High Noon Western Americana

Roaming Range Reporter

Continued from February 2012, Smoke Signals

Top 10 Memorial Silent Westerns Worthy of Watching

Article 4 in a series of 5.

By Gary Eugene Brown

The following list of 5 recommended photoplays (the next 5 come in March) was selected first based upon the overall quality of the production and the unique contribution made to early western cinema. Also, recommended films are based upon their availability to the general public, since many great and not so great western films of this era were inadvertently destroyed due to deterioration of the nitrate film, loss in an occasional studio fire, or hoarding in a private collections. The following movies are listed in rank order as to my humble opinion of the most highly recommended films. They were selected after having viewed many silent westerns, including the often-referenced western films by historians, such as The Covered Wagon, The Squaw Man, The Pony Express, Straight Shooting, and The Virginian.

1. THE IRON HORSE (1924) - This was John Ford's first major western endeavor. The motion picture, in its truest sense, is an epic film, one that holds its own, even in the 21st century. The souvenir programs, sold at its premier at Hollywood's famous Grauman's Egyptian Theater, besides listing "The Characters and the Players," noted that the film included "A regiment of United States troops and cavalry, 3,000 railway workman, 1,000 Chinese laborers, 800 Pawnee, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, 2,800 horses, 1,300 buffalo, 10,000 Texas steers." The telling of the construction of the first trans-continental railroad even used the "actual old time locomotives" that were used in the building of the railroad: the Jupiter from the Old Central Pacific and Engine 119 of the Union Pacific. Also, the supporting cast included a few of those who actually were a part of the railroad construction crews whose challenging mission was fastening the belt buckle across the new country's mid-section.

A youthful, virile George O'Brien was featured as the male lead. His leading lady was Madge Bellamy. The Ford Stock Players, in its early formation, besides O'Brien, included J. Farrell MacDonald, Francis Powers, James Welch, and George O'Brien's brother Jack. An evil Fred Kohler, Sr., one of the early westerns' great heavies, played the main villain. Behind the scenes, was Colonel T.J. (Tim) McCoy, from the Wyoming State Militia, who went on to be a major western star of the B westerns, was responsible for securing the services of the plains Indians, and for directing their involvement in accordance with the wishes of the director. Charles Kenyon and John Russell wrote the William Fox Production story and the excellent cinematographer was by George Schneiderman.

The film began as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, a personal hero to John Ford and the political maneuverings required to commence this major undertaking. The plot presented both sides of the building of the railroad, from the Central Pacific with its mix of primarily Irish and Italians to the Union Pacific with Chinese "coolies" doing the grunt work. Intertwined was a subplot of O'Brien being on the trail of the murderer of his father.

The cast and crew were subjected to the difficult weather conditions on location in northern Nevada. The breath of the actors and horses on the snowy plains depicted the harsh environment that all those involved had to endure. Fleas were reported in the accommodations for the cast (railroad cars) and crew during the hot months, forcing them to sleep outdoors. During the winter they slept in the hastily built railroad towns, which were drafty and cold.

This almost two and a half hour cinema is still a remarkable film even to this day. It has pathos, excitement, and humor, and is a visual history lesson of one of the major triumphs in the building of our country. It also served as the forerunner to the many great film stories that were to be made by the legendary director John "Pappy" Ford, such as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Searchers. Later, John Ford referred to The Iron Horse as being his favorite western film that he directed.

2. THREE BAD MEN(1926) - John Ford's second major scale western was based on Herman Whittaker's novel Over the Border. No, it is not Peter B. Kyne's The Three Godfathers, which was also directed by Ford in the 1948 version and earlier in Marked Men (1919) starring Harry Carey Sr. In terms of pure entertainment, it is as a memorable epic film as The Iron Horse.

The film starred George O'Brien; the hero of The Iron Horse and the femme fatale was Olive Borden. However, the most memorable characters were the three outlaws for which the movie was named. They were Tom Santschi as Bull Stanley, the broad shouldered, forlorn leader of the trio: J. Farrell MacDonald as Mike Costigan, who played an important role in The Iron Horse, and Frank Campeau as Spade Allen, the card shark. The arch nemesis was Louis Tellegen, who played Sheriff Layne Hunter, a character that one truly loves to loathe.

As alluded to earlier, John Ford recognized that the background location for a photoplay was as important as the script and the actors involved. He took his film crew to Jackson Hole, the Mojave Desert, and the Victorville area in California. Once again, he was able to capture the majesty of the Old West with sweeping panoramic shots. His Dakota land rush scenes with hordes of folks with gold fever was similar in scope to William S. Hart's Tumbleweeds depiction of the Oklahoma land rush.

The story about the Dakota Territory gold rush began with Olive Borden and her father bringing a string of thoroughbred horses out West. George O'Brien was a cowboy trailing cattle up from Texas. The three bad men were following a life a crime, one which they were quite good at. In a subplot, Bull Stanley looks for his sister who ran off with a no account tinhorn only to end up as the local sheriff, saloon and brothel owner. The moral of the story is that there is some good in the worst of men, with the exception of Sheriff Layne Hunter. It is surprising that there has not been a remake of this excellent story, then again, perhaps it's better off left alone as it is still a most enjoyable film experience as is.

3. THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH (1926) - The story, which centers on bringing water from the Colorado River to California's desert in the Imperial Valley, was based upon a popular novel by Harold Bell Wright. The film is a major production, conducted under the auspices of Director Henry King and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. The photoplay stars the noted British actor Ronald Coleman, Vilma Banky and a young Gary Cooper in his first major role.

The epic film was based upon an actual incident, the collapse of a dam on the Colorado River, which was constructed to provide irrigation to the desert. It was one of the first disaster films made in Hollywood. George Barnes and Gregg Toland, the cinematographers King had selected to record the story, captured the difficult life of those hearty pioneers who settled the desert area. The disaster sequence was ahead of its time in terms of believability. Variety described the movie as "Epic! Miraculous! For massiveness of production, this film is incomparable!" The Los Angeles Times later reported The Winning of Barbara Worth was "One of the most important late silents."

The film catapulted Gary Cooper from a laconic, cowboy character to a super megastar. The role was a natural for him, having grown up on a ranch in Montana. Cooper stole the movie from accomplished leading actors Coleman and Banky.

The quality of the MGM film, which was recently restored by 20th Century Fox, is excellent. Like the two recently restored John Ford films noted previously, you would think that for the absence of spoken dialogue, the movie was filmed yesterday. It is a classic that does not age over time.

4. TUMBLEWEEDS (1925) - The photoplay was based upon the Oklahoma land rush. The primary mover behind the film was also its main star, William S. Hart. Most film historians will acknowledge that he was the first major western hero of the silver screen. Even though a trained Shakespearean actor, Bill Hart had visited the west as a boy. As such, he was appalled when he saw the first attempts at making western films. This motivated him to move to Hollywood and tell others how the West really was.

This particular movie, his last one, is a full length, epic western, that holds it own against any of the westerns made in that era, and much better than most of those made since. The film was directed by King Baggot. It co-starred Lucien Littlefield as his "trusty sidekick," which set the trend for leading B western stars in the '30s and '40s having a comedic saddle mate. Bill's love interest was the actress Barbara Bedford.

Tumbleweeds took almost all of Bill's capital to make the film. He bucked William Fox Studios and others of the studio system that not only made the films but distributed them and showed them in their own theaters. Hart tried to bypass the middleman and handle the film distribution, and paid the price for doing so, his film was not played in the major theaters in the country. He also took on United Artists, who wanted to drastically cut the film. Fortunately, Bill Hart prevailed regarding the latter dispute and was able to produce a fine western film, even though he took a major financial hit.

Filming of the land rush was so well done that those involved in the filming of Cimarron, the first western to win an Oscar in 1931 as the Best Picture, used some of the stock footage from Tumbleweeds. Bill, at age 49, could still ride like the wind. King Baggot did a marvelous job in recreating the settlers racing to claim a part of the Cherokee Strip. Also, there is a memorable scene early in the film, where Bill Hart and his fellow wranglers are rounding up herds of cattle from the strip to move them to other ranges prior to the land rush. Bill with his fellow cowpunchers, looks down on the thousands of cattle on what was to be the last major trail drive, and plaintively remarks: "Boys...its the last of the West!" It was a prophetic statement.

In 1938, Bill Hart re-released Tumbleweeds. This was a daring move as sound had been in vogue for almost 10 years. By doing so, he was able to recoup some of his initial investment. He also added a spoken prologue, which is one of the most moving soliloquies in film history. Up until then, his many admirers had never heard him speak on film. Then, a man in his 60s, Bill tells the story of Tumbleweeds in his great Shakespearean voice, honed by many years in the theater. He also took the opportunity to thank his many loyal fans over the years that were then most likely married and with children of their own, for supporting his films. He concludes by saying "Adios, amigos. God Bless you all, each and everyone," then bows slightly, turns around and walks off into the sunset.

5. WILD HORSE MESA (1925) - The film was based upon one of many of prolific author Zane Grey's western novels. It starred Jack Holt, a major actor in the Golden Era and father of Tim and Jennifer Holt. Holt made several grade-A westerns for Paramount Studios in the 20s, mostly Zane Grey stories. The action films Holt made were so good that Paramount used footage from his films in the early Randolph Scott movies of the 30s. Scott even sported a mustache like Holt so they could use the same film stock.

This movie was filmed in the four corners area of Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Idaho. It told about capturing wild horses, sometimes in less than humane ways. Jack Holt was alleged to have been the inspiration for the face of Chester Gould's squared jawed, new comic book character Dick Tracy. Holt was an excellent horseman. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. portrayed his younger brother, while Billie Dove, a popular actress in this period, was the love interest. Noah Berry Sr. played the arch villain, the Jack Elam of the silent years. One of his henchmen was an un-billed Gary Cooper. It is a superb western film. The sad part is that it is only one of a few Jack Holt films of the silent era that has surfaced. It also was one of the few adaptations of a Zane Grey novel that stayed true to the story line.

Next month is the final chapter of our popular Gary Brown Western Film articles. He provides 5 more names of the memorable silent films he loves.

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A popular man with many interests, Gary Brown is known by many as the founder of the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival.

He's also an expert on the subject of early Western cinema and a collector of cinema art and memorabilia. He has been invited to speak on the subject and has written about it, including recent articles in Movieguide (2010) and American Cowboy magazine (2011).

We're pleased to present to you a series of his articles "Western Cinema in the Golden Age," and "Top 10 Memorable Silent Westerns Worthy of Watching," versions of the Movieguide magazine articles, first published on his website: http://www.cowboypoetry.com/

Roaming Range Reporter

Top 10 Memorial Silent Westerns Worthy of Watching

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