Tide of Empire

{{short description|1929 film}} {{Use American English|date=September 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Tide of Empire | image = Tide of Empire.jpg | caption = | director = Allan Dwan | producer = | writer = Waldemar Young (scenario) | based_on = {{basedon|''Argonauts''|Peter B. Kyne}} | starring = Renée Adorée<br />Tom Keene | music = William Axt (uncredited) | cinematography = Merritt B. Gerstad | editing = Blanche Sewell | studio = Cosmopolitan Productions | distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | released = {{film date|1929|3|23}} | runtime = 73 minutes | country = United States | language = Sound (Synchronized)<br />English intertitles | budget = | gross = }} '''''Tide of Empire ''''' is a 1929 American synchronized sound Western film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Renée Adorée and Tom Keene. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.

On January 12, 2010, ''Tide of Empire'' was released on home video for the first time on DVD on Warner Archive Collection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/video/tideOfEmpireHV.html|title=Tide of Empire|work=silentera.com}}</ref>

==Plot== thumb|thumbtime=17|''Tide of Empire'' (1929) {{No plot|date=January 2024}}

==Cast== * Renée Adorée as Josephita Guerrero * Tom Keene as Dermond D'Arcy (credited as George Duryea) * Fred Kohler as Cannon * George Fawcett as Don Jose * William Collier Jr. as Romaldo * James Bradbury Sr. as Jabez * Harry Gribbon as O'Shea * Paul Hurst as Poppy * Rosita Delmar (uncredited) * Richard Alexander as Gold Miner with Whip (uncredited) * Irving Bacon as Townsman (uncredited) * Fred Burns as Vigilante (uncredited) * Bob Card as Fiddle Player (uncredited) * Jim Corey as Raider (uncredited) * Gino Corrado as Carlos Montalvo (uncredited) * Pat Harmon as Raider (uncredited) * Buster Keaton as Drunk Cowboy Thrown Out of Saloon (uncredited) * Augustina López as Guerreros Servant (uncredited) * Eric Mayne as Don Emilio (uncredited) * Charles Stevens as Indian Servant (uncredited)

==Music== The film features a theme song entitled “Josephita” which was composed by Ray Klages (words) and Jesse Greer (music).

==Production== The film was originally slated to star Joan Crawford in the female lead, but the final filming had Renée Adorée instead of Crawford. It was one of the last MGM films without dialogue and performed badly at the box office.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Buster Keaton, who was visiting the set, got cast in a cameo as a drunk getting thrown out of a saloon.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBPHL2sQ3JoC&dq=buster+keaton+tide+of+empire&pg=PT149 |title=Who the Devil Made It |first=Peter |last=Bogdanovich |author-link=Peter Bogdanovich |publisher=Random House |year=2012 |page=149 |via=Google Books}}</ref> It was actually a prank and a matter of self-casting, since director Allan Dwan was as surprised as everyone else to suddenly see Keaton “come flying out the saloon doors. It wasn’t part of the scene at all—-I didn’t expect it.” Dwan decided to keep this unscripted scene in the film.<ref name="James Curtis">{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=James |title=Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life |date=2022 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=United States |isbn=978-0-385-35421-9 |page=362 |edition=First}}</ref>

==Censorship== When ''Tide of Empire'' was released, many states and cities in the United States had censor boards that could require cuts or other eliminations before the film could be shown. The Chicago Board of Censors required the elimination of all execution scenes, which required the addition of film to maintain the synchronized sound track and maintain the continuity of the dialog sequences.<ref>{{cite journal |last= |first= |author-link= |title=Chi Censors Force M-G to Reedit Sound Film |journal=Variety |volume=94 |issue=7 |page=71 |publisher=Variety, Inc. |location=New York City |date=1929-02-27 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety94-1929-02/page/n284/mode/1up |access-date=14 May 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Tide of Empire}} * {{IMDb title|id=0020502}} * ''[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/355253 Tide of Empire]'' at tcm.com * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130722234157/http://silenthollywood.com/tideofempire1929.html Stills] at silenthollywood.com * [https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cast-and-visitors-on-the-set-of-the-tide-of-empire-directed-news-photo/3273583#cast-and-visitors-on-the-set-of-the-tide-of-empire-directed-by-allan-picture-id3273583 Still] at gettyimages.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tide of Empire}} Category:1929 films Category:1929 Western (genre) films Category:1929 American films Category:1929 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:English-language Western (genre) films Category:Films directed by Allan Dwan Category:Films scored by William Axt Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:American silent Western (genre) films Category:Surviving American silent films Category:Synchronized sound films