Western Union

The second of Fritz Lang's three westerns (after "The Return of Frank James" and before "Rancho Notorious").

This is one of those "company" westerns, showing history being made, or at least some version of history, as some big company struggled to connect the East and the West, this time by telegraph.

Within this style, I did enjoy DeMille's Union Pacific (1939) a bit more, although this one is very entertaining and has several things going on for it.

The scenery photography is stunning, taking advantage of the early Technicolor. Also, the central conflict, with a convincing Randolph Scott trying to escape his criminal past and the shadow of his brother, was pleasantly poignant, with a good final shoot-out. The movie has a good pace too, at least in its second half, with plenty of action.

On the minus side, although very competently-made, it is a bit by the numbers, with the usual comical relief characters, ridiculous Indians, and in general few surprises (other reviewers were surprised by the ending, but in this case I was expecting it).

This is certainly quite common in classic westerns, but the romance seems to be included out of duty more than because it's an integral part of the plot.

Hard to believe this was directed by Fritz Lang since he mostly directed crime dramas and mysteries. This movie has a cast that includes Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger and John Carradine. Scott plays an outlaw who tries to go straight and leave his old gang and winds up saving Jagger's life. Jagger works for Western Union, a telegraph company that plans to have telegraphs out west. Jagger hires a lot of men to make sure it is done because they have to worry about Indian attacks and bandits. Scott is in charge of the men and Young is a telegraph expert who can't shoot a gun but can ride. Scott meets up with his old gang who want to stop them but Scott can't tell anyone. It's a pretty good western and Lang should of directed some more westerns.

While escaping from a heist of a bank, the outlaw Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) helps Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger), the chief-engineer of the Western Union that is surveying the Wild West and had had an accident with a horse. In 1861, Vance regenerates and is hired to work for the Western Union with the team that is installing the poles and cable from Omaha to Salt Lake City. Vance and the engineer from Harvard Richard Blake (Robert Young) flirt with the gorgeous Edward's sister Sue Creighton (Virginia Gilmore) and she chooses Vance. However, his past haunts him when the outlaw Jack Slade (Barton MacLane) steals the Western Union cattle disguised of Indians.

"Western Union" is a good but predictable western directed by Fritz Lang. The story shows the difficulties of the brave and idealistic men responsible for installing the telegraph through the West, facing thieves and Indians. The entertaining story has action, drama, romance and funny situations, but with the exception of the identity of Jack Slade, there is no surprise in the story. Randolph Scott gives another magnificent performance with a great cast. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Conquistadores" ("The Conquerors")

I wanted to see this film because my grandfather acted in it. His name is James Spencer. I was in store for other treats in this film. It was awe inspiring to see the scenic vistas that shooting on location brought to this film. I was reminded of John Ford's western films. The acting and characters were very watchable and fun. The film was peppered with the fantastic and not seen lately character acting talents of many contract players of the 30's. A great treat for the eyes and mind.

No one ever really believed that Randolf Scott was a gun toter; he seemed too gentle for that. But the veneer of respectability he gave to his roles helped reinforce the western morality of good superceding evil. Nowhere is this poetry more evident as in Western Union [1941], directed by one of film noir's most gifted geniuses Fritz Lang, here working equally adeptly in colour. The shot of unfinished telegraph lines snaking away into twilight oblivion leaves lasting impressions.

This western prophecies the long professional relationship between producer Nat Holt and Randolf Scott which ran from 1946 and turned out cliché-westerns which weren't cliches at the time, and which, with practice improved till there was a kind of visual poetry about them. This isn't the history of Western Union, the way the western isn't the history of the old west. But it seems to relate a kind of truth, and that's what matters.