The Johnstown Flood

I don't know whether The Johnstown Flood was the summer blockbuster of 1926, as Titanic was in 1997, but it's certainly the same basic plot

Fictionalized telling of the day a couple thousand people died from drowing. But before we get to the action, we gotta have the handsome male star moon over some beautiful dame. In the background we have the Evil Kapitalists ignoring safety warnings in a mad dash for profit under tight deadlines while a lone conscientious voice warns of danger ahead. Meanwhile, the poorz enjoy their brutish entertainments to keep their minds off their miserable lives.

Mercifully, unlike the several hours it takes James Cameron's film to get to the exciting part, it takes this movie just under an hour. The production crew put in a lot of effort creating the miniatures required to recreate the flood. If you can put yourself in the mind of a 1926 movie-goer it's actually quite fun to watch. They even included the inferno portion of the flood (don't believe me, google it). And it's over and done with in about 10 minutes. Again, unlike the 7-1/2 hours it took the Titanic to sink in the film.

As with a lot of silent films, I soon hit the mute button. The soundtrack distracts, rather than adds to the experience.

This is the last of Gable silent films. He split up with his wife and mentor, Josephine Dillon, because the extra work had dried up. It appeared as though Hollywood had no room for him. He went back to the theatre for five years and returned to Los Angeles to try out for his next film in 1931.

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes. The plot has George O'Brien as a young engineer working for a lumber company owned by snarky Anders Randolf. He has a big new lumber contract to fulfill and is going full steam to do so. Although he's warned that the dam (which he owns) is structurally unsound, his lead engineer (Paul Nicholson) tells him it has been repaired. That's a lie, but Randolf is willing to believe it because the dam regulates the river which ensures the logs go downstream. Into this fray come Florence Gilbert, O'Brien's fiancee Gloria (and Randolf's niece). There's also Janet Gaynor as the young Anna, daughter of a logging foreman (Paul Panzer). She loves O'Brien, but he only has eyes for Gloria. Others in the cast include Max Davidson as the local department store owner. His role is meant to be comic relief, but the Jewish stereotype gets to be a bit much. There's also Kay Deslys in a dance number during a local show. Among the bit players are Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooper! Rumor has it that Florence Lawrence is also recognizable.

Special effects aside, the real star here is Miss Gaynor. I had thought she had a small role early in her career, but she's actually the female co-lead and she's excellent. While Gilbert plays it straight as the lovely niece who eventually lands O'Brien, Gaynor's role allows her to do some comedy as the teenager and she gets the big scene when she saves the day (sort of) by galloping through the town on a horse, warning people the dam is about to blow.

Directed by Irving Cummings and photographed by George Schneiderman, this was one of the big hits of 1926 and helped make Gaynor a major star at the Fox Studio.

This remarkable silent film currently exists in a truncated print of poor quality available for download and viewing on YouTube. It is hardly known today, and probably its principal fame rests with the fact that it stars George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor--who went on to considerable movie celebrity from the latter 1920s through the mid-1930s. O'Brien and Gaynor appeared together one more time in the F. W. Murnau classic Sunrise in 1927. The Johnstown Flood movie also contains very brief extra appearances by future stars Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard. Its secondary importance rests on the film's impressive special effects work--outstanding for the time--in depicting the famous 1889 dam collapse that occurred near Pittsburgh, PA. The flood scenes compare quite favorably with those in the famous early disaster film Deluge (1933)--made some seven years later.

The actual Johnstown Flood was a monumental catastrophe---horribly and unnecessarily killing over 2200 people. The real story of this incident---with all its twists and irony definitely deserves a proper screen treatment today. Many liberties were taken with the pertinent facts in making the 1926 film version. A historically accurate retelling of the actual Johnstown Flood would be far more interesting and compelling to contemporary audiences than the rather dated melodrama that appears here.

Nevertheless, this film is important for what it does show--two (then) young up and coming stars making strong appearances in a significant early Hollywood effort--and exciting special effects that foreshadowed the even greater accomplishments in this area that were soon to amaze us in just a few years.

The Johnstown flood was a horrible and preventable tragedy where over 2200 people were killed. How was it preventable? Well, the dam above the town was in disrepair and the rich folks who owned it and used it as a fishing and hunting reserve simply didn't spend the money needed to fix it...even when they were warned it might fail. Oddly, the film doesn't talk about this at all...and makes it seem less the fault of the plutocrats (who, incidentally, were neither punished nor found libel for the tragedy in real life).

The film has a love story between a rich girl (Janet Gaynor) and a common guy (George O'Brien). Because they were mismatched, a lot of the film revolves around that, though to me it was pretty forgettable. What is NOT forgettable is the final portion when the dam bursts. It has some of the most harrowing and realistic footage from the silent era and is most impressive even today.

What is not impressive is not the film's fault. While I read that a restored version was recently released, I saw the one on YouTube which was taken from a 16mm print...which is so faded that in spots I was frustrated, as the film has several soon to be mega-stars in it and it was hard to identify them. Clark Gable (in a saloon scene), Gary Cooper (among the survivors) and Carole Lombard (one of the leading lady's friends who are celebrating her upcoming nuptials with her).

Overall, while the story isn't entirely accurate, it's a truly spectacular film that shouldn't be missed.