Hollywood studios have always tried to introduce new technologies to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. Paramount Pictures found an easy solution to make their adventure films more exciting by innovating the "Magnascope." As the name describes, Magnascope was a projection process where, during exciting adventure scenes the projectionist would switch to a larger widescreen lens. The first use of the Magnascope was during the battle scenes in December 1926's "Old Ironsides." Even though the picture quality suffered somewhat since the movie was filmed by the film standard 4:3 aspect ratio, when the projectionist turned his lenses to the widescreen, the on-screen image became close to the modern-day 1:85:1 rectangular sizing. The process was used in several Paramount films, but was retired once newer innovations emerged in the projection booth.
During its December 6, 1926, premier at New York City's Rialto Theatre, when the projector operator turned to the Magnascope lens to increase the picture size during a maritime battle sequence, the audience collectively stood up and cheered. The movie's subject, focused in on the USS Constitution during its early Barbary Coast pirate confrontations, profited greatly from the sold-out premier since Paramount donated all its proceeds from that evening to the restoration fund for the ship's refitting. The frigate was one of the first ships the young United States Navy's had constructed, designed specifically to fight the pirate menace off the North African coast. The USS Constitution was built with durable live southern oak growing on St. Simons Island, Georgia, and milled nearby before shipped to Boston. Despite what the "Old Ironside" movie depicts, the USS Constitution earned its nickname 'Ironside' from the War of 1812's battle against the HMS Guerriere, where the British cannonballs could be seen bouncing off the ship's planking.
"Old Ironsides," directed by James Cruze, who introduced the epic Western genre in his 1923 "The Covered Wagon," filmed a combination of real and miniature ships for his action scenes. During one battle sequence, a real ship, the S. N. Castle, built in 1886, was retrofitted to appear as an early-1800s ship. The S. N. Castle was actually fired upon and sank specifically for the movie. The film had an all-star Paramount Studio cast, including Charles Farrell, Esther Ralston, Wallace Beery and George Bancroft. Even Boris Karloff is seen in a bit part as a pirate guard.
Silent movies somehow found a way to incorporate a romantic angle, no matter how remote the possibilities might be. Actress Esther Ralston finds herself on a mercantile ship journeying the transatlantic when the pirates overtake the boat. Ralston was popular in Hollywood during the making of "Old Ironside," earning $8,000 per week. Once talkies took over the movies, she appeared to be making a successful transition. But she was suddenly relegated to minor roles in low-budget films by small-time studios in the mid-1930s. Ralston claims in her autobiography, 'Some Day We'll Laugh,' that she refused to sleep with MGM's head Louis B. Mayer. She soon discovered her studio contract was canceled and found herself gray listed in Hollywood.
Charles Farrell, playing the love-lorn sailor whose physicality and heroism gains the attention of Esther while she's on the boat, gained one of his first major parts in "Old Ironside" after arriving on the Hollywood scene in 1923. He would receive further prominence by his lead role in 1927's "7th Heaven." Having a relatively successful film career until the early 1940s, he eventually entered city politics at his hometown Palm Springs, California, and was mayor there from 1947 until 1955.
"Old Ironsides" itself was the fifth highest box office movie in 1926. But as par for costly epics, the expensive production didn't quite make its money back for Paramount even though the public flocked the theaters in droves to view the spectacle.
