I'm positive that if you plucked silent screen star George O'Brien out of his 1920s films and placed him in modern-day Hollywood, he'd be a major movie and TV star. If a biopic was being made about him, the perfect actor to play him would be Jon Hamm.
I first became aware of George O'Brien in film classes during my university years. We saw the F.W. Murnau classic, Fox's SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS. He's memorable in that film. I've seen it several times since then. Also, about ten years ago, I saw more of his silent film. Wow. What a good, versatile actor he was. O'Brien, with his long muscular physique, started in films as a stunt man. Often appearing shirtless, he was nicknamed "The Chest." His handsome, expressive face with a terrific right profile and his soulful eyes and masculine "good day" cham certainly helped him make the crossover to acting roles. No Hollywood actor, in the silent screen era and decades afterwards, ever seemed as comfortable in his own skin as George O'Brien. No Hollywood actor was as free expressing male intimacy and love for a male friend in a movie as George O'Brien was. Even today, his onscreen emotional fluidity would get notice. You see this intimacy in John Ford's THE BLUE EAGLE (1926), NOAH'S ARK (1928) and in the movie I recently saw, EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (1927). Notice how he touches and embraces a war buddy in NOAH'S ARK. There are tears in his eyes. In THE BLUE EAGLE, he's on a bed at the side of a civilian male relative in a bind. O'Brien rubs his relative's thigh reassuringly and touches his hand as if they're not related, but lovers. In the 1926 comedy, FIG LEAVES, he shows a knack for comedy in his physical carriage that you'd associate with Danny Kaye in the 1940s. O''Brien starred in action movies, westerns, romances, modern-day dramas and comedies. He possessed impressive depth and sensitivity in his performances. He had natural skills as an actor.
He frequently bared his chest in his movies. Like Jean Harlow in the 1930s, he gave off the attitude that his stunning body was a gift from Heaven that he could have fun with and put to good use. If moviegoers liked to see it, he'd happily show it to them. That was his job. He was a definite Hollywood star.
A few days ago, I found 1927's EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE. He's very good in it. The story and the action kept me interested. The film opens with him on the waterfront, seated, gazing at the Manhattan skyline with his back to the camera. His beefy butt looks like it should be a tourist attraction. He plays John Breen, a poor guy who lives on a barge with his mother and stepfather. He doesn't know who his father was. John dreams of being one of the men who helps build New York City structures.
There's a maritime accident. His mother and stepfather lose their lives in it. He winds up raggedy and on the city's lower East Side. A bunch a street hoods start punching but he fights back and proves to have hands of steel. He escapes and is taken in by a kindly Jewish family with a lovely grown daughter. John is smitten.
Eventually John becomes a prizefighter and is completely unaware that he's in contact with his real father, a wealthy man with a different last name. The wealthy man is single, lives on the fashionable West Side and has a ward -- a pretty and flirty young woman who gets attracted to John.
Another catastrophe happens. John and Becka, the young lady the lower East Side, wind up involved with some shady characters. Will John and Becka find each other again and heal each other's broken heart?
Besides George O'Brien's acting, it was great to see actual footage of New York City in the 1920s and the special effects of the catastrophe are thrilling. Here's sort of a music video taste of EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE directed by Allan Dwan.
When the sound era came in, George O'Brien proved to have a good voice. He did westerns in the 1930s and 40s. He served in the military. His last screen role was in 1964's CHEYENNE AUTUMN.
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