blue gives a persuasively virile performance, though he's a bit thick in the middle to be thoroughly convincing as a "young" hero.