An embellished account of the 1803 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution--a.k.a. "Old Ironsides"--against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional merchant ship, The Esther, who fall afoul of the same pirates and thus become involved with the Constitution's mission.
Charles Farrell Esther Ralston Wallace Beery George Bancroft Charles Hill Mailes Johnnie Walker Eddie Fetherston Guy Oliver George Godfrey William Conklin Effie Ellsler Arthur Ludwig Boris Karloff Frank Bonner Richard Arlen Richard Alexander William Bakewell Frank Darien Nick De Ruiz Bess Flowers Dean Harrell Jack Herrick Herbert Janssen Frank Jonasson Duke Kahanamoku Fred Kohler Tetsu Komai Mitchell Lewis Robert Livingston Show All…
Стари Броненосци, Trípoli, 老铁壳
USANR
USA
Adventure on the high seas! Pirates! Romance! Peeling potatoes! All this and more!
What’s neat about OLD IRONSIDES- and a lot of silent films- is the realism. They’re actually on that ship. Probably not far from land, but still. You want a hundred slave traders? There will really be a hundred guys. You need a ship to go up in flames, there will be real fire everywhere. It’s a breath of fresh air in this CGI hellscape we live in.
I gotta go.
NOTE: Esther Ralston is so beautiful, so ethereal, that it befuddles my brain and makes it hard to pay attention.
NOTE 2: Why is Wallace Beery’s character wearing a wig??
Someday I'll be bold enough to put a musical number in my silent film.
A high seas historical adventure, James Cruze’s Old Ironsides is a fun and underrated piece of silent American filmmaking.
It could also be called Dorthy Arzner’s Old Ironsides. She was the screenwriter, editor and assistant director. It would be her last film before becoming a full fledged director.
The film follows an uninteresting protagonist surrounded by much more fun characters caught in a war between the US navy and North African pirates. The cinematography is quite impressive. It’s quite amazing that they used real ships and authentic locations considering this was a studio era production. Wallace Beery and George Bancroft are wonderful as two comedic macho men who act as the heart and soul of the film as well as…
Most of the doings herein take place aboard a ship named 'Esther' and most of this (overlong) movie concerns the crew and a solo passenger of the Esther (coincidentally, actress Esther Ralston).
Yes, the ships Esther and Old Ironsides (when it appears in about 20% of this production) look great when filmed at sea and the battle scene is well staged, but this production -- based on serious historical happenings, loses it semi-historical footing by being cartoon-ish at times: On two occasions the lead performer takes his hands off the helm like he was a cartoon character; 2 sailors in the middle of an escape from pirates pause to have a fistfight; 4 sailors chained together cartoon-ishly get pushed off…
Old Ironsides (1926) is definitely an adventure! An adventure that goes a little all over the place with exotic pirate ideas. Charles Farrell unfortunately comes across bland as the pretty boy, but on the other side with have two heavyweights clashing in Wallace Beery & George Bancroft! And that's where the fun is. Just look at the hair they gave Bancroft. No wonder Beery was mocking him!
I couldn't resist getting this during the Kino sale, my ancestor Silas Talbot was the captain of Old Ironsides the year after this takes place. Instead of fighting pirates in Tripoli, he was fighting privateers in the Caribbean. This has a great sense of scale of the ship and the sea and the fast pace cutting is great considering the slower shots and awkward camera placements of many other silent films. I would just have liked if the commentary track were for the entire runtime.
The Mediterranean Sea is being held captive by Barbary pirates who are wanting money for ships to use the water. The United States have had enough and decide to send out ships to confront the pirates and make sure that the water stays free.
James Cruze does a wonderful job directing OLD IRONSIDES and the film is really one of the more enjoyable sea adventures from the silent era. If you're looking for a well-detailed story then you won't find it here but what you will find is a movie that is both very patriotic and just a flat-out good time. Remember when movies were made about slob men who drank and fought for their country? Well, this is one…
Epic silent seafaring saga. Set around the USS Constitution's (old ironsides) capture of Tripoli. The crew of the Esther is taken by pirates. An enjoyable story, that leads to a thrilling epic sea battle conclusion. Charles Farrell is the nominal star, but Wallace Beery and George Bancroft steal the picture. All very patriotic and rousing.
When it comes to the world of film historians, I look around and I don't see a rival.
I found this 98 year old naval war epic at the Dekalb library in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Silent films are typiclly tough for me but the visual scope of this film was massive and I was impressed with how well the scenes at sea worked since the cameras were so unwieldy back then and filming at sea is challenging to say the least.
So I picked this one up because I became a little too into the idea of discovering and diving the wreck of the S.N. Castle off Catalina Island. This ship was burned and sunk for a spectacular action sequence at the end of this film.
Turns out the ship has already been discovered and dived. But hey! Lots of big ships in this movie and a lot of them went BOOM and I liked all of that! Definitely worth it.
Really long, but worth the payoff of the final naval battle that is epic all by itself. First time watching a James Cruze film.
No doubt the highlight was the battle at the finale. Really cool stuff. A good cast, though Farrell and Ralston get lost behind the (admittedly great) antics of Wallace Beery and George Bancroft.
