The Virginian

The man-who-has-to-prove-himself-because-it's-the-honorable-thing-to-do in films possibly begins with the novel The Virginian by Owen Wister. First made in 1914 with Dustin Farnum essaying the part of the Virginian, and directed by Cecil B. DeMille - heavy set Farnum nevertheless played the part with aplomb. The 1929 version - the first sound version - had skinny, all-bone, but lean and mean Gary Cooper play the same part, and he probably made the best Virginian ever on film. He was superb! Many versions have come since. They should have, too. Even though the book has worn a tad since it was written, it's a great story, and if it's filmed well, makes a super movie. Between the '14 and '29 versions another version was made, "The Virginian" (1923). Trampas was played by none other than great character actor Russell Simpson, and he's surprisingly good. Possibly better than William Elmer who'd played the part in '14; though, no, never as good as Walter Huston who played the part in '29 as if he owned it! But who played the Virginian in the '23 version? Kenneth Harlan. He was handsome. He was masculine. All man's man. BUT...the guy looked as if he were a New York newspaperman who wore a suit at all times. Yes, he could sit a horse. Not like the "B" Western guys, though. Mounts like he needs to seek the stirrup so he doesn't slip. No, this guy sits the New York City subway at Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center like a cop watching for a crime - not a horse. He's no Virginian. In fact, Harlan, a decent actor if bland, was a Bostonian. He needed to play one. He just didn't fit the Western at all. Too bad, too, because the film is well directed and beautifully filmed, a decent - but that's all - actioner. Even Florence Vidor as the school marm seemed a bit too East Coastish for the girl who goes from the East to the West - just like she should have, but she was in 1923, not in 1874, as she should have been. This is an okay film up to a point. The point, though, is the breaking point. This one is a miss except for Russell Simpson and the photography. Even the photography isn't up to the '29 version, though. That '29 version captures the essence of the book and Westerns as they portray the psychology of Americana in the 10's, 20's, and 30's to a Model T! The Blu-Ray from Grapevine is a nice print.

Remarkable the way the Owen Wister story keeps on arriving with minimal alteration.

This one is unsurprising and quite assured for the time. Tom Forman's handling is mainly unexceptional, though he does manage a few striking compositions for the Cattleman's Association posse's pursuit of the rustlers - the cliff base camp with one man on the summit, shadows thrown upwards on the rock wall and the piney woods neck tie party. The cowboy detail is quite good.

Kenneth Harlan never looks like holding his own with the character's other distinguished versions but he gets by, as do O'Malley and Hatton. It's Vidor's New England Puritan school teacher, learning the Code of the West, that scores. Pity we couldn't have her with Gary Cooper. A younger black mustached Russell Simpson makes an impressively nasty Trampas too.

That first of realistic western novels The Virginian gets another silent film treatment in this western which starred Kenneth Harlan as the man only known by the state he comes from. The Virginian which had nothing less than an endorsement by the cowboy in the White House Theodore Roosevelt was written by TR's friend Owen Wister and its success led to people like Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour and the western novel genre of fiction.

The story is familiar enough to lovers of the western novel. Pretty new school marm Florence Vidor arrives in frontier Wyoming and falls for the foreman of Judge Henry's ranch, The Virginian. But she also can't comprehend the western ways in an area where there's no organized law and those out there have to enforce it on their own. It's the sum and substance of the book and all the film adaptions.

Villain Trampas is played by Russell Simpson and the Trampas character also set a standard for western villains. That will be a revelation to many who remember Simpson as I do who usually played good guy old codger rustics in many films. He was a regular in those roles in many John Ford films. But he's a nasty customer here.

Cecil B. DeMille's second film was a silent version of The Virginian and Harlan does well in this second silent version as a strong silent hero. But we'd have to wait until Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea in their talkie versions to really get this one right.

... and that's unusual since early sound films are usually so experimental and often just plain awful, but with Cooper starring as the Virginian, I thought that version was superlative. But I digress.

Following the 1914 film pretty closely, this one has Kenneth Harlan in the title role, Florence Vidor as the schoolmarm, and Russell Simpson in an unusual (to me) villainous part in Trampas.

A bit slow to start, and with some irritating music (which either improved, or I got used to it), the film gets more interesting when the cattle-rustling plot comes in, and with Harlan's mixed loyalties between his boss and his pals Steve and Shorty, who have come under the influence of the horrid Trampas. As one who is used to Simpson's sympathetic roles in BILLY THE KID, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and WAGONMASTER, his performance is a revelation, and one wonders how many other bad guys he played. At about 80 minutes in length, this version of THE VIRGINIAN is pretty entertaining.

It's hard for me to judge this version of the classic Western tale on its own merits, since I've seen the 1929 version so often and loved it so much. I would say that Kenneth Harlan in the titular role certainly looks the part and handles himself well, as does Florence Vidor as the school marm who wins his heart. Raymond Hatton turns in a fine performance full of pathos as Shorty. He's a good and simple cow hand whose dream is just to accumulate enough of a poke to buy a squeeze box, but he is led to his doom by the evil of others. I think the role of Steve is understated in this version compared to the others and the novel itself. His short time on the screen doesn't give Pat O'Malley much time to develop the character. Russell Simpson gives the role of Trampas a good shot, but Walter Huston owns that role, as far as I am concerned.