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Universal's top serial queen, Grace Cunard was all set to start this sequel to the popular Elmo the Mighty (1919) when felled by illness. The beneficiary of Miss Cunard's misfortune was former comedienne Louise Lorraine, who thus embarked on a lucrative stint in serials that would garner her a faithful following through the 1920s. The male star, of course, was the screen's first Tarzan, Elmo Lincoln, whose popularity as the Jungle King had earned him title billing. Playing the Stranger, a young adventurer, Elmo is shanghaied by Checko the Crimp (V.L. Barnes) and forced to work in a Northwoods lumber camp. Capitalist Robert Stillwell (William Chapman), meanwhile, has in his possession the proof of a murder actually committed by his own attorney (Roy Watson), who will stop at nothing to prevent disclosure. Stillwell's daughter, Edith (Lorraine), is kidnapped and it is up to Elmo to not only free the damsel in distress but quell a mutiny onboard a vessel bound for a secret gold mine. Needless to say, everything is worked out by the 18th and final chapter, "The Fateful Letter." Elmo the Fearless was produced by the Stern brothers, Abe and Julius, relatives of Universal founder Carl Laemmle, and directed by J.P. McGowan, an old hand at this sort of thing.