Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark (1928)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Dolores Costello, George O'Brien, Guinn “Big Boy” Wiliams, Noah Beery, Louise Fazenda

From: Warner Bros.

Here's a random movie I saw on TCM a few hours ago. It has a small appearance from Myrna Loy. I hadn't seen something from her in months. The movie has a whole isn't great but it does have some noteworthy things. I explain what those things are below: 

Maybe it made more sense in the 135 minute original version that is now lost in the annals of time... instead, there's a 100 minute restored version.

A few hours ago I watched this film on TCM. It is mostly silent, with a few “talkie” scenes and the rest is augmented with various sound effects. Comparing such things as the Tower of Babel and the Golden Calf to the problems of the late 1920's stock market, I get. That was the opening few minutes. But, the rest of the movie tries to tie in Noah & The Great Flood to World War I, and the connection is tenuous, at best. Intolerance, this ain't.

The plot: the majority of it is following a few people during World War I. There's Travis & Al, who at times have a homoerotic relationship. Travis meets a German gal named Marie and they fall in love. Both Al and Travis enter the first World War, where of course tragedy strikes. Then there's the parallel story about Noah and the building of his Ark, where the same actors play different roles. The story is not the greatest and there's plenty of goofy or eye-rolling moments. Yet what does help is that the effects still look nice even 88 years later, especially those that bring the Biblical world to life.

The standout scene is the Great Flood. Unfortunately, part of the reason why is that safety standards were rather lax... or actually, they were nonexistent. Three people were killed and many others were injured, some pretty badly. A year later we finally got regulations there. The full sequence can't be found online so unfortunately you can't stream just that and forget about the rest of the picture. As for the cast, many were silent stars that did not have as much success in the talkie era, although Myrna Loy appears in one scene and both John Wayne & Andy Devine were extras, albeit ones that you can't spot on camera. Wayne even worked on the prop department.

The movie is only best as a curio. There definitely are better World War I films to see. As for works concerning Noah and the Great Flood, there have only been a few flicks and Aranofsky's Noah left many disappointed. I guess you can read the original Scriptures...