Deconstructing the ‘Brutal Savage’ in John Ford’s The Iron Horse

Abstract

‘But you’re a white man!’ shouts David, seconds before being bludgeoned with an axe. The murderer’s sinister face fills the frame, confirming this Indian as indeed a white man in disguise. Deroux, the man in question and the principal antagonist of John Ford’s The Iron Horse, fundamentally subverts the archetypal clarity of Indian identity. Intended as a historical dramatization, the film depicts the construction of North America’s first transcontinental railroad and the struggles of progressing through hostile Indian Territory. Only brief scholarly discussions of this film exist, and the score by Erno Rapée is seldom acknowledged. With the recent resurfacing of Rapée’s piano score, a complete version of the film with its intended aural accompaniment is now available for study for the first time since its American and worldwide debut in 1924-1926. Analysis of the newfound score sheds significant light on both Rapée’s compositional methods and the Indian characters’ narrative agency.