Stories of the Century

'Big' Jim Davis, as Matt Clark, Railroad Detective, traveled west each week to aid in the capture of one of history's notable badmen(or women). At times, Clark's appearance at the scene seems somewhat contrived, as in just "happening" to be in town when Ford shoots Jesse James. The stories do have some limited educational value, as each one sticks to the basic facts, although production values for the series were decidedly low budget. One thing I could never figure out...one week Clark would chase Quantrill in 1863, the next Tom Horn in 1903...30 years apart...yet he never aged!

"Stories of the Century" was a half hour series and appeared in first run syndication during the '54-'55 television season. It was also the first western TV series to win an Emmy award. Starring veteran western actor Jim Davis as railroad detective Matt Clark, the series set Clark and his fellow railroad detective partners (Mary Castle as Frankie Adams for the first half of the season and Kristine Miller as "Jonesy" during the second half)against historic western outlaws of various periods ranging from the mid-1860's to the early 1900's. The series was very satisfying, easy to watch, and fairly realistic due mainly to the easygoing charm of Jim Davis in the lead role. He seemed like an actual western character. One other note. When Matt Clark would arrive in town after a long ride he actually looked like he had been on a long horse ride as he would be covered in dust.

A very good early adult western.

TV's "Stories Of The Century" (1954-1955) was set in the American "Old West" where Matt Clark was a staunch, no-nonsense Railroad Detective whose territorial boundaries often extended well-beyond that of just the confined restrictions of the railroads.

Working together with either one of his trustworthy female sidekicks, Frankie Adams or Margaret Jones - Matt Clark could always be counted on to bring to justice some of the most notorious badmen (and bad women) whoever dared to challenge the law in this untamed frontier of America.

For the most part - "Stories Of The Century" was a fairly entertaining TV Western (from yesteryear) that certainly contained plenty of violence and gun-play in order to move its fast-paced stories about rough'n'rugged cowboys along.

Nobody in Hollywood could sit a horse like Jim Davis. That's a fact, and I've seen 'em all. Like champion racetrack jockeys he is one with his horse, seamless. At a full gallop, he's perfectly straight and still, an ice man. If you like horses and large scale horse action, you've come to the right place. Republic Pictures had a lock on that kind of film making, nobody else came close. Check out the best large scale horse stampede in BELLE STARR. Jim Davis also had real star quality---he made the other guy look good. For the last 30-40 years what passes for "westerns" come unglued when it comes to horse action. Give yourself a break and check out SOTC on youtube.

I'll be up front here; I can't discern great, oscar winning acting from just plain good acting. So I'm not claiming to be an expert on the craft, but I CAN tell terrible acting from the decent stuff. Now, I grew up watching this show, and so was excited to find it on youtube to recapture some of milk, and sat down to watch a few episodes. I should have watched some Maverick episodes instead. Ugh. Just like the marionettes, claymation, and puppets, it hasn't aged well. Perhaps Chuck Norris grew up watching these, too, and that's what he patterned his acting after, because some of these actors are terrible. Still, it's worth a watch, if just to remember what fun it was when we were kids, to watch the westerns that we wanted to believe, were realistic examples of what life was long ago. But don't expect too much; enjoy it for what it is. Five out of ten stars.