A Man from Wyoming

... in this early talking film about how people from different worlds often forget their differences in wartime and come together and the very peculiar ways individuals may grieve.

Jim Baker (Gary Cooper) is building bridges in Wyoming when news of war (WWI) comes. He enthusiastically signs up along with pal Jersey (Regis Toomey). Patricial Hunter (June Collyer) is a wealthy girl who signed up to be a war nurse for the excitement, but she is bored by the fact she is stuck in Paris learning how to properly wrap bandages.

So she just walks away and towards the front lines! Because...reasons! Like she is five! When she gets there, miraculously not riddled with bullets, Jim saves her life and takes her back to safety. In the meantime, they fall in love, secretly marry, and Baker hides her in his room where they have a honeymoon with nobody the wiser. When she gets back to her outfit, she isn't even punished for being AWOL because her uncle is a general??? This entire paragraph are the plot points that are goofy and in no man's land.

Meanwhile Jim is badly wounded and falsely reported killed in action. This news causes Patricia, in her grief, to invent the flapper and embark on a career of Lost Generation libertinism. When Jim discovers her behavior, he smartly decides to see for himself and then talk it out with her. The two actually have an intelligent discussion - for the first time - about the very different worlds from which they come. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

Cooper's man of few words "I reckon" persona works well here, since Cooper actually IS a man of Montana playing a man of Wyoming temporarily made a soldier. Collyer's character is insufferable most of the time, as she plays this part very whiny. I'd say watch it for Cooper if for no other reason.

Gary Cooper is an engineer and Regis Toomey is his pal. Together they build bridges. The US has just joined the Great War, so they join up for the engineering corps. June Collyer is in the war too as a driver or a nurse or something. She wants to see the Front, so she simply goes, and winds up where Cooper is building a pontoon bridge. He puts her under arrest, and so they are married. Later, Cooper is reported dead, even though he's just wounded.

This pre-code movie is pretty good at implying rather than showing, but while the visuals are good (in a poor print) the dialogue direction is pretty stiff, particularly Miss Collyer, who seems to be striving to make her words and emotions clear. It's hard to rate this one highly; it's clearly a programmer. However, it's always good to see Coop, with his good looks and straightforward delivery.

This story involves a woman who is both plucky AND extremely stupid. It's set during WWI and Patricia (June Collyer) has volunteered to serve in France. However, she's stationed in Paris and has seen nothing of the war. So, she does what any insane person would do...she goes AWOL and heads to the front! There she is found and arrested by Captain Baker (Gary Cooper). However, as he escorts her back behind the front lines, the pair fall in love and secretly marry. They spend a few days together as husband and wife and he is sent back into action. Soon after, he's reported killed and Patricia is naturally heartbroken. In reality, he's been injured...and is being sent to Nice to recover. And, take a wild guess where Patricia has been sent! How Baker reacts to her when they meet....well, it's VERY strange and nearly impossible to believe. I really think in hindsight, the film should have ended much sooner with the pair re-discovering each other....with no pointless arguing.

The plot is really dopey if you think about it. But if you can look past this and the complete lack of realism, the story itself is sweet and the actors did a nice job. Not among Cooper's better films, but worth seeing.

A Man From Wyoming has Gary Cooper in the title role of a western guy who makes a nice living in construction. We see him first building a bridge along with pal Regis Toomey.

America enters World War I and Cooper and Toomey are off to war in, what else, the Engineers battalion with Cooper a captain and Toomey a sergeant. One fine day, society girl June Collyer who is an ambulance driver and General E.H. Calvert's daughter gets bored with her job and goes AWOL.

Captain Cooper saves her life from her foolishness as Collyer wanders too close to No Man's Land. Of course he falls for her and the romance starts.

I'd have to say that A Man From Wyoming was nothing terribly special, a good wartime romantic tale. Cooper seemed to be cast in a bunch of these in the silent and early sound era, Lilac Time, Seven Days Leave, The Shopworn Angel and this one seem all to be leading up to his being cast in A Farewell to Arms and later in his greatest World War I film, Sergeant York.

June Collyer is no Joan Leslie who shared Sergeant York's background. Somehow as a civilian couple I couldn't see them making a go of it.

Still the battle sequences were nicely staged and it's a good wartime romantic tale though it will never make anyone's list of the top ten or even twenty Gary Cooper films.