Wagon Train

One of the best B westerns I've ever seen. Original and intelligent script, solid acting, great scenery and production values not normally found in this type of movie. Scene with wagons racing across the valley is spectacular and does not appear to be stock footage (though I could be wrong). Tim Holt westerns, particularly those from the early 40s, usually exceeded the normal standards for series westerns, but Wagon Train is in a class by itself. Truly a great movie of it's type.

Nothing especially dramatic or compelling here. A formulaic and predictable western with a meandering script and a distinct lack of character development, this picture tells its story and is over in an hour. It is loaded with non-sequiturs and loose ends which leaves the viewer scratching his head.

Nevertheless, the leads are attractive. Tim Holt gives a stalwart performance and Martha O'Driscoll is very pretty but is not given much to do. This is the sort of movie I probably would have liked a long time ago when I was a kid and didn't ask many questions. The action scenes were good and the second unit stuff was even better.

This picture was on TCM the other morning. It was a time-killer but did not break any new ground as far as the western genre is concerned. The kids won't notice, though.

Wagon Train is directed by Edward Killy and written by Norton Grant and Bernard McConville. It stars Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Emmett Lynn, Martha O'Driscoll, Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart and Cliff Clark. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by Harry Wild.

"The middle of the last century witnessed small bands of courageous men leading their wagon trains across the wilderness, carrying provisions to the people of the frontier. They died of hunger, thirst, heat and cold. Desert wastes, prairie fires, the attacks of road agents and Indians took their toll. But the freighters still rolled on - - the wheels of their wagons carving from the Trans-Missouri Wilderness a greater and stronger nation."

Out of RKO, this black and white Oater is a breezy paean to the tough characters who led the wagon trains whilst battling the elements and outside human forces. Tim Holt stands straight backed and handsome as our hero leading from the front, whilst O'Driscoll shines pretty as a summers day. There is much joviality to be found in between the pacey action scenes, and there's even time for some songs and a nifty dance sequence that John Ford would have approved of for its portrait of community spirit. Filmed on location in Kanab, Utah, the picture is practically a complete outdoor production, and it's beautifully photographed by Harry Wild (Farewell My Lovely/Station West).

No surprises here but that's just fine, it's an hour of hooray and yeehaw entertainment with thrills, spills, laughs and the requisite heroes and villains. 7/10

The scenery and the camera-work of the scenery in this film are spectacular. The lost art of outdoor western camera work is remarkably well featured in this b-western and is worth watching. "Majestic" is the only word that can describe some of the scenes.

Tim Holt is stalwart and believable as a wagon train leader, Martha O'Driscoll is incredibly pretty, young and fetching in the role of an eastern girl gone west. All of the cast does a fine job.

Wagons and a stagecoach are expertly handled (another lost art?) in the Utah country, not just on graded back lot roads.

Authentic-looking in many ways, fast paced, this film is a winner.

Other reviewers have rehearsed the plot of Edward Killy's RKO B-Movie from 1940, so there is no need to tread over familiar ground. What is perhaps more intriguing is the way the film rehearses several themes characteristic of the western, which might tell us something about the way America viewed itself at that time. The film is awash with movement: the wagon train traveling across the plains, accompanied by riders; the perpetual threat of the bad guys wanting to stop the train; coupled with the subplot about a community's livelihood being threatened should vital food supplies not arrive. This draws attention to the idea of the pioneer spirit; the fact that, as a young country, the United States is perpetually looking to expand itself; it is never satisfied with staying n one place. WAGON TRAIN also embodies racial attitudes characteristic of that time: all the characters are Euros, save for one Mexican (Julian Rivero) who assumes a peripheral role as he is s seen entering the general store trying to buy some beans for his family. He cannot afford the exorbitant price; and hence throws them back in the seller's face. Native Americans are represented as savage; they destroy one settlement; and it is only because of our hero Zack Sibley's (Tim Holt's) cleverness that they allow him and his followers to pass through their territory unscathed. By contrast the 'good' white Euros are represented as strong yet fair, believing in the importance of group identity as a means to survive in an inhospitable landscape. The film packs a lot into its sixty-minute running time; comedy, adventure, even two songs (with music by Paul Sawtell). Not particularly memorable, perhaps, but an interesting historical document.