THE IRON HORSE (1924)
Starring: George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull, Cyril Chadwick, Will Walling, Francis Powers, J Farrell MacDonald, Jim Welch, George Waggner, Fred Kohler, James A Marcus, Gladys Hulette
Writers: Charles Kenyon & John Russell
Cinematography: George Schneiderman
Music: SILENT (contemporary score by Christopher Caliendo)
B&W, 2h 30m (international cut); 2h 13m (US cut), 1.33:1 presentation.
Released on: August 28, 1924 by Fox Film Corporation
My experience: Ford at Fox DVD box set
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
So goes one of the more famous quotes from classic cinema, uttered by Carleton Young in Ford's own elegiac 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And that is precisely what Ford does in 1924's The Iron Horse. He takes a historical setting and brings it to life; and while he plays with facts (as did almost all movies of that age), it is done in service of a mythologizing of the then-recent past, the Old West that had just begun fading into history.
The film is an attempt to portray the moment in time when America became united, both as a people and geographically. The former by Abraham Lincoln, whose goal was to bring the North and South together, the latter by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, who created a cross-continental train system. Nowadays, we are aware of how this displaced hundreds of thousands of Native Americans and in the process destroyed countless valuable cultures. At the time, however, it was a great engineering feat, and was considered part of America's "Manifest Destiny." I am going through these films chronologically and trying to view them through the lens of their era, but it's hard not to notice certain jarring idioms of the past that no longer play.
At the beginning of the film we are plunked down in Springfield, Illinois, where surveyor David Brandon (James Gordon) dreams of forging a path through to the Pacific Ocean, scoffed at by his friend the businessman Thomas Marsh (Will Walling). Brandon's son Davy (Winston Miller) and Marsh's daughter Miriam (Peggy Cartwright) are going through a little bit of puppy love, aided by local shopkeeper/future president Abraham Lincoln (Charles Edward Bull). The two Brandons head west, but the elder Davy perishes at the hand of an Indian ambush led by two-fingered white man Deroux (or Bauman, depending on the print), played by Fred Kohler.
Skipping a decade and a half or so, we find Lincoln in office as president, and Thomas Marsh now a fervent believer in uniting the country by rail (or at the very least, a fervent believer in profiting from it). Miriam (now played by Madge Bellamy) is now engaged to one of Marsh's engineers, Jesson (Cyril Chadwick). Out west, the railroad is being built by numerous Chinese workers and three Oirish Americans, who are what the film decides to focus on. These men are formerly of the United States Army: Sgt. Slattery (Francis Powers), Cpl. Casey (J Farrell MacDonald), and Pvt. Schultz (MacKay in the international version), played by Jim Welch. There is also a traveling saloon keeper/judge named Haller (James A Marcus), a barmaid named Ruby (Gladys Hulette), who may or may not be a member of the world's oldest profession, and historical personalities such as Buffalo Bill Cody (George Waggner) and Wild Bill Hickok (Jack Padjan). Chief John Big Tree, whose profile was used for the American Indian Head nickel, also appears uncredited as a Cheyenne chief (even though he was really Seneca ... but we'll get into Hollywood and racial casting at a later date). He would later appear in Stagecoach, Drums Along the Mohawk and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon for Ford.
And then Davy, now grown (and played by George O'Brien) comes into the picture. Deroux/Bauman is a land speculator who wants the railway to go through his property, and Davy knows of a pass through the mountains which can shave 200 miles off, which his father told him about shortly before his untimely demise. Deroux/Bauman asks Jesson to make Davy disappear, but Davy survives the attempt. What will happen next? Will America be united? Will Davy and Miriam be united? Find out in ... The Iron Horse!!!
John Ford was now 30 years old and had dozens of short films and features under his belt by this time, but this was truly a step up for him. He had done Westerns in the great outdoors, but this film is truly where his career really took off. It is the type of film that you think of when you think of epic: historical, fantastic landscapes, but keeps you engaged with the personal stories going on.
There are two different versions of the film, the US theatrical cut, and the International version, which went out to Britain and the rest of the world. The American cut is a quarter of an hour longer, although I couldn't think of any scenes that were out and out deleted. Rather, Ford was emphatic about editing his films in camera, meaning he wouldn't let the studios fudge up his vision. Therefore much of the international cut is made out of alternate takes and lesser footage. So we have fewer of the insert shots that makes Ford films truly Fordian, and the establishing and linking shots are a lot shorter as well.
Another thing I noticed is the naming of some characters, and what they signify. The villain, played by Fred Kohler, is named Deroux in the US cut, and in the international cut he's called Bauman. This plays in to the inherent racism (and their subtle differences) in the United States and elsewhere. The American cut names its villain Deroux in the time-honoured tradition of derogating what was then called the half-breed. A major stereotype of that time was the half-indigenous, half-caucasian, who often had a French last name, because of course he did (actually, it was probably because the French had done much of the discovery of the interior of the continent). The international cut, however, gives the semitic name Bauman to its villain, perhaps in an attempt to tap into the subconscious (or in many cases at that time, the quite conscious) prejudices towards Jewish people.
The most noticeable change is that the American version worships at the altar of Abraham Lincoln. The film is dedicated to him (in the international version it's dedicated to George Stephenson, known as the "father of the railways" in Britain), and there are numerous intertitles espousing his genius and brilliance.
The story as a whole, however, remains unchanged. After prostrating itself in the opening titles before the American God that was Abraham Lincoln, we are introduced to him somewhat innocuously, as an average man in Springfield, enjoying the interplay between two young people. No mention, aside from his name, is made of what he would be in the future, and indeed even when we meet him later, we see less of him as a majestic presidential personality but rather as a normal man. In fact, the international version has Lincoln walking through the White House in a ramrod straight manner, with people standing by respectfully as if he were a monarch; the American version has him shuffling, wiping his forehead, and people talking to him as he goes by, much in keeping with him as a man of the people. In fact, when Miriam introduces him to her fiance Jesson, the side-eye and shade Lincoln throws him is epic. It's like we just walked into an episode of Abraham Lincoln's Train Race!
The Iron Horse is chock full of John Ford's signature visual flourishes. There is a beautiful use of closeups when Davy and Miriam part as children. When the railroad builders are ambushed by the natives, the carnage is silhouetted on the side of a railcar. And this is the film in which Ford perfected his storytelling. We see a funeral by the side of the tracks, with a widow crying, but the camera is a fair distance away, and shows behind the woman the people of the temporary town picking up and moving on. Life goes on, he seems to say, even while he indulges in sentimentality. Again, Ford's duality is at play here.
The contemporary score on the Fox DVD is by Christopher Caliendo, who takes a page out of the master's books and peppers his score liberally with folk tunes of the ilk Ford would use in his later sound films, such as "Oh Susannah" and "Blow The Man Down." The orchestrations are subtle in intimate scenes and rousing in the epic battle scenes. It's a great modern-day score of a classic silent film.
As for the performances, two of them stood out for me. This was a star-making turn for George O'Brien, and while he would continue to develop as an actor, both as a lead (FW Murnau's brilliant Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) and a character actor (including many of Ford's later films), the energy he brings to this role is infectious. And I cannot conclude this review without mentioning J Farrell MacDonald, who plays Corporal Casey. It's a wonderful performance, ranging the gamut from rubber-faced comedy to tearful sentimentality. Every time he was on screen I couldn't take my eyes off him. The scene in the barbershop -- which could easily have been cut out of the film without changing anything -- is right up there with Chaplin and Keaton. Apparently he did 25 films with John Ford, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in future Ford endeavours.
There are so many wonderful moments in this movie that I'd still be writing tomorrow if I discussed them all. Suffice it to say, this is the film that made John Ford a household name, and for good reason. While parts of it have definitely dated over the past 98 years, it is as gripping and entertaining as it must have been a whole century ago. For any film lover worth their salt, this is a must-see, not just for entertainment's value but to see a true master hit his stride.
Nine and a half exhilarating engines out of ten.
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