Nevada Express

This is a Warner Bros.' roaring story of Nevada's Border-War . Powerful people from a bustling town become desperate that their gold and silver shipments from Carson City to Virginia City are the helpless targets of thieves and they become convinced that the only way to foil the robbers is to build a railway . Moving western dealing with the laying of railroad lines to forestall raids on the stagecoaches , as a banker , William Sharon : Larry Keating , finds his stagecoach is robbed , the villain results to be Big Jack Davis : Raymond Massey , the main owner of the Golden Elephant Mines , his hold-ups hallmarked by the Champagne supper he lays out in the scenario for his victims . Then the banker commissions the building of a railroad with Jeff Kinkaid : Randolph Scott , contracting to build a tunnel through a mountain . As the employers will take an extraordinary engineer , a former resident of Carson City , as Jeff is a foot-loose mining expert who takes things very much as they come , but who , once laconically committed , stays committed . Kincaid doing his damnedest to stop them , as well as he has to fight the town's hostility to his boisterous railhands and ongoing efforts by the outlaws to sabotage the project. Meanwhile , there emerges a loving triangle among Susan Mitchell : Lucille Norman , Jeff : Randolph Scott , and his brother Alan : Richard Webb , who works for the local newspaper. Kinkaid comes tearing in with a gun and a grin ... to carve a new notch in the Silver Belt of Nevada !

A well-done example of a B western with nice acting , as the plot is plain and simple , so shipments of gold from Carson City are vulnerable to holdups , as a powerful entrepreneur hires Randolph Scott who knows the difficult terrain very well in such mountainous territory, while the villain and his band of outlaws called "The Champagne Bandits" prepare a peculiar supper , in true Robin Hood-fashion, after robbing the stage of its bullion, they treat its passengers to a fried chicken picnic replete with champagne . This enjoyable picture gets Western action , shootouts , thrills , a love story , go riding , an assault on the Virginia and Truckee 22 locomotive and results to be quite entertaining . And the pace of action , tightly edited , never drops, and including a glamorous as well as glimmer cinematography in WarnerColor , a type of brilliant Technicolor created by Warner Bros production company . The film is set in Carson City , which was one of the main railhead cattle towns till railway arrival . This is no exactly a really distinguished Western , but it is an acceptable and passable oater . Finely played by Randolph Scott as a brawling adventurer called Jeff Kincaid, an experienced hand at difficult jobs . Veteran Western star , Randolph Scott , once again proves his tough skills in this agreeable Western . As the picture being well starred by Randolph Scott . He was a prolific actor in Western, his career is divided in films directed by Budd Boetticher in Seven men from now, The tall T, Decision at sundown, Buchanan rides alone, Comanche station, Westbound. Henry Hathaway as : Heritage of the desert, Wild horse, Sunset Pass, Man of the Forest . Ray Enright directed him in : The spoilers, Trail street, Alburquerque, Coroner creek, Return of the bad men. Andre De Toth directed him in Men in the saddle, Carson city, The stranger wore a gun, Riding shotgun, The bounty hunter. Finally, his main testament, Ride the high country along with Joel MacCrea directed by Sam Peckinpah . He is perfectly accompanied as his partenaire by Lucille Norman playing Susan Mitchell, the publisher's daughter who soon finds rivals for her affections from the two brothers. And beautifully judged acting from Raymond Massey as the villain , a mine boss doubling as thief . Scott is competently supported by an ideally suited support cast such as : Richard Webb , George Cleveland , James Millican ,Don Beddoe and Larry Keating .

It contains a well made cinematography in color by John Boyle . This was Warner Bros.' first movie filmed in WarnerColor. Thrilling and atmospheric musical score by David Buttolph . This bullet-a-minute Western about bandits attempting to hold up the progress of a railroad was directed in sure visual eye .This typical Western was professionally directed by Andre De Toth . At his beginnings De Toth entered the Hungarian film industry, obtaining work as a writer, editor , second unit director and actor before finally becoming a director . He directed a few films just before the outbreak of WW II, when he fled to England . Alexander Korda gave him a job there, and when De Toth emigrated to the US in 1942 , Korda got him a job as a second unit director on Jungle Book (1942) . Andre De Toth was a classical director , Western usual (Indian fighter, Man in the saddle , Ramrod , Last of Comanches , The stranger wore a gun), but also made Peplum (Gold for the Caesar , Revak) and adventure (The Mongols , Morgan the pirate , Tanganyika) . Probably his best known film is House of wax (1953), a Vincent Price horror film shot in 3D . Rating : 6/10 . Decent Scott Western .

Standard Randolph Scott oater with one notable exception - the opening stage robbery. Sensible and stylish above and beyond the norm.

First of all, how many times have we seen gangs waiting on horseback for the stage they've targeted, only to wind up chasing the damned thing for as long as the director wants and the producers can afford? Since the bad guys know when it's coming, they should be blocking the road and positioning themselves IN FRONT of it to make the heist easier on everyone. Their horses would definitely appreciate not having to run long distances at full speed, especially with people on the stage returning gunfire. A horse could get injured or killed because its owner was too stupid to form a more efficient plan. OSHA and the SPCA would have jointly condemned the vast majority of stagecoach holdups that occurred on our screens.

So kudos to Massey's (not a spoiler; we quickly learn old Raymond is the brains of the outfit) minions for how they pulled this job. Not only did they avail themselves of fortuitous terrain, lying in wait to stop the coach without having to chase or shoot at anyone. As a bonus, they used their down time to spread out an elegant, al fresco champagne brunch for the passengers, stealing only the contents of the strongbox. The gentlemen thieves of other genres (The Saint, et. Al.) could have done no better.

While the Western genre is not one of my favourite film genres, there is still appreciation for it and there are many classics in it. Also like one of the genre's icons Randolph Scott, though not a favourite, with some of his best work being with Budd Boetticher. Andre De Toth was a very gifted director, with already good experience with Westerns (the genre he revisited most frequently), and sadly undervalued. Those were the main reasons for seeing 1952's 'Carson City'.

'Carson City' for me turned out to be an uneven film that finished a good deal weaker than it started. It is also though a mostly enjoyable ride that has a lot to recommend it. It is not the best work of either Scott or De Toth, but again it is not a lesser effort of either of them. Somewhere in the middle for both and when it comes to their collaborations together there is a preference for 'Man in the Saddle' and 'Riding Shotgun', but again a lot is very well done here.

It is at its weakest with the completely superfluous and quite watery love triangle that turned out to not be as incidental to the story as it should have been. It doesn't help that Lucille Norman is incredibly bland and ill at ease, or that her role is very sketchy.

Really do wish that the conclusion was as good as how 'Carson City' started. Instead it was very predictable and lacked tension.

A shame because 'Carson City' started off incredibly well with a quite exhilarating opening. That excitement is maintained for a vast majority of the length, with a good deal of tautly paced and atmospheric storytelling. De Toth's direction is typically confident, one would not think he was actually a last minute replacement, and of the acting only Norman is bad. Scott's gritty charisma is evident throughout and there is strong support from Raymond Massey and Richard Webb.

Visually it looks good, with the photography having a good sense of style and atmosphere. Nothing cheap about the settings either. The music never felt at odds, and the script is lean and intelligent as well as pull no punches.

Concluding, enjoyable. 7/10.

Carson City has the distinction of two real western characters hiring the fictional character played by Randolph Scott to build a railroad from Virginia City to Carson City. William Sharon(Larry Keating) is getting very tired of having his gold shipments held up by a gang of bandits who also cater when they do a holdup. Sharon approaches banker Charles Crocker(Thurston Hall)who also is a big wheel in the Central Pacific railroad to build a spur line so he can ship by railroad.

Of course the railroad has its opponents in Carson City and quite subtly mine owner Raymond Massey is heading the opposition. Because Massey doesn't have a working mine, he does it the easy way, he robs the gold from the other guys and then ships it as his own.

Massey's the brains behind those bandit/caterers. His bandits holdup the stagecoach have the passengers removed and then show them to a picnic lunch topped off by a magnum of champagne. The other passengers don't care when the rich Larry Keating gets robbed and aren't too helpful to the law. It's unique in westerns I have to say, but it's also kind of silly, the sort of stuff you might see in a western from Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, but not Randolph Scott.

Starting out with such a silly premise it was hard for me to get really into Carson City, even after it turned deadly serious with Massey trying to stop the railroad in any way he can.

Randolph Scott had a unique leading lady here, radio singer Lucille Norman who sings not a note. That's a pity because the woman had a wonderful soprano. I have an album she did with Gordon MacRae of the score from The Desert Song. Lucille is the daughter of Carson City Clarion editor Don Beddoe who gets murdered by Massey when his suspicions are aroused. Lucille is also got Scott's half brother Richard Webb, TV and radio's Captain Midnight as a rival suitor and opponent of the railroad. Randy's got all kinds of personal problems for taking on this job.

Carson City is also badly edited. There were a few things that were left in the air that I'm sure wound up on the cutting room floor.

Randolph Scott's legion of fans will like Carson City, but it's far from his best work.

Two westerns in 1952 starring Randolph Scott begin their movies with a group of bandits robbing a stagecoach. How will you ever tell them apart? Well, you'll just have to watch both of them, and since they're both entertaining, you'll be in for a real treat.

In Carson City, Scottie McScottie Pants shows he's in his physical prime. His entrance to the film is a grueling bar fight that lands him in jail, and it's not the last time he beats the tar out of those who get in his way. In addition to fistfights, he hops on and off horses with grace and leads a shirtless mining expedition armed with nothing but a pickaxe and a candle. "I may be 54, but I've still got it," he proudly shows the audience. He plays a railroad engineer bringing a train station to a small Nevadan town, and many in town oppose him, including newspaper owner Don Beddoe and secret bad guy Raymond Massey. Lucille Norman, Don's daughter, has held a torch for Scottie ever since she was a little girl, but Scottie's younger brother Richard Webb has a crush on her. Since Scottie's a nice guy, he doesn't want to get in the way, but some things can't be helped. When you watch this handsome, rugged cowboy who's more at ease in a saddle than on solid ground showing off his vast physical skills, it's not hard to understand why Lucille just can't let go of her crush.

This one is a lot of fun, and in a sea of 1950s westerns that blur together, it's nice to see one that stands out from the pack. Randolph Scott is the king of the western genre, but if you want to pick and choose among his movies, don't miss this one. Next up, check out Western Union for an adorable romance.