The Silver Horde

The part of The Silver Horde that I like was the location filming in Ketchikan, Alaska and the realistic depiction of the salmon cannery over which our cast is battling. Unfortunately it's a most old fashioned story that doesn't wear well for today's audience.

Joel McCrea who was the noblest of all screen heroes and when cast right could be an admirable performer was given wrong direction here. He really comes off as a pompous self righteous clod, I can't believe both Jean Arthur and Evelyn Brent are fighting over him.

The film is based on a novel by Rex Beach who wrote the popular and many times filmed The Spoilers. In fact Evelyn Brent's character is named Cherry Malotte, the same as the heroine in The Spoilers.

Evelyn's a bad girl with a notorious reputation that our fastidious hero is repulsed by even though he's falling for her. Jean Arthur in the first film she did with Joel McCrea is totally wasted in the fluffy society girl he's first engaged to. This is hardly as good as The More The Merrier.

In this old fashioned drama you have an old fashioned villain and that's Gavin Gordon who's a villain in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition.

The best performers in the film are Louis Wolheim and Raymond Hatton, a pair of Arctic rustics is the best way you can describe them. Wolheim had he not died the following year probably would have shared a lot of the roles Wallace Beery did in the sound era.

Fortunately better films were on the way for Joel McCrea. Otherwise his career would have terminated in the early Thirties.

Fighting against great local opposition by going after THE SILVER HORDE - the magnificent schools of salmon which swarm past Alaskan shores - a decent young man finds himself caught between a bigoted society girl & a notorious prostitute.

A deft combination of action picture & soap opera, this early talkie boasts a fine, stalwart performance from a very young Joel McCrea, who displays some of the talents & charm which would soon make him a major star. A lively Evelyn Brent matches him dramatically as a lady with too much past. Poor Jean Arthur, in a strident, unsympathetic role, shows few hints of the celebrated comedienne she would become by the end of the decade.

Rough-hewn Louis Wolheim steals every scene he's in as a plug-ugly fisherman who's fiercely loyal to Miss Brent - here was an actor who was always fun to watch. Silent screen star Blanche Sweet makes one of her rare sound film appearances, playing a plain speaking harlot. Comic Raymond Hatton is amusing as a trapper with city slicker notions, while handsome Gavin Gordon makes a suave, dangerous villain.

Released in 1930, the first year of all-talkie films in Hollywood, THE SILVER HORDE displays its silent antecedents with the use of the occasional title card. This is not a weakness, however, and actually helps move the story along by explaining the plot a bit more fully.

Location filming on the Alaskan coast gives the ambiance of the film a terrific boost, while the scenes of catching & canning the salmon have a fascinating early-documentary feel to them.

In 1930, as films were making the transition from silent to talkies, this pre-code film was released. It even contains a few title cards.

"The Silver Horde" refers to the running salmon as they attempt to make their way from the ocean to the rivers, improbably jumping upstream. The protagonist played by Joel McCrea is a man who runs a cannery. As he falls for a woman of bad reputation, he fights another canner who plays dirty.

The scenes of harvesting fish and inside a cannery are snapshots of an industry's state of the art.

The lily-white society girl who desires to reel in McCrea is played by Jean Arthur with no glimpse of the screwball comedienne she would become. She pales in comparison to the bad girl, played by Evelyn Brent, appropriately called Cherry.

This average film is interesting for its place in the development in cinema.

One of the first talking films, this film has a mediocre storyline but is quite entertaining nonetheless. It was filmed on location in Ketchikan,Alaska and it is very interesting to see the nearly 80 year old footage of that area. It is also worth viewing to see Jean Arthur,even though not her best of roles, and to see a nice early performance from Joel McCrea. Evelyn Brent plays the earthy Cherry Mallott with great finesse.She is very believable in the role and does not over-act as some silent era veterans might.The plot,although average, is not boring at all and it is easy to sit through this delightful piece of cinematic history.

Evelyn brent, louis wolheim, jean arthur. Even joel mcrea, in an early, credited role. In the cold north of alaska, history tells us there was a shortage of women in the territory. But here, a fisherman with big plans has to choose between two women, cherry and mildred. It's a remake of the 1920 silent film! With the brutal weather conditions, and shortage of jobs, there isn't much time for etiquette here. It's okay. A couple of the actors seem to be channeling wc fields when they talk. This was the first of three films that arthur and mcrea worked on together. People here are not who they seem to be. And may actually be working against their own "business partners". Will anyone be successful in love? Or in their work? Directed by george archainbaud, for rko. Arthur and mcrea would go on to huge film careers. Arthur will be nominated for the more the merrier fourteen years later. This was one of her early talkies; she had started in the silents way back. Check her out in "only angels have wings" with cary grant in 1939, for columbia. Louis wolheim died young at age fifty.