The Winning of Barbara Worth

Early in the 20th century a well-to-do settler in Colorado (played by Charles Lane) plans to divert the Colorado river in order to irrigate the desert. He wins an investor from the East, whose engineer (Ronald Colman) soon becomes interested in his adopted daughter (Vilma Bánky). In this, the engineer finds himself the rival of a local cowboy (Gary Cooper). There is a lot going on in this film. People are killed in sandstorms, dams are built and rivers diverted, cities founded and destroyed, there are gunfights etc. Etc. In short: there is everything a great epic movie needs - a movie of the kind I usually love. Still, 'The Winning of Barbara Worth' does not rock my boat. This is because so much stuff is happening that director Henry King pays as good as no attention to character development. None of the people mentioned above are more then empty cyphers. You could easily exchange the cowboy for the engineer - the story would work just as well or poorly. Cooper and Colman have exactly the same kind of character, meaning none at all except that they are handsome, courageous and considerate. The picture is heavily tinted, and this is another issue. Granted, the amber desert scenes are beautiful (not only because of the tinting but also because they are beautifully filmed), but in other scenes the colour is far too dominant. And while the pale grey-blue works well for dusk, the pink, for example, could have been applied more carefully. Still, this is a minor point compared to the weak character development. Essentially, it was that issue which spoilt the film for me.

I cannot tell you how excited I was to find this DVD at my local library. I have the entire collection of Wright's books and recognized the title instantly. Amazingly, the director and screenplay writer took the story as it is in the book and relayed it beautifully. This is supreme acting when you can pretty well tell what's being said even before the words show up on the screen. BRAVO!!!! This would be a great story for the history buffs as well as silent screen aficionados. This is the first of many great films starring Gary Cooper and it is easy to see why he made it in the acting field. His rival for Barbara's hand is Ronald Coleman and what a dashing rival he makes! I was unfamiliar with the heroine but she too was a wonderful actress. This is a part of history I had not been aware of until I read the book. It is a must-see!

During the silent screen years Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky were a popular screen team and The Winning Of Barbara Worth was their first film together. Neither Colman or Banky was particularly happy with doing a western and certainly neither are players you would think of for a western. But in the days of the silent screen you could not hear Colman's cultured English tones or Banky's thick Hungarian accent which killed her career in sound films.

The Winning Of Barbara Worth is a modern western set in 1926 Arizona where Banky's father is the local head honcho in a small town. Father Charles Lane has a dream of building a dam and irrigating the desert and turning it into an agricultural paradise. But he puts his trust and the hard earned cash of his people into the hands of the unscrupulous E.J. Ratcliffe who cut many corners and built one inferior dam. His chief engineer Ronald Colman points that out to him and his fired for his trouble.

Undaunted, Colman gets new backing from millionaire Fred Esmelton and goes to work on a new dam. Which does not fit in Ratcliffe's plans and he tries to stop Colman by fair means or foul.

Colman also has eyes for Banky, but she's already got Gary Cooper courting her. And Coop's the jealous type and does not think Colman is on the up and up.

Henry King whose career in films spanned over 40 years and was the top contract director at 20th Century Fox during sound did a great job both with his live players and the cinematography. The overflowing dam and subsequent flood was of DeMille like quality.

Maybe Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky aren't what many would consider western names, but that sure can't be said about Gary Cooper for whom this was his first featured role. Coop had done many bit roles in silents up to this time, but he was a complete unknown at this time and The Winning Of Barbara Worth was his first part with billing. You probably could not have made this film during sound with the voices of Colman and Banky, but when Cooper uttered his first screen words in Wolf Song, this man's voice perfectly suited the characters he had been playing on the screen already. In fact both Colman and Cooper went on to far bigger careers because of sound unlike poor Vilma Banky who barely spoke any English.

In the scenes he's in Gary Cooper steals the film and there was no doubt this man was going to be a major star. The Winning Of Barbara Worth holds up very well as drama and with Gary Cooper a star was born.

This is a great example of a silent film that captures some of the original pioneering spirit of those American settlers determined to make a go of it - even in the harshest of circumstances. Charles Lane is "Jefferson Worth" - a rancher who rescues orphaned "Barbara" (Vilma Bánky) and brings her up as his own daughter. Years pass and as she grows, so do the ambitions of the territory - and when a developer arrives with an engineering project that could irrigate the arid land, they jump at the chance. Problem is, the developer skimps on the construction of the dam, and so at the first heavy rainfall upstream it all goes a bit awry. Meantime, both the stepson of the crooked developer "Willard" (Ronald Colman) and her father's ranch foreman "Abe" (Gary Cooper) are fighting for the favour of "Barbara" and it's not long before everything comes to a head. Technically, the imagery is super - the film copes well with what must have been very intense sunlight, and the detail is perfect. Maybe just the odd too many inter-titles that can break up the pace a bit, but in the round it's a well made, enjoyable piece of cinema history with a decent story and lovely score from Ted Henkel played on the Wurlitzer to boot.

There is no mention of the source of the music, but Gaylord Carter played his improvised score for a special showing of The Winning of Barbara Worth on January 28, 1971, and it's a recording of that performance which turned up on the DVD. The instrument was a 36-rank Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. Henry King and Frances Goldwyn were in the audience and both spoke after the film. I was there. Mr. King described his search for a desert that looked like a desert, after finding the Mojave in bloom. He also recalled hearing Gaylord Carter play the organ at the Million Dollar Theatre in Los Angeles in the 1920's, soon after Harold Lloyd recommended Gaylord for the job.