GRASS (1925) B/W "silent" 50m dirs: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "A documentary by Cooper and Schoedsack, who accompanied the nomadic Baktyari tribes of Iran and their herds on their annual migration over mountains and across plains in search of new pasture. It is a fascinating film, showing hundreds of families and thousands of cattle climbing steep snow-covered hills and crossing swift-flowing rivers. The Iranians themselves say the film was largely dramatized, since the tribes agreed to follow an itinerary different from their usual migrations in order to allow the film makers more opportunity for striking photography. The film is nonetheless a beautiful and absorbing piece of work. Schoedsack and Cooper later turned definitely towards the dramatized documentary with Chang [1927] ... , and then to the horror film (King Kong ... , etc.).

"[The intertitles, written by Terry Ramsaye, are undeniably facetious and diminish the film's qualities, despite his later attempts to justify them by referring to the level of literacy of the average movie audience.]"