Product Description

An early masterpiece, The Silver Horde was released in 1930, the first year of "talkie" films in Hollywood. Struggling against immense local opposition by pursuing the silver horde, celebrated schools of salmon which swarm beyond Alaskan shores, Boyd Emerson (Joel McCrea) and his ruthless rival in the Yukon salmon fisheries, Frederick Marsh (Gavin Gordon) battle for control of the flourishing fishing industry and the affections of wealthy society gal, Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71900 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2006-04-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

GOOD EARLY TALKIE ADVENTURE.
It's rough-and-ready action set against the background of Alaskan salmon fishing. McCrea, in his first he-man part, is fighting both for control of a fishery as well as control of his love life. Dance hall floozy Evelyn Brent helps the macho man defeat Gavin Gordon, who plays Fred Marsh, a villainous competitor. Brent proves to be the real lady for him, not the high class Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur). It's a fair piece of early talking cinema which works as well as can be expected. The scenes showing the canneries in action are interesting for their documentary style. It is seen best as a curio: Jean Arthur hasn't much to do here, as her comedic talents weren't realised yet. The great silent star, Blanche Sweet is shown in the inconsequential role of Queenie, and it belied her status in motion pictures (this was her swan song performance). Raymond Hatton, who plays McCrea's comic side-kick, Fraser is okay. Based on the hugely popular novel by Rex Beach, who also wrote THE SPOILERS.

Entertaining Adventure yarn
Thanks to Amazon I had the chance to watch a movie, not even listed in Maltin's Movie Guide, a real rarity. The vhs copy is ok, considering its age, and the plotline is entertaining indeed. You have silent movie star, Evelyn Brent, in the leading role, as the tough , hard-boiled, Cherry Malotte, so perfect for the role, that makes you wonder why didn't she achieve greatest stardom in the talkies. Physically speaking she resemebles ingenue Frances Dee (Joel McCrea's wife since 1933), but her screen persona is in the style of an early '30s Barbara Stanwyck type. Also in the cast, a young Joel McCrea, as the regular guy Cherry falls for, a pre-Capra Jean Arthur, as McCrea's silly and spoiled rich fiancée, Gavin Gordon, who the same year co-starred with Garbo sans-moustache in "Romance", as the bad guy, Louis Wolheim and Raymond Hatton, as McCrea's sidekicks, and Silent Screen Star Blanche Sweet, as Queenie, in her final film appearance as a floozy who's Cherry's pal. In all it's a pleasent experience and film buffs will have a field day with it. Very realistic footage of the Salmon Business and some fine location filming in Alaska. '30s fanatics, give it a try.

Dated
I was surprised at the high ratings the other reviewers gave this movie but after reading them I see we don't dissent that much.
It's true the movie has great production values and interesting docu-style scenes, but it's mostly a curio, and for 30's fanatics only.
I consider myself in love with pre-code movies, but that doesn't mean I'll swallow anything, and this one really didn't deliver for me. It's slow, boring, not any fun.
If I'm being a little too hard, maybe it's because the image quality was a big turn off. Roan can claim whatever they want in their covers but this wasn't mastered from nothing near original elements. The master seems a mega-soft vhs tape or something like that. This is only good for no bigger than 28'' square tv-s and the like.