BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

utgard14 John Ford's silent western about the building of the transcontinental railroad. It's the movie that put Ford on the map, so to speak, and helped pave the way for many epic westerns to follow. George O'Brien stars as a man who works to realize his father's dream of a railroad that connects east to west. Between this and fighting Indians, he barely finds time to romance Madge Bellamy. It's a beautiful-looking film, with a praiseworthy amount of work put into it. My favorite scenes were all related to the trains and railroad construction. The effort to make these scenes are realistic as possible is very impressive. The scope of it all, with the history, the great scenery, the thousands of extras, the wonderful action scenes -- it's just a damn fine piece of work from a director who would become one of the all-time greats. Really that road for Ford starts here. One final note: Winston Miller, the child actor who played the younger version of O'Brien's character, would go on to become a screenwriter and producer. One of the scripts he co-wrote was John Ford's classic My Darling Clementine.

ironhorse_iv One of greatest John Ford's film, I have ever saw. This epic-scale silent western was hugely influential on outdoor films that followed it due to its large production. The Iron Horse was a massive production that employed over 6,000 people; two temporary cities were built to accommodate them, with 100 cooks on hand to serve meals. The project of Fox was the response to the film The Covered Wagon (1923), the Paramount, which was a huge box office hit draw. Shot on location in Arizona in Monument Valley. John Ford love the location so much due to its romantic scenery, that he film most of his westerns there after this. Surprising this movie wasn't directed by John Ford himself, but Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, but you can truly see Ford's influence in the film. The film is about Davy Brandon (George O'Brien) who follows his father's dream that the entire North American continent will be linked by railroad East to West. However, to make this dream a reality, a clear trail must be found through the Rocky Mountains. However, the trial is dangerous with Indians raids, led by a white man name Peter Jesson or Two fingers (Cyril Chadwick). In some versions he is known as Bauman or Deroux, but its Jesson's first right. Trust me. He is named 'Two fingers' due to the lack of fingers on his right hand. Chadwick really had only two fingers on the one hand having lost the others in a mining accident before he became an actor. When legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln has made it an official mandate. Davy is hired on as a railroad surveyor by Thomas Marsh (Will R. Walling), the father of his childhood sweetheart Miriam (Madge Bellamy). While Davy hopes to win Miriam's heart, he discover that Miriam is already married and shocked to discover her husband is Peter Jesson, now working with the railroad as a civil engineer. As the Union Pacific crew presses on to their historic meeting at Promitory Point, Davy must find a way to earn Miriam's love and uncover Peter's murderous past. The Iron Horse has become one of the biggest successes of Fox, in the era of silent films. The film overall theme is the rebirth of a nation, by its unification physical and symbolic, after the terrible Civil War that divided the country. The film presents an idealized symbol image of the construction of the American first transcontinental railroad. It culminates with the scene of driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. A historical real life date. There is a note in the title before this scene that the two original locomotives from 1869 event are used in the film, although this is false - both engines (Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Jupiter) were scrapped before 1910. Still, it's pretty close to what it must have felt to be there witnessing East meeting West. The movie nearly mirrors the ending to Union Pacific (1939). I can't help wondering how many times C. B. DeMille watched the Indian attack on the train before he borrowed many elements from it to use in Union Pacific? I think this movie influence that later film. Still, I can do without the title cards telling us that we are watching a film, or how they film it. It took me out of the film, a bit since it's pretty much telling you, don't get too into the film, it's just a bunch of actors acting. It's breaks like that, that detract the audience from the real story and action. Come on, you don't need that. Make the film seems like it's really happening. The film had some very interesting characters/ I love the unabashed masculine chivalry and heroism by the hero, Davy. Despite the oddly wild air swinging badly done fight scenes. I love the loving, strong-willed, independent women as seem in Miriam. It's odd seeing an old film where women are shooting guns and going to battle. The supporting comedic characters were also funny. You get a bit of the Victor Mclaglen and Ward Bond lovable misfits that permeated Ford's later films in Sgt. Slattery and Cpl. Casey. You get a really funny part in similar scenes such as the dentist, getting the guys to join the fight by having a stampede, and a lot of weird Irish jokes. The action was well-done. It was just as good as any modern film. There are two versions of this film. John Ford used two negative, simultaneously, which was a common practice at the time. One was for use in the United States that runs for 149 minutes and the other for other countries which 133 minute runtime. The international has a lot secondary takes and other shots unused in the editing room just to note. Still, the movie goes a little too long after the Indian battle in the American version. The International version is more tightly edited. Many years the only copy that was shown was the international version. For years, the American version wasn't available for viewing. All early Fox Films original negatives were destroyed in a fire in 1937 until it was found. The negative American original, was restored in 2007 and a new musical background was commissioned and now both can be seen. The score is likewise very good. Just wish, we could had heard the traditional tune of the railroad songs like 'Drill Ye Tarrier, Drill". There is a black & white version, Hand-coloring and a tan brown version. Watch the tan version, it looks like a dusty Western, indeed. Unless you are a silent film enthusiast or an aficionado of Westerns then you are probably unfamiliar with this movie so check it out. Overall I am very happy to have this in my collection

barbb1953 It's hard to know where to start with a review of this film, because it has so many different elements woven together expertly in interlocking layers. Suffice to say that in the closing scene (not a spoiler as we already know what happened at Promontory Point), a bunch of big-wigs (Leland Stanford, etc.) pose for a group photograph in front of the two locomotives (the original two that met at the actual event, if the title card is to be believed: the Jupiter from the C.P. and #116 from the U.P.). The picture is taken, but the movie viewer wonders who all these people are; as in real life, the big, important people in society get the credit and fame for a job that was done by the unimportant but very interesting little people.This movie is about those little people, pretty much all of them it sometimes seems, and in it a young John Ford does all the things right that, as an older man, he would get wrong in "Cheyenne Autumn." Ford was making "The Iron Horse" for audiences who were already familiar with the gritty realism in William S. Hart's films, so he had to give it almost a documentary feel in some parts, as another commenter noticed. There's also a lot of give-and-take between ethnic groups that at times gets pretty sharp-edged, just like reality, but it always (and sometimes very subtly) is resolved by their work on a common project, for a common goal.Ford also seems to build clichés just to blow them away. (Spoiler coming up.) The big Indian attack on workers at the end of the line goes pretty much as we expect at first, up to the point where the reinforcements arrive--no cavalry in this movie; it is fellow workers coming to the rescue, but only after a verbal brawl between the Irish and the Italians back in town, which was resolved when Texans arrived with several thousand cattle, and when they saw what was going on, stampeded them through town to force the Italians to get onto the relief train (Ford uses his excellent "run directly into the camera" view with the stampede and also a few other places in the film). See what I mean about layers? Right; back at the end of the line, the Indians are still whooping it up in a circle around the workers who are holed up under the cars. Reinforcements arrive and drive the Indians off. But then the Indians regroup, line up, and charge, cavalry style. Things look desperate for our heroes but they are finally rescued...by more Indians.It's a well-prepared surprise and that is so enjoyable. There are no deus ex machina moments in "The Iron Horse"; you just start wondering what is going to happen next and watch it all come together perfectly.Other excellent points include the casting of Charles Edward Bull as Lincoln (what else did he do, I wonder; his IMDb bio is empty). The bar fight scene is excellent, too, and so is the death match between Davy and Two Fingers (which O'Brien's training as a fighter makes especially realistic).By the way, Miriam doesn't care that Davy went into a bar; her problem is that Davy broke his word by fighting Jesson after telling her he would not. It's a really stupid move on her part, and the audience recognizes that - kind of an old melodrama touch, but it keeps the story moving.It's interesting to see Ford's explanation of the buffalo hunts in this movie (they were food for the workers) and contrast it to the one suggested in "The Searchers" (they were slaughtered to starve the native people off the land).Well, enough. See this movie. It's over 2 hours long (how many reels was that, I wonder) and that is just the right length.

Claudio Carvalho In Springfield, the surveyor Brandon dreams on building the first transcontinental railroad while his skeptical friend Thomas Marsh (Will Walling), who is a small constructor, believes he is nothing but a dreamer chasing a rainbow; their children Davy Brandon and Miriam Marsh are best friends. Brandon heads with Davy to the west, where he finds a possible pass for the railroad. However, a group of Cheyenne led by a white renegade kills and scalps Brandon; Davy, who is hidden, sees that the killer has only two fingers in his right hand. In June 1862, President Abraham Lincoln (Charles Edward Bull) authorizes the construction of two railroads: the Union Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska, to West; and the Central Pacific, from Sacramento, California, to East. His old friend Thomas Marsh is responsible for the construction of the Union Pacific and his daughter Miriam (Madge Bellamy) is engaged of his engineer Jesson (Cyril Chadwick). After many incidents during the construction, Thomas Marsh is short of money and he needs to find a shortcut other than the original route through Smoky River. However, the powerful Bauman (Fred Kohler) that owns the lands where the railroad should pass, bribes Jesson to keep the original route. When the grown-up Davy (George O'Brien) appears in the town bringing the mail, Miriam is glad in meeting him and he tells to Thomas that his father had discovered a pass through the Black Hills. Thomas assigns Jesson to ride with Davy to check the ravine, but Bauman convinces the engineer to kill the rival. Jesson cuts the rope that Davy is using to descent to the pass; returns to town and tells that Davy had an accident and died. However, when Davy returns to town, he discloses the truth and the situation of the engineer becomes unbearable. The desperate Bauman uses the two fingered renegade to convince the Cheyenne to war against the workers and Davy has the chance to meet the killer of his father. On 10 May 1869, the locomotives 116 and Jupiter meets each other in the intersection of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific."The Iron Horse" is indeed an impressive silent epic western of John Ford. Of course this western is flawed, with excessive patriotism, subplots and running time of 150 minutes. But considering the limited and primitive technical resources in 1924, it is amazing how the director could have made, for example, the scene of the stampede or the Cheyenne attack. Further, there are unusual angles of camera and the take from below the train arriving to save the workers is sensational in the prime cinema that used huge cameras. The plot seems to be based on the true story of the two North-American transcontinental railroads and the lead story of Davy, Miriam and her father is engaging. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Cavalo de Ferro" ("Iron Horse")