THE DESERT TRAIL
US, 1935, 54 minutes, Black and white.
John Wayne, Paul Fix, Edward Chandler.
Directed by Cullen Lewis.
Desert Trail is one of the many conventional westerns made by John Wayne during the entire 1930s, many in a single year. He appeared in eight films released in 1935 - the running time of each under an hour. They are short stories. It is hard to see the future star in this film. However, his way of speaking, walking and his action style are there. He was to make his breakthrough in 1939 with Stage Coach and then was a star for the next quarter of a century, winning an Oscar in 1969 for True Grit.
This is a simple story about a gambler and a rodeo rider, played by Wayne and Edward Chandler, who are mistakenly thought to be bank robbers and murderers. They are pursued, have entanglements with the real robbers, become attached to a young woman who works in a store. There are chases, shootings, Wayne as hero and a touch of romance.
He is a star rodeo performer with a sidekick. The rodeo scenes seem particularly modern compared with the turn of the century setting. The plot is corny - involves some very awkward bandits in hold-ups and murders, the sister of one of the bandits being the heroine that Wayne falls in love with, his final confession and the arrest of the other bandit. Meanwhile John Wayne and his sidekick are under suspicion. There is also a femme fatale tied up with the sidekick and the bandits.
The film comes early enough in the sound period of moviemaking, the acting is quite stylised and awkward. The usual ingredients are there - rodeo, bank robberies, shootings, sheriff's pursuit, romance, final shootout. John Wayne was to be far more successful after John Ford saw his potential and cast him in Stage Coach, 1939.
1.The popularity of this kind of western in the 1930s? An example of western film-making and traditions at the time? Enjoyable now?
2.Small budget, small running time, John Wayne as a star, black and white photography, locations, sense of the west?
3.The basic plot: John and Kansas, gambling, with an eye on Juanita, the rodeo, not being paid, taking the money, the criminals killing the manager of the rodeo? The sheriff in pursuit, moving to another town, meeting with Anne, Jimmy and his being forced to collaborate? Pete and his pressure on Jimmy? The robbery of the stagecoach? The pursuits, misunderstandings? Jimmy’s confession? The happy ending?
4.The John Wayne screen image, John Scott, rodeo, wisecracks, the money, romance, flirting? With Anne? The punch-ups with his friend Kansas? The sheriff, prison, the pursuits? Saving the stagecoach? The shootout?
5.Kansas, the jokes, bald, the gambler, flirting? Being tied up? Pretending to be a reverend? The attraction to Anne? With Jimmy helping? Prison? The escape?
6.Pete and Jimmy, conventional criminals, the shooting, the robberies? Pete’s pressure on Jimmy? Jimmy attached to Anne, going along with Pete, helping John and Kansas escape? Shot, confession?
7.Juanita, the Mexican bombshell type? Only interested in money? The contrast with Anne, in the shop, the light touch? Hearing the confession, riding to tell the sheriff the truth?
8.Enjoyable conventional ingredients?
