Winde der Wildnis

Well ladies and gentleman the Pony Express rides again,, this time with John Wayne leading the charge. A man and his partner ride into town looking to make some money,, and there chance is right in front of them 25,000 prize for the quickest Pony Express run.. Crescent City is where it all starts at,, and for the life of me I can't remember the ending point, but that's really not important,, so the Duke and his partner get the line,, now only to find out that the town in which they start at has a grand total of get this,, 2 people.. well eventually 3 more people are on the way so we got 5 all together,, the man who put up the prize money though isn't playing on the up and up , as he tries to sabotage the Duke and his partner from finishing the run from the one city to the other for the Pony Express,, I found this movie to be very interesting as I really don't know much about the origins of the Pony Express.

Winds of The Wasteland is a vastly underappreciated film. Having seen most of John Wayne's pre 1939 westerns (including some of his more highly regarded ones such as Randy Rides Alone, Hell Town aka Born To The West, Blue Steel, West Of The Divide, Sagebrush Trail and Riders of Destiny) this is the most entertaining. It has a great story that is well played by the primary actors, though the doctor is a little wooden. Of all Wayne's shorts, I would first recommend this one. Get the colourized version if possible. It may be heretical to say, but the colourized shorts are more enjoyable and most are available.

The arrival of the telegraph put Pony Express riders like John Blair (the Duke)and his pal Smoky out of work. A race will decide whether they or stageline owner Drake get the government mail contract.

Funniest part of this John Wayne b-western is when Wayne and his partner buy the stage line in a town and it turns out they were given a dud - a ghost town. But soon the population spikes and Wayne is racing a stagecoach in competition with the others, and that's the most exciting part of the film. Apart from that, it has a bit of humour and romance. It's entertaining at least. Wayne is charismatic like always.

Former Pony Express Riders John Wayne and Lane Chandler get some free horses when the Pony Express disbands and decide to start a stagecoach line. Easier said than done when a crooked stagecoach entrepreneur, Douglas Cosgrove, sells them a worthless route to a ghost town.

Well not quite a ghost town, there are two inhabitants there. But through good old American know how and some hard work, Wayne and Chandler make a go of it. The town springs back to life in the process.

Though this is a poverty row B film with production values of same, this is one of the Duke's better B films of his pre-Stagecoach period. I like the plot very much and there is an exciting climax with a stagecoach race to see who wins the government mail contract.

And why wouldn't it be exciting since the King of Stuntmen, Yakima Canutt who did the chariot race in Ben-Hur had a hand in this one.

Also look for a very nice performance from character actor Lew Kelly, the "Mayor" of the ghost town who keeps having a run in with a persistent skunk who has taken up residence in the old stagecoach Wayne and Chandler buy.

But that's no comment on the picture.

John Wayne B-movie path to stardom is clearly on the ascendant in this amiable, non-formulaic outing, thanks to fine support from Lane Chandler and the Republic Pictures team.

John Blair (Wayne) and fellow Pony Express veteran Larry Adams (Chandler) are sold a bum stage route to ghost town Crescent City by the conniving tycoon of neighboring Buchanan, Cal Drake (Douglas Cosgrove). Drake later admits the deal was "a lemon," yet Blair and Adams count on capitalist know-how and their handiness with fist and gun to turn the tables on the crooked Drake.

As reviewer John W Chance rightly notes, this is another of those B- movie Waynes where the title makes no sense. Later it was retitled "Stagecoach Run," which is more on the mark as well as suggestive of Wayne's big breakthrough in "Stagecoach" three years away. "Winds Of The Wasteland" is more concerned with the business of stage travel than that later western, and this focus provides "Winds" with much of its interest.

The light comedic tone of the film is established early on, when Blair and Adams ride into Crescent City for the first time, shooting their guns into the air and expecting a hearty welcome from the healthy population Drake informed them reside there.

"Thirty-five hundred people don't make much noise," Blair notes as the gunsmoke blows through an empty street.

"Maybe they're out on a picnic," Adams suggests.

"Or just out," Blair responds.

In fact, there are only two residents of Crescent City, a demoralized doctor (Sam Flint) and an eccentric coot (Lew Kelly) in the Gabby Hayes mold who styles himself mayor and pretty much everything else. In time, Blair and Adams set to making Crescent City a bustling hub of activity, which draws the deadly ire of Drake and his nefarious crew.

A dedication in the beginning of the film memorializes the telegraph-line builders "who gave their lives to bring the thin strands of communication across the trackless wastes of the great American Desert." In fact, a plot point involves Blair using his gun to help these telegraph men, though hardly in the way you might expect. Nothing plays out exactly how you expect it to. Gunplay is kept at a minimum as Blair outfoxes his adversaries more with banter and wit. Wayne is in terrific early form here, showcasing his amiable side but hard when he needs to be.

"I didn't know school let out so early," he jibes one of Drake's henchmen.

While entertaining, "Winds" has its share of story ellipses and contrivances. A medical crisis involving Adams is too speedily handled, as is a late-blooming romance between Blair and the doctor's daughter (Phyllis Fraser, Ginger Rogers' cousin). It definitely compresses a lot of story development to fit its hour- long frame.

But the film moves well, culminating in an exciting stagecoach race between Blair and Drake that emphasizes character over gunplay. Though only a step or two above the Poverty Row westerns Wayne did earlier in the 1930s in terms of production values, the acting and story are both markedly superior. So is the direction of Mack V. Wright, who worked with Wayne before and knew how to use his star's burgeoning reactive acting talents to fine effect. If not quite a sleeper, this is a solid charmer worth your time.