George O'Brien Movies

John Ford directed this epic-scale silent western, which was one of his first major successes and was hugely influential on outdoor films that followed. David Brandon (James Gordon) is a surveyor in the Old West who dreams that one day the entire North American continent will be linked by railroads. However, to make this dream a reality, a clear trail must be found through the Rocky Mountains. With his boy Davy (Winston Miller), David sets out to find such a path, but he's ambushed by a tribe of Indians led by a white savage, Peter Jesson (Cyril Chadwick); while the boy manages to escape, David is killed. Years later, the adult Davy Brandon (George O'Brien) still believes in his father's dream of a transcontinental railroad, and 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 as he helps to find the trail that led to his father's death years ago, he's disappointed to 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. Shot on location in Arizona in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, 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. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Although this Rex Beach story was filmed before in 1916 as a "super-feature," seven years later it would become a routine Paramount release starring the ever-steady, enduringly popular Thomas Meighan. Meighan is Kirk Anthony, a young spendthrift whose wild parties and all-around laziness cause his father no small amount of frustration. Anthony's next abandoned revelry turns out to be his last -- his father has him shanghaied and shipped off to Panama. He gets a job on the railroad and falls in love with Chiquita (Lila Lee), the pretty daughter of Andreas Garavel, one of the country's big politicos (Gus Weinberg). But he finds himself in a lot of trouble when he's vamped by Edith Cortlandt, a young American wife (Gertrude Astor). When her husband (John Miltern) kills himself, scandal and possibly a murder indictment threatens. But Edith clears Anthony, and he is able to earn his father's -- and Chiquita's -- respect. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Manly Hobart Bosworth tackles one of his characteristic roles -- that of a brutal sea captain -- in this drama written by C. Gardner Sullivan. "Hurricane" Hardy (Bosworth) is the terror of the African coast, and when he encounters Helen Maitland (Elinor Fair), he only thinks of her in terms of his lust. Helen is the daughter of a missionary who died from fever in the Sahara Desert and she is headed to the port so she can sail back to civilization. At the port town is a shabby, run down hotel run by Leon Roche (perennial villain Robert McKim). Hardy and Roche both want to get their hands on Helen, but she falls for Ralph Alden (Freeman Wood), a young, drug-addicted American. She helps him recover from his addiction, while an innocent little toddler known only as Peroxide (Muriel Frances Dana) helps Hardy to reclaim his soul. Hardy winds up fighting Roche and his underlings so that he can take Helen, Alden and Peroxide away on the ship. This film, incidentally, was distributed by Wid Gunning, who once owned a trade paper, Wid's which, after he sold it, became Film Daily. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi