Stage to Chino

George O'Brien was a mainstay of several decades of westerns, beginning in the silent era. The barrel-chested Irishman was a favorite of John Ford and appeared in several John Wayne films .

This pre-war western features O'Brien as an undercover Postal Inspector involved in a seedy fight over a Postal contract. O'Brien gets to the bottom of the shady dealings and puts an end to the nefarious scheme.The villains are suitably mean-spirited and menacing .....

The acting, script and direction in this film are typical of similar films of the era. This movie remains popular with western fans and is often shown on Cable TV. O'Brien does a good job in this one, demonstrating a tough likability that fits well with the character.

A very typical western from 1940, with songs by Pals of the Golden West. and filmed in the hills north of Hollywood. Virginia Vale is the bombshell owner of the stage line, but her stages are getting robbed. Dan Clark (George O'Brien) comes to the rescue during one holdup. and SO much yodeling. Gotta knock off a point for all the yodeling. Gold mining, arguing over claims. Bar room brawls. It's pretty good. Directed by Ed Killy. was a DIRECTOR from 1935 to 1945... but then seems to have been Assistant Director after that up to 1961... kind of odd.

George O'Brien is a postal inspector. He goes undercover to court pretty Virginia Vale, who owns a stage line, and to investigate Roy Barcroft, who owns a rival line and most of Chino, and is running a gold-shipping scam.

It's a light-hearted RKO B western. Hobart Cavanaugh has a pretty big and moderately funny role as a drummer who has whatever goods are needed for any plot point. Despite the usual good standards of O'Brien's RKO westerns, he was getting tired of the grind. He had been a huge star at Fox in the 1920s, for John Ford and in such prestige movies as SUNRISE. With the coming of sound he lost his contract and went into B movies, until RKO got his contract in 1938. For three years he toiled in popular B Westerns, but this one would be his next-to-last in the series. He would largely retire thereafter and, after a hitch in the Navy (he was also a WWI Navy vet), would play a few more roles for Ford and deal with his investments.

Caroline (Vale) is trying to secure a mail contract for her stage line. She's being plotted against by her Uncle Charlie (Carl Stockdale) and Dude Elliott (Roy Barcroft). Dan Clark (George O' Brien), an undercover postal inspector, intends gets to the bottom of the nefarious goings-on, unexpectedly aided by a traveling salesman (Hobart Cavanaugh).

Stage to Chino is a typical O'Brien-Vale entry, which spells enjoyable. It's lighthearted with the usual scheming bad guy, fistfights, saloon brawl ( O'Brien's most impressive stuntwork of the series is during a big barroom brawl sequence where he jumps up on the bar and swings from a lantern! ), Stagecoach action ( in one scene O' Brien transfers from one moving stagecoach to another. Apparently O' Brien did the actual stunt work.), romance and yodelling. The plot moves swiftly, and ends satisfyingly.

The film opens with, not one, but two tunes typical 1930s-40s films of the western U.S. The plot is pretty standard for westerns. It's the writing that sails this far above most. Same with the cinematography being far better than most westerns. Casting was also very good to make this a better than average film. A key to this is including the Horatio Boggs character and having veteran character actor Hobart Cavenaugh playing the part.

The story is of a bad guy stealing from the town's folk is nothing new. Another good casting decision of having Roy Barcroft play the character as a bad guy, but not inherently evil, is a smart one. The movie becomes much less heavy handed or amateurish as many westerns can be. About the music: It's placed in appropriate areas that add to the storytelling. About the lighter tough: Cavenaugh has a few really humorous spots in the film. He's not a sidekick here, but a part of the actual story. "Whitey" Benedict is also a part and he always helps a scene.

Certainly one of the weakest parts of the film is George O'Brien as the lead. His oddly muscular shape and stiff delivery leadens the affair a bit. He tends to be more peppy than others in the western hero role and that helps.

The very ending is a real hoot. The last line and actions would've benefited so many other romantic or comedic tales.

Bottom line: i recommend this film. 7 out of 10 points.