The Silver Horde (1930/The Roan Group)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C     Film: C+

 

 

When journeyman filmmaker George Archainbaud made The Silver Horde in 1930 for RKO, it was already a sound remake of a silent film made ten years earlier.  Though not wildly over the top, this remake was not totally affected by the Hollywood Production Code and the bitterness & brutal honesty of the dialogue in showing the conflict between characters and those who understand the gritty underbelly getting the upper hand is very edgy for its time.

 

The title refers to tons of salmon fish waiting to be snared and sold for food in Alaska, with two men (Gavin Gordon and then unknown Joel McCrea) and the two different women who complicate everything.  One is “hussy” Cherry Malone (Evelyn Brent) and the other, wealthy Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur) which would have virgin/whore complex written all over it if the rich girl was not so gritty and that we now happen to be in the era of Hip Hop, Madonna, Paris Hilton and action gals who fight like guys.  The film in total is not a great film, but it is a very interesting one to watch, especially now, making The Silver Horde ands its politics worth a look.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image shows its age, but since the negative is either lost, sitting in Warner Bros’. Turner Entertainment holdings (and 50/50 chance it is being taken care of if that) or the film is in independent hands only, the fact it looks this good is a plus.  Roan spent time and money to fix it and now people can enjoy it, along with Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that is as clean as can be expected fore its age.  Extras include critic Lou Lumenick’s introduction, Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman on portraying the film business in Rod Serling’s Patterns, Bobby Winckler discussing his movie star father Bill and the first chapter of The Last Frontier serial they already issued on DVD.  We hope to look at it as compared to the VCI edition we recently covered.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo