Timber Stampede

In this western from RKO George O'Brien leads the cattleman against eastern logging interests as personified by Morgan Wallace. Wallace is your typical robber baron of the era.

Wallace however does know the value of publicity and he even brings along a Nellie Bly type reporter Marjorie Reynolds to insure he's portrayed favorably in the press. Another of his hires is gunfighter Robert Fiske for dirtier work.

Basically Wallace is fraudulently using the Homestead Act to have his loggers take out claims and sign over water and timber rights to him. The idea is strip the land of its resources and skedaddle. Fiske is around t take care of complainers.

Chill Wills has some good moments as O'Brien's sidekick. This will be a popular western with environmentalists.

The cattlemen graze their cattle in the big pines, but the railroad wants to clear cut the land and sell the timber for profit. Then they can sell the land to another railroad and make a lot of money while destroying the wilderness. Scott and Henry are against them and try to show that Jay and Dunlap are robber barons. First they must stop the phoney homesteading scam and convince Anne, that her glowing tributes to the railroad are unfounded by their greed.

A slam bang finale rounds up a lively western starring George O' Brien. Here, he tackles a scam concocted by some bigwigs and there's plenty of hard riding, schemes and gun smoke before the dust settles. There's some impressive stunt work - Riding through a windows, horses leaping over the wagon and leaping on top of two guys on a horse. It's a fun western with a strong story and grand scenery.

George O'Brien was a rather unlikely cowboy star, though he made a ton of B-westerns in the 1930s and into the 40s. Why was he so unlikely? Well, in the silents, he was seen as a leading man...not a cowboy, and starred in such classics as "Sunrise" and "Noah's Ark". He also was unlikely because he just didn't look like a pretty cowboy but just some ordinary guy. None of these are complaints...just observations about his career.

In "Timber Stampeded" some very unscrupulous railroad tycoons are using the law to steal. They're creating a railroad only in order to get a right of way...and they are clear-cutting the land to make a fortune off the lumber. Now with the law behind them, these railroaders and lumbermen are trying to chase all the ranchers off their land. So, it's up to Scott Baylor (O'Brien) to investigate and put everything right.

The western about some baddie trying to steal the ranchers' land is very familiar...probably the most familiar B-movie plot. Because of this, I wouldn't exactly call "Timber Stampede" original...though it is well made and lacks many of the usual cliches of B-westerns. You'll see no singing cowboys nor pretty boys in this one. Because of this and the general high quality of the movie, I think this one earns a 6.

RKO certainly didn't stint on hiring extras for this horse opera. More crowds emerge here than many A-productions, and the guys do look like roughnecks. It's a better-than-average oater, with towns and countryside not seen in a hundred other matinée westerns. Also, the plot has topical relevance since the baddies use subterfuge to destroy the forest ecosystem for sneaky profit. On the other hand, Scott (O'Brien) and the cowboys want to keep the forest so their cattle have grass to graze.

I really like Robert Fiske as gunslinger Matt. His hard-eyed stare and deadpan demeanor are striking to see and bespeak a lifetime of casual cruelty. Chill Wills too does well with comedy relief without being silly, some of his tall tales being a real hoot. Then too O'Brien gets to sport some of the biggest Stetsons on record, at the same time, he's pushing a bit on the waistline, but then he is a middle-aged 40. It hasn't slowed him down, however.

All in all, it's a colorful and well-produced programmer with a good positive message.

Some similarities to big trees from 1952, and valley of the giants in 1938. Clearly, the one from 1938 was first! Each film highlights groups wanting to cut down the timber on land, owned by the U. S. or by someone else. In timber stampede, the "business men" want to sell the trees for lumber, and start out by using fake homesteaders. Of course, the local ranchers don't like this plan, since they graze their cattle on that land. Now it's a showdown over the land. With twenty two year old marj reynolds along for fun. She will go on to co-star with abbott and costello in time of their lives. It's exactly what we expect from a western. Good guys against the bad guys. It moves right along, since it's under one hour run time. George o'brien had started way back, in silents. Early-ish role for chill wills. Directed by david howard. He died quite young at 45, just a couple years after making this film. It's okay.