In this Henry King silent, described in “Hollywood in the Twenties” as “A Western which combined shrewd psychological observation with finely handled spectacle,” Ronald Colman plays the scrupulous eastern engineer come west to participate in the irrigation of the Imperial Valley in a project piloted by his stepfather, who turns out to be an avaricious adventurer bent of fleecing settlers. Vilma Banky, the Hungarian actress discovered by producer Samuel Goldwyn, is Barbara Worth, whose adopted father is the upright counterpart of Colman's crooked stepfather and offers the settlers free land and water to oppose him. Plenty of room for “psychological observation” here, especially since Vilma Banky also plays Barbara Worth's mother. However, even though this film marks the starring debut of Gary Cooper, just who will win Barbara Worth is never in question when Ronald Colman is around. The Winning of Barbara Worth is most memorable for its desert scenes, shot on location in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, and its spectacle of sandstorm and flood. (JB)