Entfesselte Elemente (1926)

Entfesselte Elemente: Directed by Henry King. With Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky, Gary Cooper, Charles Lane. While building an irrigation system for a Southwestern desert community, an engineer vies with a local cowboy for the affections of a rancher’s daughter.

“A 1926 silent-era western. The Barbara in question is the adopted daughter of a western pioneer. His plan to irrigate his area from the Colorado river is picked up by a New York financier. One of my favorite actors, Ronald Colman is the engineer set to head up the project. He immediately becomes a love interest for Barbara. His main romantic adversary though, is Gary Cooper; a local hometown boy with unresolved feelings for the lady.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEveryone, however, is faced with a bigger problem. The corporate financier is playing hardball and cutting financial ties with the settlers. While Iu0026#39;ve always loved Colman, and always hated Cooper; that becomes less relevant being that this is a silent film. Acting is not the biggest conveyor in the storytelling. The film here was remarkably well-preserved; some of it shot in Nevada locations. Not a genre I will be investigating fully, but a fun one-off nonetheless.”