Stubs - The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood (1926) starring George O'Brien, Florence Gilbert, Janet Gaynor Directed by Irving Cummings Screenplay by Edfrid Bingham, Robert Lord. Produced by William Fox Run time: 60 minutes. Black and White with tints. USA. Silent, Melodrama, Disaster

On Friday, May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, catastrophically failed. The result was a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that killed 2208 people and accounted for $17 million (equivalent to $580,000,000 in 2023 dollars) in damage. The death total made the disaster the largest loss of civilian life in the U.S. at the time. It has only been surpassed twice, by the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The dam, built between 1838 and 1853, formed Lake Conemaugh, which was originally part of a cross state canal system. When the canal system was abandoned, the dam and lake were purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which then sold them to a group of Pittsburgh speculators who built cottages and a clubhouse to create the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, an exclusive and private mountain retreat.

A rainstorm, the heaviest rainfall event that had ever been recorded in that part of the U.S., caused small creeks to become roaring torrents, ripping out trees and debris. Telegraph lines were downed and rail lines were washed away. The lake rose and threatened to overflow the dam, which itself was weakening. Efforts were made to both divert water and strengthen the dam, but both efforts fails and the dam burst. People in Johnstown, tired of false alarms in the past, ignored the warnings and paid the price. Johnstown, which was 14 miles away, received the most damage and loss of life, but towns in the rushing water’s path were also destroyed.

In late 1925, Fox studios started making a film about the incident. However, the story was fictionalized. In the film, the lake is used primarily as part of lumbering, with the water from the lake supplying the force to drive the trees cut down river to the mills in Johnstown. So, while the incident is true, almost everything else about it is not.

Anna Burger (Janet Gaynor) can't help but smile when she sees Tom.

The film opens with handsome engineer Tom O'Day (George O’Brien) doing some field work with his assistant Dinty McGinty (Jim Welch). Tom has attracted the attention of the young daughter of one of the lumber camp workers, Anna Burger (Janet Gaynor). She’s in camp to bring the lunch for her father, Joe (Paul Panzer), but she has brought a piece of a cake she baked for Tom.

Anna brings lunch for her father Joe (Paul Panzer).

It is obvious that Anna’s infatuated with him, but as soon as the owner of the camp, John Hamilton (Anders Randolf), arrives with his niece Gloria Hamilton (Florence Gilbert), Tom runs to her. We’re told that Gloria has only become interested in the logging industry since Tom has arrived. He tries to run away with her right there, but he’s called into the office by Ward Peyton (Paul Nicholson), who manages the camp for Hamilton.

Hamilton is there because of a major order received from Pittsburgh and asks Peyton if the dam has been repaired. While Peyton has not done the required repairs on the dam, which Hamilton owns, he tells the boss that the dam has been repaired. When Tom calls Peyton a liar, Hamilton sides with Peyton, causing Tom to leave.

Tom O'Day (George O’Brien) can't get Ward Peyton (Paul Nicholson)
 to understand the seriousness of the situation with the dam.

Tom goes to the Hamilton house to date Gloria, but still gets into an argument with Hamilton. To satisfy lumber contracts, Hamilton's crews clear as many trees as possible and keep the water level behind the dam at maximum capacity to float them to the mill. When O'Day warns Hamilton that the impounding of water is weakening the dam, Hamilton scoffs and refuses to stop logging and Tom leaves. Hamilton gets worried and has Peyton post armed guards at the spillways.

Tom is in love with Gloria Hamilton (Florence Gilbert).

That night, in the rain, Anna goes to the camp looking for her father. Peyton is in his office and invites her in out of the rain. Once inside, though, Peyton starts to get too friendly with Anna, who decides to run before anything more can happen.

Tom gathers the leaders of Johnstown at D Mandel’s (Max Davidson) clothing store and they decide to try to confront Hamilton. They convince him to hire a state inspector to look at the dam.

However, shortly after the meeting, Hamilton receives a message that "Ajax Construction", the contractor for the lumber, has heard he's suspended operations and plans to use someone else to fulfill their order. Fearing on losing out a million-dollar deal, Hamilton hires men to takeover and hold the dam so that he may continue business. Tom arrives, followed by concerned townies, and there is a shootout with several people killed.

Concerned that he might lose out on the deal, Hamilton heads for Pittsburgh. While he’s gone, Tom and Gloria plan to wed.

Anna, who is still in love with Tom, decides to attend. While riding to the wedding, she sees that the dam is giving way under a new downpour of rain and madly rides to warn everyone about it.

The people on the train are the first to die when the dam breaks.

Meanwhile, the train carrying Hamilton back to Johnstown for the wedding gets caught up in the flood and is washed off its tracks.

The water reaches Johnstown.

The water continues towards Johnstown. Anna, who manages to ride ahead of it, makes it to the church before the flood hits it, allowing many wedding goers to escape.

Tom finds Anna's body in the wreckage of the church.

Though Tom and Gloria survive, they are separated. Tom goes to look for Anna, finding her dead body in the wreckage of the church. Saddened, Tom is reunited with Gloria.

We’re told that a fire would later break out, with the debris in the water burning.

The closing title card reads, “Toil overcame desolation and Johnstown was rebuilt anew" just before a few shots showing citizens getting back to their lives.

Isidore and Dinky are seen in a heavily vibrating car waiting out front for Tom, Gloria, and their daughter. Sitting together in the backseat, Tom tries to kiss Gloria, but there is some much shaking that he can’t hook up with her.

The film stars George O'Brien, who began his career in Hollywood after serving in World War I. He started out as a stuntman, most notably for Rudolph Valentino in the film Moran of the Lady Lett (1922). John Ford gave him his break, starring him in The Iron Horse (1924). The Johnstown Flood would match him with his Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) co-star Janet Gaynor. O’Brien was a popular actor and would continue acting working with Ford in 8 more films, including Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and his last film, Cheyenne Autumn (1964).

Janet Gaynor in The Johnstown Flood.

The Johnstown Flood would be the first credited role for Gaynor. Her image was that of a sweet, wholesome and pure young woman, who was notable for playing her roles with depth and sensitivity. As Anna, she was certainly playing to type. She’s about 20 at the time and only a couple of years away from winning the first Academy Award as Best Actress for her roles in 7^th Heaven (1927), Sunrise and Street Angel (1928). A second nomination would come her way for her role in A Star is Born (1937). She would retire from acting in 1939 and married costume designer Adrian, in what was considered a lavender marriage. They did, however, have a son and remained married until his death in 1959.

The actual female lead in The Johnstown Flood was Florence Gilbert. A Chicago native, her family moved to Los Angeles in hopes of being discovered for films; and she was discovered by Italian actor, director, and producer Monty Banks. She would appear in 50 films, perhaps most notably in The Lucky Dog (1921), the first time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy would appear together on film. She’s okay as the love interest, but doesn’t make that much of an impression. While her career might not have been memorable, her off screen life was.

Married to entrepreneur Ashton Dearholt about the time she made The Johnstown Flood, they would get divorced after he returned from filming The New Adventures of Tarzan in Guatemala with co-star Ula Holt in tow and insisted that Holt be able to live in the Dearholt home. Holt and Dearholt would marry and Florence would end up marrying Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, who had been Dearholt’s partner on the film.

The special effects were special for the time and while they wouldn’t make the grade in today’s cinema, they did mix miniatures with live action sequences filmed in and around Santa Cruz, California, and superimpositions. One can imagine they would have been very impressive when the film was first released.

According to Wikipedia, “Film historian Robert A. Harris considers the film remarkable for its time, because of the vivid way it recreated the flood, saying: 'The importance of The Johnstown Flood to film history is difficult to overstate. The special effects of the film combine miniatures and sets to depict the actual historic event of flood and its aftermath, pioneering complex techniques. It was the Star Wars of its day.'” While I am in no position to question Harris, and would agree with him about the special effects, I would also add that it is also a Titanic of its day, having fictionalized the story of a real disaster; perhaps even more so, as the story the film tells has nothing to do with the actual events of the flood.

I do, however, wonder if audiences were aware of just how far afield the film’s story was from reality. While this story may have offered more drama and romance than the real story, this is taking historical fiction a little too far, in my opinion, and making it pure fiction. For that reason, I can’t recommend the film. The real story might have been just as interesting and riveting as this film. Not looking for a documentary, but this is not the definitive story of The Johnstown Flood.