The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)

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A very popular silent western, this film features two engineers vying for the affections of the adoptive daughter of a landowner. Barbara Worth (Vilma Banky) wants to help her father, Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane), build a dam on the Colorado River to help irrigate the desert land he owns. The… More A very popular silent western, this film features two engineers vying for the affections of the adoptive daughter of a landowner. Barbara Worth (Vilma Banky) wants to help her father, Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane), build a dam on the Colorado River to help irrigate the desert land he owns. The elder Worth gets a loan from a New York banker, who brings with him his stepson, Willard Holmes (Ronald Colman), an engineer. Local engineer Abe Lee (Gary Cooper, in one of his first big roles) and Holmes both fall in love with Barbara. The banker cheats on materials for the dam as part of a shady deal. Jefferson Worth discovers the ruse and tries to finish the project himself, but he runs short of money to pay his hired hands. With the dam in jeopardy, the two rival engineers bury their differences and ride off on horses to get money to salvage the dam and save Worth, who is at the mercy of a lynch mob. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi