The West~Bound Limited

The West~Bound Limited (1923)

The plot, old-hat though it is, does provide an opportunity for that wonderfully seedy villain, David Dirby, to do his dirty work and more importantly, to tie all the thrillingly on-the-spot railroad footage together. Railroad buffs will enjoy all the atmospheric detail director Johnson has obtained by filming in real freight yards and inside and alongside real steam engines and rolling stock.

Date of release
1923-04-14
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (3)
Runtime
1h 2m
Genres
Drama
Director
Emory Johnson

Casting

Interesting facts

The West~Bound Limited is a 1923 American silent melodrama film directed by Emory Johnson. FBO released the film in April 1923. The film's "All-Star" cast included Ralph Lewis, Claire McDowell, Johnny Harron, and Ella Hall. Emilie Johnson, Johnson's mother, wrote both the story and screenplay. The West~Bound Limited was the third film in Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO.

Production

Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) was an energetic, independent American silent era film studio. The company released around 110 features and shorts a year. The company focused on producing low-budget films emphasizing first-class westerns, action films, romantic melodramas, and comedy shorts. The company mainly distributed its pictures to small-town venues and independent theater chains, which changed their pictures three times a week.

The average cost per FBO production was $50,000 to $75,000 equivalent to $961,730 to $1,442,594 in 2021 compared to the Major film studios which could spend five times as much to produce a movie.

FBO also produced and distributed a limited number of big-budget features labeled "Gold Bond" or "Special" productions. Emory Johnson's eight films for FBO were all specials. This film would be classified as a Super-Special.

In 1923, Emilie and Emory Johnson signed a contract extension with FBO. The contract was for 2 1⁄2 years. The agreement stipulated Emory was to make eight attractions for FBO. The agreement specified that his previous four films would count toward the total. FBO also agreed to invest two and a half million dollars (In today's money – equivalent to $40,472,167 in 2021) on the remaining four films.

Ralph Lewis (1872–1931) was born on October 8, 1872, in Englewood, Illinois. The 50 year-old actor would reprise his role as a rugged middle-aged working-class hero. In this go-around, he would assume the role of Western Division engineer Bill Buckley. He previously had starring roles in Emory Johnson's past two FBO vehicles – In the Name of the Law and The Third Alarm.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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