Collection search - The Great Barrier = The Silent Barrier

Record information – Brief

1

The Great Barrier = The Silent Barrier

Item number (ISN):

379337

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Item number (ISN):

379337

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE

Accession:

1973-0210

Media:

Film

Part:

1 of 1

Release date:

1937

Production company:

Gaumont-British

Production credit:

director/scenario/dialogue, Milton Rosmer; scenario, Michael Barringer; dialogue, Ralph Spence; photography, Glen MacWilliams; Bob Martin; Sepp Allgeier; art director, Walter Murton; music, Louis Levy; Hubert Bath; editing, Charles Frend; B.H. Hipkins; recordist, Phillip Dorté

Cast credit:

Richard Arlen, Barry Mackay, Roy Emerton, Antoinette Cellier, Lillie Palmer, J. Farrell MacDonald, Reginald Barlow, Arthur Loft, Ben Weldon, Jock Mackay, Henry Victor, Ernest Sefton, Frank McGlynn Sr., Gilbert Emery, Howard C. Hickman, Arthur Loft, William Ruhl, Lestrange Millman

Current distributor:

Almi Pictures Inc.

Description:

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Fictional account of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The railway is three-parts completed when the builders find themselves up against the apparently insuperable barrier of the Rocky Mountains. To go round means entering American territory. To go over or through seems impossible. In the capital, financiers and railway magnates discuss the problem. In the construction camp, discontent and depression increase. Money for wages is not forthcoming. Food is scarce. The turbulent miners are kept in check by the courage and tenacity of their chief, Moody, played by Roy Emerton. At the camp arrive two professional gamblers, Hickey, played by Richard Arlen, and Steve, played by Barry Mackay. Moody quickly takes Hickey's measure. In the tussle between them the scales are weighted in favour of Moody by the intervention of his daughter Mary, played by Antoinette Cellier. Finally, Hickey takes to the work and becomes Moody's right hand man. Steve is less successful. He falls for a saloon girl named Lou, played by Lilli Palmer, wastes his time and money, and fails at the moment of crisis. The dangers of the work are vividly portrayed. Blasting has to be done in spite of imminent danger from avalanches. A train sinks into the swamp and another will follow if warning is not given. Men on horseback race the train, and amid breathless excitement, arrive in the nick of time. The chief engineer, Major Rogers, played by J. Farrel MacDonald, calls for volunteers. With a party containing Hickey and Steve, the latter determined to redeem his past failure, Major Rogers starts on a last hazardous search for a pass over the mountains. The perils and hardships of their terrific task are shown. At last only Rogers and Hickey are left. Meanwhile, disaster threatens the camp. Moody's power over the men at last fails, and, maddened and despairing, they attack the works. All seems lost when over the mountain top appears the flare which signals that Rogers and Hickey have succeeded in finding the mountain pass.

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Received by the Canadian Film Institute from the National Film Archive in London on 21 November 1973.~2. As of October 1986 the distributor in the U.S. and Canada was Almi Pictures Inc. and the copyright holder was Rank Film Distributors.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

435004

Format:

FILM

Location number:

7509-0053
7509-0054
7509-0055
7509-0056
7509-0057
7509-0058
7509-0059
7509-0060
7509-0061

Number of items:

9

Kind of sound:

COMP

Stock:

REL PRT

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

435005

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V1 7901-0030

Number of items:

1

Status:

REF
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

open

Consultation copy number:

V1 7901-0030

Copyright status:

Under copyright.

Copyright owner:

Copyright owner: Rank Film Distributors.

Reproduction access:

with written permission of copyright owner : see individual IDCs for each title : with permission of BFI

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Date modified:: 2024-07-24