Tide of Empire

Tide of Empire
Directed by	Allan Dwan
Written by	Waldemar Young (scenario)
Based on	Argonauts by Peter B. Kyne
Starring	Renée Adorée Tom Keene
Cinematography	Merritt B. Gerstad
Edited by	Blanche Sewell
Music by	William Axt (uncredited)
Production company	Cosmopolitan Productions
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	April 23, 1929 (1929-04-23)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Synchronized) English intertitles

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.

Plot

The film

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. Buster Keaton, who was visiting the set, got cast in a cameo as a drunk getting thrown out of a saloon.

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.

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

External links

• Tide of Empire at IMDb
• Tide of Empire at tcm.com
• Stills at silenthollywood.com
• Still at gettyimages.com