''Thunder'' is a 1929 American
silent melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
film starring
Lon Chaney
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
and directed by
William Nigh
William Nigh (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955) was an American film director, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye".
Biography
Nigh was born Emil Kreuske''Silent Film Necrology'', ...
. The
film has no audible dialogue but featured a synchronized musical score and sound effects. ''Thunder'' was Chaney's penultimate film appearance and his last silent film.
The majority of ''Thunder'' is now considered
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
, with only a half a reel of the entire footage known to survive.
Plot
Lon Chaney plays Grumpy Anderson, a
railroad engineer
A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...
with an obsession for running his train on time. His slavishness to promptness causes several tragedies which alienate him from his family. By the story's end, the engineer restores their faith in him and validates his obsession by forcing his train through a flood to bring badly needed
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
supplies to the victims.
Cast
Production notes
![Lon Chaney - behind the scenes home movie by Wencel Brezinski - 1929](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Lon_Chaney_-_behind_the_scenes_home_movie_by_Wencel_Brezinski_-_1929.jpg)
The film was shot on location in
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with over ...
,
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
,
Pulaski, Wisconsin
Pulaski is a village in Brown, Oconto, and Shawano counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,539 at the 2010 census. Of this, 3,321 were in Brown County, 218 in Shawano County, and none in Oconto County.
The Brown and Ocont ...
,
Green Valley, Wisconsin, and
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It was there that Chaney caught a cold during the snow scenes which then developed into walking
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
. Production was shut down for a time but was eventually completed. Chaney's illness combined with his
throat cancer
Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...
led to his death two months after the release of his last film, and only
talkie
A sound film is a motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...
, 1930's ''
The Unholy Three The Unholy Three can refer to the following:
* ''The Unholy Three'', a 1917 novel by Tod Robbins
* ''The Unholy Three'' (1925 film), directed by Tod Browning
* ''The Unholy Three'' (1930 film), a remake of the 1925 film directed by Jack Conway
* ...
''.
Reception
''Thunder'' was released to theaters on July 8, 1929, and eventually grossed a total of $1,018,000.
It was Lon Chaney's fifth highest-grossing film for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.
[Blake 1997 p.267]
See also
*
List of incomplete or partially lost films
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
External links
*
*
Foreign language poster of the film
1929 films
1929 drama films
Silent American drama films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by William Nigh
Films shot in Chicago
Films shot in Wisconsin
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Transitional sound films
Rail transport films
Lost American films
Melodrama films
1929 lost films
Lost drama films
1920s American films
{{1920s-US-film-stub