Old Ironsides
About Old Ironsides
In 1798, North African pirates are seizing ships in the Mediterranean and selling captives. The frigate USS Constitution is launched to fight them. A young man set on going to sea is taken on by the bosun of the merchant ship Esther. Esther and Constitution both end up in the fight with the pirates.
Cast & crew
More about Old Ironsides
James Cruze directed. Dorothy Arzner, Harry Carr, and Walter Woods wrote the scenario. Rupert Hughes wrote the intertitles. Paramount produced and released the film. The New York opening was December 6, 1926.
Themes
Look
Alfred Gilks photographed the shipboard scenes.
Technique
Some sequences were shown in Magnascope, a process that switched the picture to a larger screen. Reports of the premiere say the audience stood and cheered when that change happened.
Music
Hugo Riesenfeld and J. S. Zamecnik wrote the music.
Preservation
Paramount issued a VHS edition in 1987. The Museum of Modern Art showed a restored 35mm print in December 2008.
Notes
- Charles Farrell plays the boy, Esther Ralston the girl, Wallace Beery the bosun, and George Bancroft the gunner.
- Charles Hill Mailes plays Commodore Preble, and Johnnie Walker plays Stephen Decatur.
- Boris Karloff appears as a Saracen guard. Duke Kahanamoku plays a pirate captain. Gary Cooper is an extra.
- A tattoo close-up gives Bancroft's gunner the name G. Bancroft.
Also available
- Paramount VHS (1987)
- Museum of Modern Art (restored 35mm print, December 2008)
