The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)

SYNOPSIS: Jefferson Worth's dream is to turn the desert wasteland into a garden paradise. To bring this worthy project to fruition, he turns to the Wall Street financier, James Greenfield, and his step-son, engineer Willard Holmes. Unfortunately, Greenfield is a crook.NOTES: Although he figures way down the cast list, Gary Cooper (in his first credited movie appearance) is in reality playing the second male lead. (In fact, he has actually been bumped up into third position on the current DVD). This role was originally slated for cowboy star, Harold Goodwin. Unfortunately for his own career, Goodwin was delayed at Warner Brothers where he was making The Better 'Ole with Syd Chaplin. A replacement had to be found in a hurry. Henry King remembered a screen test he'd seen of Gary Cooper whom he'd signed on as an extra at $50 a week. So King offered Cooper the role and an additional $15 a week.COMMENT: Although it only intermittently captures the religious flavor and fervor of Harold Bell Wright's 1911 novel, The Winning of Barbara Worth proves a grand movie experience, with winning performances all around in a fast-moving plot that cascades into an unforgettable climax. The photography is outstanding and King's direction both forceful and fluid. Production values are particularly rich with awesome location footage and thrilling action scenes involving hundreds of extras. Even Clyde Cook's comic relief seemed mildly amusing. And as for the clash of leading men, personally, I thought the charismatic Cooper easily outshone hard-working Colman. (DVD from M-G-M. Quality rating: 10 out of 10).

A familiar title, as it was Gary Cooper's debut, I've always thought it was some sort of drama about settlers in which a fort or township called 'Barbara Worth' (as in 'Santa Barbara') gets saved at the end.However Barbara Worth turns out to be the name of the heroine, and the plot proves more of a soap opera than an action movie, as Ronald Colman and Gary Cooper vie for her affection. Who cares? Despite their combined star power, Colman has little to do, and Cooper even less. Vilma Banky is charming in the title role, but the personal drama proves remarkably uninteresting. What makes the film live is the superb photography by George Barnes and Gregg Toland - shown off to perfection in the beautiful tinted print available - and the flood created when the Colorado bursts its banks, engineered by special effects veteran Ned Mann, (best-known for his work in Britain for Korda during the 30's), who presumably also created the Dust Devil we see at the start.

The Winning of Barbara Worth as seen on a nicely restored DVD in MGM's Gary Cooper Collection, is a beautifully filmed, well acted, "modern" western with impressive special effects in a spectacular flood scene. Unfortunately the sappy, simplistic story -- more suitable for a Saturday matinée kiddie western than a top dollar movie -- undoes much of the good imparted by the high production values. It is hardly the classic many have over-rated it. It is still fairly entertaining and worth watching, if nothing else for the curio value of seeing a young Gary Cooper in his first big roll, playing second banana behind well-established star Ronald Coleman.The cinematography by Georges Barnes and Gregg Toland are really what save this movie from being an over-baked turkey. The shots of the desert especially in the opening sequence are breathtaking. The effects were greatly enhanced by the burnt sienna sepia tints used in this monochromatic color movie for all scenes, indoor and outdoor, except for the night scenes, which were the traditional blue. Director Henry King does an excellent job with the action sequences, especially the panicked crowd of townspeople fleeing from onrushing flood waters. On the other hand he handles his actors in the drama scenes in a very stilted and high histrionic manner already going out of style in this the late silent era. There were times when I feared Vilma Banky would wear the front of her beautiful blonde hair off from repeatedly throwing the back of her hand to her forehead. Ronald Coleman, nevertheless, managed to keep his understated (for the silent era) acting style in trim throughout. Cooper, no doubt being less sure of himself at this early point in his career, sometimes succumbs to deep silent histrionics. In a few scenes, however, we see flashes of his brilliantly understated style of the future.The story, based on a Harold Bell Wright novel, relies on two hackneyed plot devices -- 1) a syrupy love triangle with Coleman and Cooper both smitten by the lovely Banky (and what men wouldn't be!) 2) A robber baron speculator exploiting the poor folks. The robber baron being Coleman's father ties the two together. That wouldn't be so bad, since they ran out of new stories centuries ago, but neither of the two plot lines is very well developed, and plot holes abound. For instance, why was the rich robber Baron so set against spending the money to reinforce the dam, when it was his investment, the town, which would be washed away if the dam broke. And no less a trusted authority than his engineer son had advised him it was likely to burst. As to the lovey-dovey stuff, Vilma's relationships with neither of her two suitors was well developed enough to justify all the fuss.A good watch nevertheless. But a pretty crude movie in many ways for the late silent era. Compare with the Greta Garbo opus The Temptress, released the same year. Wouldn't be fair to compare sweet little Vilma Banky's E-for-effort acting with that of the Great Garbo! I won't. But the general style of the acting in The Temptress is much more sophisticated and so is the story line, though both are still plenty florid by the later talkie standard. The Temptress also features a dam burst, and it is every bit if not more spectacular than the one in Barbara Worth.A criticism has been made that there are too many cutaways for dialog placards in this picture, and I must agree. But this seems to have been a common ailment creeping into late silent movies, possibly in an effort to bring a deeper dramatic depth to the movies. Perhaps this was simply a sign that is was time for the movies to start talking. And that was right around the corner!------------------------- A Special Thanks to fellow reviewer simonton-4 for cluing us in on the source of the pipe organ music score of the current DVD (see his review). The fact that it was a live, improvised performance recorded at a showing of the movie explains why we occasionally hear laughing, coughing, scuffing of feet. It gives the viewer a sense of what it would have been like watching The Winning of Barbra Worth in a 1926 movie house with only a live performance of one or more musical instruments providing sound for the movie. Much more like the original silent movie viewer's experience than the tightly synchronized orchestral scores usually canned with the dvds, which in effect makes them technically sound movies (see my review of Old Wives For New for a further discussion of this issue).

Beautifully photographed epic silent western following the story of a toddler baby girl caught in a desert sandstorm that kills her mother, the child's only surviving parent on their family's wagon trek along a lonely desert trail. Rescued by a man named Jefferson Worth, soon little orphan Barbara becomes his adopted daughter - cut to fifteen years later, where our Barbara (played by Vilma Banky) is now a young beauty living with papa in the small desert town of Rubio City. Enter new arrival, Willard Holmes, engineer set to help bring water to the desert and turn it into a garden spot. Of course he's handsome (well, he's played by Ronald Colman, after all) - but Barbara already has a local fellow, Abe Lee (Gary Cooper), who is completely smitten over her (and extremely handsome too - how's a girl to choose?!). Holmes actively pursues Barbara while Abe Lee watches from the background - but soon a misunderstanding leaves the whole town believing Holmes is a money hungry bad man! This film is a stunning visual masterpiece showcasing images of wagons and people and horses moving against a backdrop of yellow-tinted sun-lit desert that looks absolutely gorgeous, not to mention the exciting flood climax featuring a fast-paced race on foot and wagon between the townspeople and the approaching roar of the Colorado river which is expertly brought to life. The DVD of this features a totally gorgeous tinted print that really makes the cinematography in this pop, plus a well done organ score done before a live audience (who you can sometimes hear laughing in the background). A really excellent film.