Movies Under The Stars – THE IRON HORSE (1924)

Film Screening
Black & White,
An NCPA & Film Heritage Foundation Presentation

John Ford’s mammoth, rambunctious frontier romance silent film, from 1924, sets the building of the transcontinental railway around the murder of a visionary surveyor by a white man posing as an Indian. The victim’s son (George O’Brien) gets to avenge his father’s death, win his sweetheart (Madge Bellamy), and save the railroad simultaneously.

Opening with a dedication to Abraham “The Builder” Lincoln and climaxing with the symbolic 1869 marriage of the Central and Union Pacific railroads, The Iron Horse was John Ford’s first official epic, as well as his breakthrough hit. David Pountain wrote, “The director’s films would become emotionally richer and more complex with time, but the Iron Horse stands as a potent example of Ford using an abnormally large canvas to paint his vision of a changing nation.”

Director – John Ford
Story by – Charles Kenyon, John Russell, Charles Darnton
Cast – George O’Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull, Cyril Chadwick

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA Members will get preferential seating till 6.20pm.