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Title: NOAH'S ARK (1928) Post by: Raffine on March 28, 2011, 11:36:57 AM I remember reading about this one years ago in the 'Silent But Deadly' chapter in one of those Worst Movies that were around in the early eighties. Boy, were they right!
NOAH'S ARK (Michael Curtiz, 1928) Young American playboy Travis (George O'Brien) meets German actress Marie (Delores Costello) during a wreck on the Orient Express in pre-WWI France. After pulling her from the train wreckage he then rescues her from a leering Russian officer (Noah Berry). They are married but he soon joins the war effort. The Russian has Marie arrested as a spy. Luckily, Travis is a member of the firing squad and as he's rescuing her again the Germans shell the execution site with Big Bertha, trapping everyone in the catacombs beneath the battlefield. Here a minister, also a survivor of the earlier wreck, takes the opportunity to relate a truly demented version of Noah and the Ark. The biblical portion of this partial talkie takes place in the last 30 minutes or so with the majority of the running time devoted to the pretty standard "modern tale". But once we fnally get back to Biblical times things really get cookin'! Warner's found the relatively simple tale of Noah too mild (no olive branch toting dove or reassuring rainbow here) so big chunks of Moses, Sampson, and random bits of Old Testament-style carnage are thrown in for good measure. God finds time during the destruction of the world to fire off a few well placed lightening bolts to kill off some of Noah's critics, blow up a huge statue of a rival god, and restore Noah's son's eyesight. The famous spectacular flood effects are incredible, but my favorite (if sadistic) bit depicts the beasts of land and air scrambling madly to secure a berth on the Ark. Instead of lining up peacefully in twos - there are whole herds of zebras, lions, elephants, tigers, emus, chimpies, etc. fighting and clawing at each other as they swarm the Ark. Curtiz's legendary disregard for the safety of the cast is very evident as thousands of gallons of water are dump-tanked onto huge crumbling sets crammed with hundreds genuinely terrified extras. Several horrific injuries and even one death were reported. Among the survivors of Curtiz's deluge were Andy Devine and John Wayne. Some random dump-tank action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcAZwDOWhfk&feature=related Title: Re: NOAH'S ARK (1928) Post by: BoyScoutKevin on March 29, 2011, 06:49:29 PM I've certainly heard of it, though I've never seen it. One of the reasons I've heard of it, is because of the reported loss of life while making it. It is reported that three extras actually drown during the scene, another one had to have his leg amputated, and another dozen suffered serious injuries, including broken limbs. You certainly couldn't get away with something like that today.
Title: Re: NOAH'S ARK (1928) Post by: Raffine on March 29, 2011, 07:46:20 PM I've certainly heard of it, though I've never seen it. One of the reasons I've heard of it, is because of the reported loss of life while making it. It is reported that three extras actually drown during the scene, another one had to have his leg amputated, and another dozen suffered serious injuries, including broken limbs. You certainly couldn't get away with something like that today. Yeah, the above clip only hints at the horrific scenes of huge amounts of waters dumped obviously from a great height onto large groups of people, with the sets crumbling around them. Several shot toward the end even show the extras in swirling neck deep water with animals, including some bulls with really long horns, swimming in panic right in the midst of them. It's really surprising more people weren't hurt or killed. Title: Re: NOAH'S ARK (1928) Post by: RCMerchant on March 30, 2011, 04:31:06 PM I'm a BIG fan of silent films! I haven't seen this (a-ahem-) classic yet though...! On my 'must see list!' :thumbup:
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