The Iron Horse (1924)

The Iron Horse is a 1924 American Western silent film directed by John Ford and produced by Fox Film.[1] It was a major milestone in Ford's career, and his lifelong connection to the western movie genre. It was Ford's first major film, in part because the hastily planned producti

Directed by John Ford. With George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull, Cyril Chadwick. After witnessing the murder of his father by a renegade as a boy, the grown-up Brandon helps to realize his father's dream of a transcontinental railway.

See review and synopsis at: http://www.acinemahistory.com/2016/05/the-iron-horse-1924.html The epic western about the construction of the transcontinental ra...

Iron Horse is the seminal western epic and is the film that proved that B movie director John Ford was a major filmmaking talent. Considered a classic, this sweeping tale of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad contains many elements and characters that would later become stock parts of the western genre. The film opens as an idealistic builder shares his dream of building a railroad to link the coasts with a general contractor who pooh-poohs the idea until President Lincoln himself steps in and okays the immense project. The builder and his young son travel to Monument Valley to scout out an acceptable route for the new railroad and select an enormous pass. Unfortunately, they are set upon by Indians and the builder dies. The son, Davy, survives though and grows up to become a rider for the Pony Express. One day he finds himself pursued by more murderous Indians and is only able to escape by jumping off his exhausted horse onto a speeding train. He ends up at the construction sight of the slowly eastwardly moving tracks and there Davy meets the man who years ago, disagreed with his father. This man is now in charge of the project. Davy also meets the contractor's beautiful daughter. Romantic sparks fly, but unfortunately, the girl is engaged to the treacherous surveyor assigned to find a safe route for the pass (Davy and his father already found such a place, but the Indian attack occurred before they could tell anyone). No one realizes that the surveyor secretly works for a greedy rancher who wants the railroad to go across his enormous spread. When Davy tells the surveyor about the route he and his father found, he doesn't understand why the surveyor staunchly insists that the railroad cross the rancher's land until the surveyor attempts to have him killed. Davy investigates and learns that it was the rancher, not the Indians who really killed his father.

Under the best of conditions, the grueling, day-to-day pace of feature film production is exhausting. Factor in the hazards and pressure of shooting on a difficult location, and the shoot extracts an incalculable toll on the mind and body. Even if this stress is not evident on th

Americans fight Indians and each other to build the transcontinental railroad.

Springfield, Illinois. Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west, but Marsh, a contractor, is sceptical. Abraham Lincoln looks on as their children, Davy Brandon and Miriam Marsh, play together. Brandon sets off with Davy to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy buries his father... Years pass. It is 1862 and Lincoln signs the bill authorizing construction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways. Marsh is principal contractor and Miriam is engaged to Jesson, the chief engineer... Crews of Chinese, Italians, and Irish work to build the railway while resisting Indian attack. When the pay train is delayed by Indian ambush, the Italians go on strike. Miriam persuades them to return to work...