Tide of Empire

The last of the major film companies to fully convert to sound, MGM had yet another box-office bomb in Tide of Empire, a would-be epic western set in the days of increasing Yankee influence in hitherto Spanish California. Based on a Peter B. Kyne novel, the film came complete with a synchronized score, but audiences were now demanding at least a few scenes of dialogue. The fresh-faced leading man George Duryea did get a stab at western stardom in the early 1930s, however, but under the moni...