Wheels of Destiny

Ken Maynard and Jay Wilsey lead settlers out to the gold fields of California. Maynard courts Wilsey's sister, Dorothy Dix. Philo McCullough does everything he can to sabotage the wagon train to gain the location of Wilsey & Maynard's rich gold field, including inciting the Indians on the way to kill them. He is motivated by greed and anger at being named Philo.

This was something of a dream project for Maynard. He produced it himself. The production values and plot points make it clear that he was trying to produce an A western. Unfortunately, the lack of topnotch talent (save for cinematographer Ted McCord) worked against him. Even McCord's work is hard to see in the print I looked at. The big finale, which involves Ken's daring escape from the Indians and the train's escape during a thunder storm is sabotaged, not only for the dark, low-contrast print, but the generally poor condition of the entire print.

Nonetheless, the film maker's intent remains clear, with many elements and shots taken from older A Westerns like THE COVERED WAGON and THE BIG TRAIL; a better print might have revealed valuable details. Certainly Maynard gives a fine performance, and not just atop his horse Tarzan. Although the drama is lessened by the occasional comic interlude, like the way the entire movie ends, this was not a fault peculiar to the B westerns. Even the loftiest A western recognized the need for comic relief, and settled for the occasionally infantile gags that adorned their Saturday Matinee compeers.

It's impossible to judge the achievement of this movie through the poor print, but it certainly attests to the film makers' intent. The closest we can come to making the judgment is through its reception at the time, which was totally unremarkable in a market saturated by B westerns. Alas.