La Ville fantôme

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.

Strong story line that benefits from Lone Star's alliance with Republic Pictures. Poverty row Lone Star usually emphasized action at the expense of story-line. This resulted in lots of exciting chases, but often with little understanding of why. Here, however, the plot is very well developed with believable characters and good action. It's an excellent sketch of how guts, risk, and ingenuity helped transform an abandoned ghost town into a vibrant new community. The screenplay also does a nice job of showing the challenges of rebuilding a frontier town without losing the conventions that entertained kids of the time. Wayne delivers a nicely appropriate turn as the driving force behind the redevelopment, along with Lane Chandler as his buddy. This film especially shows Wayne's charm before the big-money responsibility of super-stardom made him more serious. Final stage race is well conceived along with how reviving the town also restores self-confidence of its inhabitants. Very positive story-line unusual for a B-Western of the time.

With the advent of the telegraph, Pony Express rider John Wayne and his friend find themselves out of work with a few horses as severance pay. The two purchase a stage line to Crecent City and find out they were swindled, as Crecent City turns out to be a ghost town! However, the two have a plan to make it work by winning a mail contract and bringing in the telegraph.

One of Wayne's best B-pictures, Winds Of The Wasteland is irresistible, breezy fun, full of humor and can-do spirit, with a winning performance by the Duke.

An exciting stagecoach race, full of villainous treachery and thunderous action makes for a good, satisfying climax.

If you haven't seen any of Wayne's early westerns, this is a good place to start.

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.

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.