Old Ironsides

Old Ironsides (1926) is a silent film starring Charles Farrell, Esther Ralston, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft. The movie was directed by James Cruze in a widescreen process that Paramount promoted as "Magnascope". This lavish oceangoing epic features battle scenes with sailing ships and pirates; Beery would revisit the genre and play Long John Silver in Treasure Island eight years later. The film is a wide-ranging ensemble piece, with Farrell and Beery playing equally large roles, and detailed subplots about the country's atmosphere before the conflict as well as Stephen Decatur's early naval exploits. Box office receipts from the premier at the Rialto Theater went to the USS Constitution restoration fund. The Museum of Modern Art...