Les pionniers de la Western Union

While escaping from a heist of a bank, the outlaw Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) helps Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger), the chief-engineer of the Western Union that is surveying the Wild West and had had an accident with a horse. In 1861, Vance regenerates and is hired to work for the Western Union with the team that is installing the poles and cable from Omaha to Salt Lake City. Vance and the engineer from Harvard Richard Blake (Robert Young) flirt with the gorgeous Edward's sister Sue Creighton (Virginia Gilmore) and she chooses Vance. However, his past haunts him when the outlaw Jack Slade (Barton MacLane) steals the Western Union cattle disguised of Indians.

"Western Union" is a good but predictable western directed by Fritz Lang. The story shows the difficulties of the brave and idealistic men responsible for installing the telegraph through the West, facing thieves and Indians. The entertaining story has action, drama, romance and funny situations, but with the exception of the identity of Jack Slade, there is no surprise in the story. Randolph Scott gives another magnificent performance with a great cast. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Conquistadores" ("The Conquerors")

I wanted to see this film because my grandfather acted in it. His name is James Spencer. I was in store for other treats in this film. It was awe inspiring to see the scenic vistas that shooting on location brought to this film. I was reminded of John Ford's western films. The acting and characters were very watchable and fun. The film was peppered with the fantastic and not seen lately character acting talents of many contract players of the 30's. A great treat for the eyes and mind.

A good part of this movie was shot on location in southern Utah. When Fritz Lang arrived and saw the local Indians who were hired for the movie they were short stocky built people like many of the tribes in the southwestern area of the United States. This did not meet Langs idyllic picture of the tall thin and muscular Indian he had cultivated while he was still in Europe where he was already fascinated with the American west and its's western films. He promptly fired all of the local tribes people and had extras sent from central casting in Hollywood, most of whom were Anglo, to meet his view of Native Americans.

Hard to believe this was directed by Fritz Lang since he mostly directed crime dramas and mysteries. This movie has a cast that includes Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger and John Carradine. Scott plays an outlaw who tries to go straight and leave his old gang and winds up saving Jagger's life. Jagger works for Western Union, a telegraph company that plans to have telegraphs out west. Jagger hires a lot of men to make sure it is done because they have to worry about Indian attacks and bandits. Scott is in charge of the men and Young is a telegraph expert who can't shoot a gun but can ride. Scott meets up with his old gang who want to stop them but Scott can't tell anyone. It's a pretty good western and Lang should of directed some more westerns.

A spectacular and mighty adventure during the Civil War when America's destiny rode in the saddle bags of adventurers and hard-working laborers installing the poles and cable . The ¨Western Union¨ feats were similarly developed to ¨Pony Express¨ that was a mail service delivering messages , newspapers , mail , and small packages from St. Joseph , Missouri , across the Great Plains , over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento , California , by horseback , and hardy riders , using a series of relay stations and it reduced the time for messages . It became from April 3 , 1860, to October 1861 , the West's most direct means of east–west communication before the telegraph was established and being vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States . Later on , ¨Pony Express¨ was replaced by the telegraph , and ¨Western Union¨ quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West . ¨Pony Express¨ , stagecoach and freight company ¨Wells Fargo¨ provided secure US mail service until the construction of telegraph lines proceeded by ¨Western Union¨. It was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the Frontier times . This movie concerns Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) gives up outlawing , he meets Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) who leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West ; the latter hires Vance and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor as well as engineer from Harvard , Richard Blake (Robert Young) . Both of whom become romantically involved with the Edward's sister (Viginia Gilmore) . Meanwhile , some outlaws (Barton MacLane) attempting to prevent the company connecting the line and robbing the Western Union cattle masked of Indians Ogalaya .

This traditional Western of the founding of telegraph routes westward contains thrills , rousing action , frontier adventure , shootouts , Indian attacks and exuberant outdoors . This vintage epic Western turns out to be a throughly entertaining picture that will appeal to Western fans . Big budget Western by Darryl F Zanuck's 20th Century Fox , and even studio publicity noted that Fox contract star Henry Fonda -though uncredited- had served as technical adviser on the film, due to his experience as a young man working as a lineman . Dealing with the political machinations and fights that accompanied the construction of the glamorous ¨Western Union¨ route from Omaha , Nebraska , to Salt Lake City , Utah , in which brave riders battling hostile Indians , cutthroats attempting on robbing , firing , astute bandits and many other things . Screenwriter Robert Carson utilized the title , but not the screenplay , of a Zane Grey novel . The main protagonists result to known players , such as Randolph Scott as a Western reformed outlaw , Robert Young as an obstinate surveyor and Dean Jagger as manager . Support cast is frankly magnificent , such as : John Carradine , Chill Wills , Barton MacLane , Slim Summerville , Charles Middleton and the ordinary Indians : Chief John Big Tree , Chief Thundercloud , Iron Eyes Cody , Jay Silverheels .

The film displays a brilliant cinematography by expert cameraman Edward Cronjager in rich Technicolor . In addition , thrilling and evocative musical score by David Buttolph . The motion picture produced by Harry Joe Brown and Darryl F Zanuck was compellingly directed by Fritz Lang and with great enthusiasm . This was Lang's second Western , following his favorite ¨The return of Frank James¨ . The German Fritz showed himself a master of the most American of genres , yet made only one more Western : ¨Rancho Notorious¨. As Lang directed masterfully all kind of genres as Noir cinema as ¨Big heat¨ , ¨Scarlet Street¨ and ¨Beyond a reasonable doubt¨ , Epic as ¨Nibelungs¨, suspense as ¨Secret beyond the door¨ , ¨Clash by night¨ and Lang's trilogy about Nazi time as ¨Cloak and dagger¨, ¨Man hunt¨ and ¨Hangmen also die¨, and of course , Sci-Fi with the classic ¨Metropolis¨. Rating Western Union : Better than average . Well worth watching .