La naissance d'un empire

Tide of Empire (1929)

*** (out of 4)

This film would be the last silent Western released by MGM before they'd go to all sound and it's a pretty strong one even if it doesn't contain anything we haven't already seen. Tom Keene *under his real name George Duryea) plays cowboy Deermod D'Arcy who comes to California to get in on the gold rush. He ends up entering into a gambling contest where a rich baron loses his farm to him. This upsets the old man's daughter (Renee Adoree) who the cowboy tries to strike up a friendship with but her brother just can't seem to stay out of trouble and this here gives the cowboy a chance. TIDE OF EMPIRE isn't a very well known picture but it actually turned out to be much better than I expected due in large part to some nice performances and some fine direction. At just 73-minutes there's not too much time for boring subplots as things pretty much play out in a straight-forward fashion and in the way you'd expect. It might sound like a negative thing having everything happen as you expect but the performances make it worthwhile and you want to see everything turn out in the end. Keene does a very good job in the role of the good-hearted cowboy as I found him to be very believable in the part and he managed to get the characters good nature across without it seeming too corny. Adoree, best known for King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE, is very good as well. Her character is a flaw in the film because she's rather stupid in blaming everyone else for the family problems when it's in fact her father and brother causing all of them. I thought the screenplays weakness was with her character and the ways they try to get her across because it simply didn't work. It's hard to feel sorry for the brother or the father and it's even harder to accept the woman's "problem" with everyone else. Adoree still manages a strong performance as does William Collier, Jr. as the brother and George Fawcett as the father. Another major problem with this film is the annoying soundtrack that was added. If a movie wasn't sound by this time then it usually had at least a soundtrack to try and make it seem more "modern". This soundtrack isn't too bad when Leo the Lion is doing his growl at the start of the film but the crowd effects, chicken noises and everything else just comes off cheap and annoying. It's said that even crowds in 1929 were tired of this fake and silly noises and it's easy to see why as they do more harm than good and quite often they take you out of the moment.

I was thinking, toward the end of this movie, that had it been a talkie and had you told me it was made in the '40's my immediate reaction might have been to believe you ( I can be naive). "Tide of Empire" is a western full of high spirits and exuberance, folksy humour, a touch of melodrama, and a grand theme, and it's delightfully entertaining. It held me for its entire length (past my bedtime), simply because I continually HAD to know what happened next. For me, that's not necessarily the sign of a good movie, it simply means that I'm quite taken by it. I've seen a few silent movies, but not one quite like this. Directed by Allan Dwan with panache, the action is entirely three-dimensional within the film frame and there are some nice fast-moving tracking shots and attractive landscapes. The sound effects, which are carefully interwoven, give the scenes an added dimension, and the silent dialogue, surprisingly, didn't seem incongruous to me. I don't know if Tom Keene is a good actor or not, but he makes a good matinée idol, smiling and laughing his way through the movie - plus he's ridiculously handsome. A comment, from a reviewer, that the movie lacks humour, seems a bit hard. It's frequently funny, but the jokes, remember, are for a 1929 audience. A very amiable entertainment, and had I seen this flick back then, after leaving the theatre I would have topped it up with a visit to the nearest ice cream parlour.

By the way, Pathfinder is a horse. He has a leading role in the story. The movie also references two gentlemen by the names of Henry Wells and William G. Fargo who form a company offering overland transportation services to the gold buyers in California. Thanks to this movie and subsequently, Wikipedia, I learned something. Who said movies aren't educational?

The California Gold Rush provides the backdrop for this late-term western "silent" from MGM and director Allan Dwan. Early in his career, handsome young Tom Keene (as Dermod D'Arcy) makes a likable cowboy star; billed under his real name George Duryea, Mr. Keene would make a good dramatic impression in King Vidor's "Our Daily Bread" (1934). Her career winding down prematurely, painted leading lady Renée Adorée (as Josephita Guerrero) goes through the motions and emotions well; her small character roles from the period are surprisingly more memorable.

The two stars are upstaged by trouble-making brother William Collier Jr. (as Romauldo), who not only runs, but also gallops away with the film's best characterization. The Spanish ballad "Josephita", heard as Mr. Keene arrives for dinner with Ms. Adorée, reveals the later Anita Bryant (1960) and Marie Osmond (1973) melody "Paper Roses" was not very original. While nicely-produced and directed, the story, performances, and synchronized sound effects were old-fashioned when "Tide of Empire" was released; the film retains more of an out-of-sync than artful look.

****** Tide of Empire (3/23/29) Allan Dwan ~ Renee Adoree, Tom Keene, William Collier Jr., Fred Kohler

I got a kick out of this film mostly because it is set in the area where I live, the gold country of California, which is now also celebrating the sesquicentennial of the discovery of gold. But the film is very routine, with Tom Keene going into partnership with jailer James Bradbury, Sr. to search for gold. There is a love interest, Renée Adorée, a bad guy in the person of Fred Kohler who leads a gang looking to loot the gold amassed in the town, and some suspense when Kohler forces Adorée's brother, William Collier, Jr., to join the gang against his will and participate in the raid. The gang is in for a big surprise when Keene overhears their plans. There's almost no comedy in the film.

The film was caught in the transition to sound, so it is a silent film with music and sound effects added. It runs at the sound speed which causes the action to speed up, sometimes very noticeably.