The Thundering Herd(1925 film)

The Thundering Herdis a 1925 AmericansilentWesternfilm, nowlost.It is directed byWilliam K. Howardand starringJack Holt,Lois Wilson,Noah Beery, Sr.andRaymond Hatton.Based onZane Grey's 1925 novel of the same name and written byLucien Hubbard,the film is about a trader who uncovers a scheme to blame the Indians for a buffalo-herd massacre.It was one of a series of critically and commercially successful Zane Grey westerns produced byJesse LaskyandAdolph Zukorfor Paramount Pictures.

The Thundering Herd
Lobby card
Directed by	William K. Howard
Written by	Lucien Hubbard
Based on	The Thundering Herd byZane Grey
Produced by	Adolph Zukor Jesse Lasky
Starring	Jack Holt Lois Wilson Noah Beery, Sr. Raymond Hatton Charles Ogle Tim McCoy
Cinematography	Lucien Andriot
Production company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	March 1, 1925(1925-03-01)(US)
Running time	70 minutes (7 reels)
Country	United States
Languages	Silent English intertitles

Plot

Thousands of buffalo, collected in one huge herd through the assistance of the United States government, areThe Thundering Herdthat will play such a thrilling part in this new story of the old West written by Zane Grey. With Jack Holt, Lois Wilson, and Noah Beery, under the direction of William Howard, maker of those two big successes,The Border LegionandThe Code of the West,The Thundering Herdis certain to be thunderin' good Western melodrama. The beginning of the picture introduces an episode that is historic, if for no other reason that it shows the trend of the pioneer thought in the youth of 1850. Tod Doan at the age of 24 is left alone on a Kansas farm with heritage of $200. The $200 went for a gun and a horse, and Tod Doan joined a party of Buffalo hunters. This is Jack Holt's role in this new Zane Grey picture. Holt, as Tod Doan, finds himself in a party riding into Texas under the leadership of a fine old plainsman named Hudnall. He meets Milly Fayre, played by Lois Wilson, ward of a crooked gambler named Jett who together with a group of outlaws are making buffalo hunting a pretext to cover their banditry. Until she is 18, Milly is under Fayre's guardianship, but when she falls in love with Doan she promises...that she will marry him as soon as she is of age. For a time, Tom loses sight of her as she is taken to a freighting station to be safe from the Indians. In the meanwhile Tod hunts buffalo with the Hundall party until Hundall is murdered by Indians. Then the buffalo hunters organize and drive the Indians from Texas. Looking for Milly, a year later, Doan is told that Jett has taken her away. Jett and his partners quarrel and shoot it out. All are killed. Terrified by the tragedy, Milly drives over the prairies toward the freighting station, but she is sighted and pursued by braves with hardly a chance of escape until she notices a stamping herd of buffalo bearing down across the plain. If Milly can widen the distance between her and the Indians there is a chance that the buffalos will cut off the Indians' pursuit. That is about as original a climax to a story as Zane Grey has ever devised.

Stars, in character

Cast

• Jack Holtas Tom Doan
• Lois Wilsonas Milly Fayre
• Noah Beery, Sr.as Randall Jett
• Raymond Hattonas Jude Pilchuk
• Charles Ogleas Clark Hudnall
• Tim McCoyas Burn Hudnall
• Lillian Leightonas Mrs. Clark Hudnall
• Eulalie Jensenas Mrs. Randall Jett
• Stephen Carras Ory Tacks
• Maxine Elliott Hicksas Sally Hudnall
• Ed Bradyas Pruitt
• Pat Hartiganas Catlett
• Fred Kohleras Follansbee
• Bob Perry as Joe Dunn
• Gary Cooper(uncredited)

Lists of Shoshone and Arapaho individuals who appeared in the film (and inThe Covered Wagon) are held in the U.S. National Archives.

Gallery

• 
  Publicity still of cast and crew on location
• 
  Cast and crew
• 
  Arapaho cast members andTim McCoy
• 
  Noah Beeryas Randall Jett
• 
  AuthorZane Greyand screenwriterLucien Hubbard
• 
  William K. Howard(1928)

Context

• Jack Holtwas the father of cowboy actorTim Holt.
• Charles Ogleplayed the original screenFrankenstein's monsterinThomas Edison's 1910 version ofFrankenstein,predating theBoris Karloffinterpretation by more than two decades.
• The film was remade in a 1933 sound version,The Thundering Herd,with some of the cast (Beery and Hatton) playing the same parts butRandolph Scottplaying Jack Holt's role, with Scott's hair darkened and a moustache added so as to match original footage featuring Holt that was incorporated into the later version to hold down costs.
• Noah Beery Sr.was the slightly older brother of fellow screen legendWallace Beeryand father ofNoah Beery Jr.( "Rocky" in the 1970s television seriesThe Rockford Files).
• Raymond Hattonwas making a series of comedies as half of an unofficial comedy team with Noah Beery's brother Wallace Beery during this period.
• It was also from the novel on which this film is based thatMarshall Universitytook its unique nickname as the Thundering Herd.
• Tim McCoydirected the Native American actors.
• Gary Cooperappears in a small uncredited role.

Production

• The silent black-and-white film is 70 minutes (seven reels, 7,187 feet).
• Filming locations includedYellowstone National Park,theSierra Nevadamountains,andCalabasas, California.The Sierra Nevada shots, filmed somewhere near the state line, were for a blizzard sequence.
• The entire bison population of Yellowstone, some 2,000 individuals, was rounded up for use in the stampede scene.

Reception

Varietycompared the cinematography to the art ofFrederic Remington.Mordaunt HallofThe New York Timesalso 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 ofplentyanddeath."

Location shot fromThe Thundering Herd,likely in Montana or Wyoming

Grace KingsleyinLos Angeles Times:The Thundering Herdis 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 ofThe Thundering Herd.

Anges SmithinPicture Play:

Glorifying the American Buffalo: Just asThe Miracle of the Wolveswas an attempt to say a good word aboutLouis XI,so isThe Thundering Herda 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 Herdis 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.

See also

• Wind River reservation

External links

• The Thundering HerdatIMDb
• ‹ThetemplateAllMovie titleis beingconsidered for deletion.›The Thundering HerdatAllMovie