''The Silver Horde'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

romantic drama film starring

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

as a fisherman torn between two women, played by top-billed

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida, and known as Betty. When she was age 10, her mother Eleanor (née. Warner) died, ...

and

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

. Directed by

George Archainbaud George Archainbaud (May 7, 1890 – February 20, 1959) was a French-American film and television director. Biography In the beginning of his career he worked on stage as an actor and manager. He came to the United States in January 1914, and st ...

from a screenplay by Wallace Smith, it is the second film adaptation of the 1909 novel of the same name by

Rex Beach Rex Ellingwood Beach (September 1, 1877 – December 7, 1949) was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player. Early life Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan, but moved to Tampa, Florida, with his family where his father ...

, which is a follow up to his earlier novel, ''The Spoilers''. The first filming of ''The Silver Horde'' was a silent 1920 film also titled '' The Silver Horde''. The title is a reference to the

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

fishing industry in Alaska, and the color of the fish bulging in the fishermen's nets.

Plot

In the Alaskan wilderness, Boyd Emerson and Fraser, arrive by

dogsled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the ...

at a village. They are puzzled to receive a chilly welcome from its inhabitants. Frustrated, Boyd gets into a fight with local George Balt, which is broken up by Cherry Malotte. She invites the newcomers to dinner. She explains that they have stumbled into a bitter struggle between two rival fishing groups, hers and Fred Marsh's. Boyd is ready to give up his fruitless search for gold. Cherry reinvigorates him and persuades him to join her side. She sends him, Fraser and Balt to Seattle to get a loan of $200,000 from Cherry's banker friend, Tom Hilliard, to rebuild a

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

. After concluding the deal, Boyd goes to see his socialite fiancée, Mildred Wayland. She is determined to marry him, despite her father's wish that she wed someone with wealth: none other than Fred Marsh. When Marsh provokes him, Boyd carelessly blurts out his plans. Wayne Wayland and Marsh conspire and get Cherry's financing withdrawn. Notified, Cherry sails for Seattle and dines with Hilliard. It soon becomes plain to the banker that Cherry has fallen in love with Boyd. He explains that the young man already has a girlfriend, and points out the couple dancing elsewhere in the establishment. Cherry then secures the loan by taking up Hilliard's offer to go to his apartment. Boyd assumes, however, that it was due to Mildred's influence with her father. Returning to Alaska with new machinery and Balt's crew, Boyd gets the cannery running in weeks, just in time for the annual salmon run. When Marsh sends his men to wreck their equipment, a brawl breaks out on the water, during which the Waylands arrive on their yacht. Marsh tells Mildred about Cherry, that she is a notorious prostitute known from Sitka to San Francisco. He lies, telling Mildred that Cherry got the loan by spending the night with Hilliard at Boyd's insistence, and that she is more than Boyd's business partner. Mildred ends her engagement, despite Boyd's protests of innocence. Boyd, meanwhile, breaks up with Cherry when she cannot deny how she got the money. Concerned only about Boyd's happiness, Cherry contacts an old friend in her former trade, Queenie. The two board the Wayland yacht, where Cherry proves that Queenie is Marsh's wife. Cherry then convinces Mildred that, while she loves Boyd, nothing happened between them. When Boyd shows up, Mildred is eager to take him back, but by this time, he realizes who he truly loves. He finds Cherry and tells her he cares only about their future together, not her past.

Cast

as Cherry Malotte *

Louis Wolheim Louis Robert Wolheim (March 28, 1880 – February 18, 1931) was an American actor, of both stage and screen, whose rough physical appearance relegated him to roles mostly of thugs or villains in the movies, but whose talent allowed him to fl ...

as George Balt *

as Mildred Wayland *

Raymond Hatton Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures. Biography Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...

as Fraser *

Blanche Sweet Sarah Blanche Sweet (June 18, 1896 – September 6, 1986) was an American silent film actress who began her career in the earliest days of the Hollywood motion picture film industry. Early life Born Sarah Blanche Sweet (though her first nam ...

as Queenie (Sweet's final screen performance) * Gavin Gordon as Fred Marsh *

Purnell Pratt Purnell Pratt (October 20, 1885 – July 25, 1941) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1914 and 1941. He was born in Bethel, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California. Partial filmography * ''The Great ...

as Wayne Wayland *

William Davidson William or Bill Davidson may refer to: Businessmen * Bill Davidson (businessman) (1922–2009), Michigan businessman and sports team owner ** William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, named in honor of Bill Davidson * William Davidson ...

as Tom Hilliard *

Ivan Linow Ivan Linow (born Jānis Linaus; November 21, 1888 – November 11, 1940), also known as Jack Linow, was a Latvian-born American wrestler, who became a character actor in American films during the silent and early sound film eras. Biography Born ...

as Svenson *''and''

as Boyd Emerson :Uncredited (in order of appearance) *

James Dime James Dime (December 19, 1897 – May 11, 1981), nicknamed ''Sheik of Spring Street'', was a Yugoslavian-American professional boxer and actor known for '' The Last Hurrah'' (1958), '' So Big'' (1953), '' Steel Town'' (1952), ''Anne of the In ...

as Fight participant *

Dick Curtis Richard Dye (May 11, 1902January 3, 1952), known professionally as Dick Curtis, was an American actor who made over 230 film and television appearances during his career. Early years Curtis was born in Newport, Kentucky, the son of Frank Dy ...

as Fight observer *

Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe (born Edward Vanes Flanagan, Jr., March 29, 1908 – August 31, 1968) was an American actor and writer. Early years Born in Fort Madison, Iowa, O'Keefe was the son of Edward Flanagan and Charlotte Flanagan, Irish vaudevill ...

as Guest at night club *

Robert Homans Robert Edward Homans (November 8, 1877 – July 28, 1947) was an American actor who entered films in 1923 after a lengthy stage career. Life and career Robert Homans was born November 8, 1877, in Malden, Massachusetts. Although he studied ...

as Valet Character names are not indicated in on-screen credits.

Production

The film was shot on location in

Ketchikan, Alaska Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District. With a population at the 20 ...

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $100,000.

Copyright status

In 1958, the film entered the

public domain in the United States Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights (such as copyright) at all, or if the intellectual property rights to the works have expired. All works first published or released in the United States b ...

because the claimants did not renew its

copyright registration The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event of a legal claim, or case of infringement or plagiarism, the copyright owner can produce a cop ...

in the 28th year after publication. See Note #60, pg. 143

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Copyright status

References

External links