{{short description|1926 film by George B. Seitz}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{infobox film | name = The Ice Flood | image = The Ice Flood 1926.jpg | caption = 1926 theatrical poster | director = George B. Seitz | producer = Carl Laemmle | based_on = {{based on|''The Brute Breaker'' (novelette)|Johnston McCulley}} | screenplay = James O. Spearing (adaptation)<br>George Seitz (scenario)<br>Gladys Lehman (scenario) | starring = Kenneth Harlan<br>Viola Dana | cinematography = Merritt B. Gerstad | editing = Raymond Curtiss<br>Maurice Pivar (sup. editor) | studio = Universal Pictures | distributor = Universal Pictures | released = {{film date|1926|10|02}} | runtime = 6 reels; (5,747 feet) | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) }} '''''The Ice Flood''''' is a 1926 American silent northwoods drama film produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by George Seitz and starred Kenneth Harlan and Viola Dana.

''The Brute Breaker'' had previously been adapted by Universal in 1919, under the title of the source material.

==Plot== Jack De Quincy, fresh out of Oxford, is the son of a wealthy lumberjack who has been sent to been sent to straighten out the French Canadian logging camps. He tells his father that he intends to keep his identity hidden, and conceals the fact that he was a college boxing champion.

The toughest camp in the area hears tales from a nearby town of a handsome "wildcat" who has kicked out it's bootleggers and ruffians. 'Dum-Dum' Pete and 'Dumb' Danny laugh as they tell the story, but Marie O'Neil and her disabled brother Billy long to see the mysterious hero. That evening, Jack accidentally arouses the bullies' anger by dancing with Marie O'Neil, the daughter of the camp superintendent, against Pete's orders. Pete challenges Jack to a fight and is beaten badly, but Marie believes that Jack started the fight just to impress her and doesn't wish to engage with him.

The next day the bullies discover their bootlegged liquor has been stolen, and orders Jack to leave camp. He sets up his own camp nearby, but Marie overhears the bullies planning to attack him and follows them with her father to Jack's location. They shoot at a figure next to the fire, and think Jack is dead. Marie and her father are captured, and Marie put on a launch on the river while her father is tied to a tree. It turns out the figure next to the fire was a dummy, and Jack gets the drop on Dan as he investigates the camp, and he takes him prisoner. The other bully is lured to the camp and also made prisoner. Meanwhile, ice in the river is gathering around Marie and her father breaks his bonds, and with the help of Jack, save Marie from the ice floes.

==Cast== *Kenneth Harlan as Jack De Quincy *Viola Dana as Marie O'Neill *Frank Hagney as 'Dum-Dum' Pete *Fred Kohler as 'Cougar' Kid *DeWitt Jennings as James O'Neill (Marie's father) *Norman Deming as 'Dumb' Danny *Kitty Barlow as Lumber Camp Cook *James Gordon as Lumber Camp Physician *George Irving as Thomas De Quincey *Billy Kent Schaefer as Little Billy *Walter Brennan as Lumberjack (uncredited)

==Production== Exteriors for ''The Ice Flood'' were shot on location in Klamath Falls, Oregon,<ref name="ORfilm">{{cite web | url=http://library.state.or.us/repository/2015/201505210910074/2015.pdf | title=Filmed in Oregon 1908-2015 | work=Oregon Film Council | publisher=Oregon State Library | accessdate=December 27, 2015}}</ref> and the interiors were filmed on the Universal Studios Lot.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily3536newy/page/816/mode/2up |title=The Film Daily |date= |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc. |others= |location=New York |publication-date=March 21, 1926 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref>

== Reception == Moving Picture World reviewer C.S. Sewell gave the film a positive review, praising the excellent fight scenes and "generous use of miniatures."<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor82movi/page/n303/mode/2uphttps://archive.org/details/movpicwor82movi/page/n303/mode/2up |title=The Moving Picture World |date= |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company |others= |location=New York |publication-date=October 2, 1926 |pages=306, 307 |language=en}}</ref>

==Preservation== A complete 16mm exists and has been distributed on DVD by Alpha Video, Grapevine Video, and TeleVista.<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/I/IceFlood1926.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Ice Flood''] at silentera.com</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150920055855/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=9878 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: ''The Ice Flood''](Wayback)</ref> The film is also held by the Library of Congress.<ref>''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', p.86, c.1978, American Film Institute</ref><ref>[https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.1937/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Ice Flood'']</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|The Ice Flood}} *{{IMDb title|0016989|The Ice Flood}} *[http://123nonstop.com/pictures/The_Ice_Flood Lobby cards] {{George B. Seitz}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Flood, The}} Category:1926 films Category:1926 American films Category:1926 drama films Category:1926 English-language films Category:American silent feature films Category:Films directed by George B. Seitz Category:American black-and-white films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:American silent drama films Category:Films shot in Oregon Category:Surviving American silent films Category:Films about lumberjacks Category:Films based on works by Johnston McCulley