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  • Sunday, 8/30: 'The Iron Horse' (1924) w/live music Wilton NH

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #1344919  by Jeff Rapsis
 
On Sunday, Aug. 30, the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre will conclude its summer series of silent train films with John Ford's 'The Iron Horse' (1924).

The screening, scheduled for 4:30 p.m., is free to the public and will be accompanied by live music created by Jeff Rapsis. (That's me!)

We've been getting good crowds all summer for our train series. For a railfan, these flicks are full of vintage railroad action.

Plus, there's no substitute for seeing a silent film on the big screen with an audience and live music.

That's especially true for a film like 'The Iron Horse,' a sweeping epic about the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

If you can get to Wilton, N.H. that weekend, I hope you'll join us. See you there!

Full press release with more info is pasted in below...

* * *

THURSDAY, AUG. 20, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • [email protected]

John Ford's 'The Iron Horse’ to be screened with live music
on Sunday, Aug. 30 at Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre


Construction of transcontinental railroad is setting for legendary director's groundbreaking silent film epic

WILTON, N.H.—The battle to complete the transcontinental railroad provides the setting for 'The Iron Horse,' a John Ford-directed silent film epic that mixes history and fiction.

Shot in the wide open spaces of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, 'The Iron Horse' set new standards for location photography and was a huge hit for Fox Studios when released in 1924.

'The Iron Horse' will be screened with live music on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested to help defray expenses.

The film is the final installment of the Town Hall Theatre's summer-long series of railroad-themed silent films.

Though based on actual historical events, 'The Iron Horse' weaves fictional story lines into the massive effort to build a railroad across the West, linking California with the rest of the nation.

The project, authorized by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 at the height of the Civil War, was not completed until 1869 with the driving of the Golden Spike in Utah.

Although only a half-century in the past when 'The Iron Horse' was made, the completion of the transcontinental railroad had already taken on a mythic status as part of the nation's story.

The film's narratives includes appearances by iconic historical figures such as Lincoln, Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok.

Director John Ford was just 31, but already a veteran of 35 features and dozens more two-reelers, many of them westerns, when he lobbied William Fox to helm 'The Iron Horse.'

For the leading role of Davy Brandon, Ford cast an unknown. George O'Brien had been a stuntman, extra, and camera assistant when Ford, impressed by his screen tests and his pluck, cast him over the studio's reservations.

'The Iron Horse' made O'Brien a western star and his subsequent career included many more Ford films as well as the lead in F.W. Murnau's masterpiece 'Sunrise' (1927).

The female lead was played by Madge Bellamy, a major leading actress of the silent film era.

Taking advantage of the movie camera's flexibility, Ford and his crew shot the film on location in New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona. Locations were chosen for wide open spaces and dramatic landscapes.

The production battled snow constantly, and the shooting day often began with the entire company shoveling and sweeping the snow off the streets of the sets.

To add authenticity, Ford brought in real Native Americans to play the "Indians" (they also doubled as Chinese laborers for a few shots) and hired local cowboys for the riding scenes and stunts.

The film opened to rave reviews and became one of Fox's biggest hits of the silent era, earning over $2 million on a negative cost of $250,000.

John Ford's first American epic is about the nation's physical and symbolic unification in the wake of the Civil War. It is, in many ways, the birth of Ford's essential themes: the meeting of cultures (the Irish, the Italian, and in a rather token way, the Chinese laborers of the West Coast), the sprouting of civilization (at least as defined by the American settlers) in the wilderness, and the building of a community in a shared purpose.

The frontier towns that spring up like desert weeds and pull up roots to follow the construction crews are pockets of both wild anarchy and native justice, and Ford's location shooting set the human drama against the magnificent Western landscapes.

The screening at Red River is a chance to experience 'The Iron Horse' as it was intended to be seen: in a high quality print on the big screen, with live music and with an audience.

'The Iron Horse' will be screened with live music performed by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

Rapsis, who uses original themes to improvise silent film scores, said silent film dramas such as 'The Iron Horse' focused on big and universal human emotions such as Love, Despair, Anger, and Joy.

Because of this, audiences continue to respond to them today, especially if they're presented as intended — with a live audience and live music.

"Dramas such as 'The Iron Horse' were created to be shown on the big screen as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they can give audiences today a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

The train-themed movies in the Town Hall Theatre's summer series are all fast-paced silent-era melodramas set in the world of big-time railroading.

Silent-era railroad dramas are of particular interest to train buffs because they're filled with scenes of working railroads in action about 100 years ago, at a time the nation's reliance on the rail network reached its peak.

The Wilton Town Hall Theatre has been showing movies since 1912. In addition to running the best current releases on its two screens, the theater remains committed to alternative programming such as its ongoing series of silent films with live music.

The Summer Train Film Series concludes with a screening of John Ford's 'The Iron Horse' (1924) on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission to the screenings is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested.

For more info, call (603) 654-3456 or visit http://www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. For more info on the music, visit http://www.jeffrapsis.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.