- Publicity still of cast and crew on location
- Cast and crew
- Arapaho cast members and Tim McCoy
- Noah Beery as Randall Jett
- Author Zane Grey and screenwriter Lucien Hubbard
- William K. Howard (1928)
The Thundering Herd | |
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Directed by | William K. Howard |
Written by | Lucien Hubbard |
Based on | The Thundering Herd by Zane Grey |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lucien Andriot |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 70 minutes (7 reels) |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent English intertitles |
The Thundering Herd is a 1925 American silent Western film, now lost. [1] [2] It is directed by William K. Howard and starring Jack Holt, Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Sr. and Raymond Hatton. Based on Zane Grey's 1925 novel of the same name and written by Lucien Hubbard, the film is about a trader who uncovers a scheme to blame the Indians for a buffalo-herd massacre. [3] [4] It was one of a series of critically and commercially successful Zane Grey westerns produced by Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures.
Exhibitors Herald, November 8, 1924:
Lists of Shoshone and Arapaho individuals who appeared in the film (and in The Covered Wagon ) are held in the U.S. National Archives. [5]
Variety compared the cinematography to the art of Frederic Remington. [13] Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times also referenced Remington and wrote:
So far as the strong sequences are concerned, it is a work of art...but as a narrative this film is not particularly good...William Howard, the director, has adroitly made the most of his herds of buffalo in the exciting stampede scenes. He never gives you a chance to guess the number of animals, for just as you are going to make a quick calculation on comes a splendid close-up of the frightened bisons...In the fight between the redskins and the hunters there is a series of splendid scenes in which no opportunity is lost to make them thoroughly realistic. Horses and riders dash into the tops of wagons, while others fall as if shot. Indians riding at terrific pace clash with the white men, some crumpling and slipping from their horses. One has a glimpse of a battleaxe wielded by an Indian, who, just as he is about to strike a hunter, is himself felled to the ground...For miles and miles one cannot detect a single sign of modern days. There are trees, the snow covered plains, rocks and distant mountains. The Indians are first introduced illustrating their sign language, and when they communicate with each other at later stages prior to the conflict with the hunters, one gathers a vague idea of what they mean by their signs, as they make the most of plenty and death." [8]
Grace Kingsley in Los Angeles Times: The Thundering Herd is one of those pictures that after it has served its excellent purpose in the way of entertainment in this day, should be folded up and put away for colleges and high schools to look at fifty years from now. Perhaps never shall we again see another buffalo herd stampeding...never shall we again see a more interesting picture as regards an Indian pow-wow...certainly never shall we have so interesting an exhibition of universal Indian sign language as that in which these real braves of several tribes communicate with each other during their councils. These things are additionally interesting because they are vital part of absorbing story of The Thundering Herd. [14]
Anges Smith in Picture Play :
Glorifying the American Buffalo: Just as The Miracle of the Wolves was an attempt to say a good word about Louis XI, so is The Thundering Herd a screen plea for kindness to the American buffalo which, it seems, got a raw deal from the white man and the so-called white man's civilization. And really it does seem a pity that there are now more jitneys than buffalo in the great open spaces...However, sentiment about the buffalo aside, The Thundering Herd is a wonderful picture. It is thrilling and beautiful and even if the story that it tells is just another one of those stories, the picture itself remains a glorious treat...The high spot of the film is a buffalo stampede with all the buffaloes played by real buffaloes and not just by cows wearing false faces and wigs. It is a great sight and one worth leaving the radio to witness.
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his titular role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
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Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Nicholas Beery enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
To the Last Man is a 1923 American silent Western film based on a novel by Zane Grey, produced by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky from Famous Players-Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Fleming, and starring Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, and Noah Beery. The cinematographer was James Wong Howe.
Adventure is a lost 1925 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players-Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Fleming, and featuring Wallace Beery in a major supporting role. The picture is based on Jack London's 1911 novel Adventure.
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To the Last Man is a 1933 American Pre-Code Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Randolph Scott and Esther Ralston. The screenplay by Jack Cunningham was based on a story by Zane Grey. The Paramount property was previously made as a silent film, Victor Fleming's 1923 film version of the same title. The supporting cast of Hathaway's version features Noah Beery Sr., Jack La Rue, Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane, Shirley Temple, Fuzzy Knight, Gail Patrick and John Carradine.
The Catalina Island bison herd is a small group of introduced American bison living on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. In 1924, several bison were acquired and, before the end of 1925, brought to Catalina. The bison are now quite popular with the tourists. Some buildings have been painted with images of bison and decorated with bison weather vanes. Over the decades, the bison herd numbered as many as 600. The population currently numbers approximately 100.
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