Stubs - 3 Bad Men

3 Bad Men (1926) starring George O’Brien, Olive Borden, Lou Tellegen, Tom Santschi, J. Farrell MacDonald, Frank Campeau, Priscilla Bonner, Otis Harlan, Phyllis Haver, Georgie Harris, Alec Francis, Jay Hunt Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by  John Stone, Ralph Spence, Malcolm Stuart Boyla. Based on the novel Over the Border by Herman Whitaker (New York, 1917). Producer: William Fox. Run time: 93 minutes. Black and White. USA. Western, Silent

3 Bad Men came to my attention through reading Joy Girl: A Novel of Olive Borden (Forgotten Actresses) by Laini Giles. Even though the book is historical fiction, it is based on real events, including Olive Borden meeting George O’Brien on the set of this film. Turns out I had the film in the Ford at Fox collection, which came out in 2007.

Following his success with The Iron Horse (1924), director John Ford was given carte blanche by Fox. He chose as his next project the novel, Over the Border by British writer Herman Whitaker. The book tells the story of Three Bad Men - Sliver Smith, Bull Perrin, and Jake Evers - who have established their hideout in a desolate region of the Mexican desert. The narrative captures their adventures and confrontations in a land marked by revolution, rustling, and crossing borders, while exploring themes of survival, loyalty, and the blurred lines between right and wrong.

Stubs - 3 Godfathers

3 Godfathers (1948) Starring John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by Laurence Stallings, Frank S. Nugent Based on the novel The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne (New York, 1913). Produced by John Ford, Merrian C. Cooper. Run time: 107 min. Color. USA Western, Christmas.

Sometimes directors get a second chance at a story. Alfred Hitchcock had that with The Man Who Knew Too Much, making it twice in 1934 and in 1956. John Ford got the same chance with adapting Peter B. Kyne’s novel The Three Godfathers. Marked Men (1919), directed by Ford starred Harry Carey, Joe Harris and Ted Brooks, made by Universal, is now considered lost. When Ford decided to remake the story, Harry Carey was no longer available, having died in 1947.

While another long-time collaborator, John Wayne, would have the lead role, Ford did bring in Harry Carey, Jr. Even though this was not his first film, he is given an “Introducing” sort of credit. To round out the three, Ford hired Pedro Armendáriz, a Mexican-American actor who was appearing in only his third film, having appeared in only two other films, both directed by John Ford, The Fugitive (1947) and Fort Apache (1948).

Ford wanted to make the film in Mexico, however, it was shot on location in Death Valley, CA, with some additional shooting in Lone Pine, CA. Ford made the film through his own production company that he co-owned with Merrian C. Cooper, Argosy Pictures. Since the story rights were owned by MGM, Argosy negotiated a one-picture releasing contract with MGM. This also marked the first time that MGM accepted a distribution deal without a financial investment or creative input in the production.

Stubs - Straight Shooting

 

Straight Shooting (1917) Starring: Harry Carey, Duke Lee, George Berrell, Molly Malone, Ted Brooks, Hoot Gibson, Milt Brown, Vester Pegg. Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by George Hively (credited as Story). Producer not credited. USA 62 minutes. Silent. Western.

Westerns had been a staple of American films almost as long as there have been films made in the U.S. One of the earliest examples is Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery (1903). One director who is perhaps most associated with the genre is John Ford, who would direct such classics as Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956) to name only a few of his best-known films. It should come as no surprise that Ford’s first feature film would also be a Western, Straight Shooting (1917).

Stubs – Up The River

Up The River (1930) Starring: Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart, Williams Collier Sr., Joan Lawes. Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by Maurine Watkins. Presented by William Fox. Run time 90 min. USA. Comedy, Drama, Crime

I recently received the Ford at Fox boxset as a Christmas present. 24 films on 21 discs including many of the great film director’s early classics, including two versions of the silent western The Iron Horse (1924), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and My Darling Clementine (1946), just to name a few. Of all those films, the first one I wanted to watch was a little known film called Up The River (1930).

My reason was mostly personal. I’m a big fan of Humphrey Bogart and this is the first feature in which he received credit. It is also the first credited film for another Hollywood heavyweight, Spencer Tracy. Add to that, this is the only film in which these two actors would appear in together over their long careers. Bogart wouldn’t come back to Hollywood in a big way until Petrified Forest (1936) and spent most of his career at Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures. Tracy would be offered a long term contract right after the film and would make films at Fox (1930-1935) and MGM (1935-1955) before going independent for the remainder of his career. 

Like Bogart, Tracy had been on Broadway prior to making it in Hollywood. His first success had been in a George M. Cohan play, Yellow (1926). Even though the play received mixed reviews, Cohan liked Tracy and wrote a part specifically for him in his next play, The Baby Cyclone (1927) that proved to be a hit. Tracy continued the success with another Cohan play, Whispering Friends. He also replaced Clark Gable in the play Conflict before being scouted by Hollywood.

The coming of the talkies, as they were called then, led Hollywood to look to Broadway for potential stars. Some found fortune right away, like Tracy and some would have off and on flirtations before finding success, like Bogart. Others, like Claire Luce, who is also making her film debut here, would never really catch on in films.

Luce had been on Broadway since 1923 and returned there after making this film and worked with Fred Astaire on the original musical version of Gay Divorcee (1932). In his review of the musical, New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson noted "In the refulgent Claire Luce, Fred Astaire has found a partner who can match him step for step and who flies over the furniture in his company without missing a beat."  Astaire also found inspiration in Luce when choreographing the “Night and Day” dance routine. In his autobiography, Astaire wrote about Luce: "Claire was a beautiful dancer and it was her style that suggested to me the whole pattern of the "Night and Day" dance. This was something entirely different from anything Adele (his sister and dance partner) and I had done together. That was what I wanted, an entirely new dancing approach."

In fact, Astaire wanted her for the film version of the musical, but the studio, RKO, wanted another actress they had under contract, Ginger Rogers. Sadly, Luce’s musical career would come to an end during the London run of Gay Divorcee when she suffered a serious injury, damaging her hip in a fall during the table dance sequence.

Up The River is a Comedy Drama, it says so in the opening credits.

The film starts with a prison break, Saint Louis (Spencer Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Warren Hymer) have escaped and come up to the getaway car. Saint Louis knows, what we will later learn, that Dan is a moron, so he takes the first opportunity to dump him, having him get out of the car to change a non-existent flat tire and then driving off and leaving him stranded.

Saint Louis (Spencer Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Warren Hymer) make their prison escape.

Later, they have a chance encounter. Dan has found religion with the Brotherhood of Man, a Salvation Army-style group, and relates his story to a small crowd that gathers, attracted by the sound of the group’s marching band. At that moment, Saint pulls up in a nice car with two women. He walks up close and watches his ex-partner fumble his way through his speech. Saint Louis shouldn’t be surprised when Dan pops him one.

 Dan testifies about finding religion while Saint Louis looks on.

No surprise, but both men end up back in prison. Dan is already there when Saint Louis arrives with some fanfare. It happens to be the same day that a new crop of women prisoners are being received. Amongst them is Judy Fields (Claire Luce), who is being registered by Steve Jordan (Humphrey Bogart). While Judy thinks Steve is an employee, he is, in fact, a prisoner like her, but only days away from parole.

Steve Jordan (Humphrey Bogart) is a prison trustee smitten when he registers Judy.

There is an instant attraction between them and they relate to each other their stories. Judy, who is 21, was arrested for fraud, telling fortunes, but pointing victims to her partner, Frosby (Morgan Wallace), who sold them worthless stocks. Steve had been on his way to work in China, when he was arrested. (Problems with missing frames makes following some of the dialogue and storyline difficult to follow.) His family, in fact, thinks that he is in China and does not know of his imprisonment.

Saint Louis is a bit of a celebrity prisoner and wants to be treated like that, asking for a cell up high, with southern exposure and lots of sunlight, but the Warden (Robert Emmett O'Connor) will have none of that, and puts him in the regular population, in the same cell as Steve and two other men, Pop (William Collier Sr.), a baseball-obsessed old convict, and his old partner, Dan, who is not happy with the reunion.

Saint Louis makes a hero's entrance, but notices Judy (Claire Luce) as well.

Judy is assigned to tutor the Warden’s daughter, Jean (Joan Lawes), while Steve tries to communicate with her any way he can. One way is to pass notes in the hem of Mrs. Massey’s (Louise Mackintosh) dress. Mrs. Massey is a well-to-do social worker who cares for the prisoners, especially the men, the same way a mother treats a child. The prisoners, both men and women, pretend to appreciate her help.

Mrs. Massey (Louise Mackintosh), a social worker, gets
played by one of the prisoners she's trying to help.

Direct communication between the male and female inmates is forbidden, though they try to hide it by having conversations at common fences while facing away from one another. Steve and Judy have one such talk when he tells her that he’ll wait for her and wants her to join him back in New England.

Steve tells Judy that he'll wait for her to get out of prison.

Meanwhile, Frosby, who has learned from Judy that she wants to be with Steve and not with him, follows Steve back to New England. He asks the preacher to introduce him to the Jordans, including Steve, his mother (Edythe Chapman) and his sister Cynthia (Althea Henley). When he tells everyone that he and Steve have a mutual friend, Judy, Steve is naturally alarmed, but can’t stop his mother from inviting Frosby to dinner.

Steve pulls Frosby aside and is told that unless he helps him in a swindle, Frosby will tell his mother about his incarceration.

Back in prison, word gets back to Judy about Frosby’s plans. She tells Saint Louis, who promises her that he’ll take care of it. Using the annual prison talent show, sponsored by Mrs. Massey, Saint Louis and Dan make their escape, turning off the lights and dressing in drag.

Saint Louis learns from Judy that Frosby is blackmailing Steve.

They show up in Steve’s hometown, just as Steve is confronting Frosby, threatening him if he tries to swindle his mother. Steve brings Saint Louis and Dan home to meet his mother and sister and mother invites them to dinner. After dinner, a couple of local girls come over and invite all the men to accompany them on a hayride and they all go.

Steve introduces Saint Louis and Dan to his mother (Edythe Chapman) and his
 sister Cynthia (Althea Henley) when the escapees show up at his house.

Upon their return, they find that Frosby is just leaving Steve’s house. When he asks his mother, she informs him that she’s made an investment that she’s sure will set Steve and his sister up for life. The payment she made to Frosby was in negotiable Bonds.

Steve gets a gun and is about to confront Frosby when Saint Louis stops him. He tells him that he and Dan will take care of it for him. The two then break into Frosby’s office and take back the bonds. (Again, the bad print deletes some of the action at this point.) Frosby sees the two carrying his satchel and goes to his office and presumably finds that the bonds are gone.

Saint Louis convinces Steve to let him and Dan take care of Frosby.

After they deliver the bonds back to Steve, they inform him that they’re going back. Steve gives them some lines of poetry he copied to give to Judy, but on the train ride back, they lose it out the open door of the freight train they’re on.

Saint Louis and Dan on the frieght train back to prison.

They arrive back at the prison just in time to see Judy leaving on her parole. She’s still not sure that Steve is really serious about her and Saint Louis manages to convince her that he is.

Judy gets out on parole. We assume she goes to New England to be with Steve.

The two escapees are then allowed to play in an Inter-prison baseball game. Saint Louis is the pitcher and with the game already in progress, the home team is already down. Even the warden knows to delay punishment until after the game.

Saint Louis and Dan arrive back in prison in time to play in the big baseball game.

The film ends there with a lot of things left up in the air, but which we’ll have to assume work out in the end. Assuredly, Judy goes to New England, she marries Steve and they live happily ever after.

There are a lot of head scratchers about the story, including the co-ed prison that is necessary for the story. How else could Steve fall in love with Judy unless that was the situation? I don’t know a lot about the prison system in the U.S., but I’ve never seen a movie like this that had men and women sharing the same prison. This seems like a pure plot invention.

Also, in the closing baseball game, there is a real zebra that is presumably the team’s mascot. Zebras were, and still are, exotic animals and the thought that a prison in the Midwest would actually have a live one on hand is a little hard to believe. The only reason would be for comedic effect.

But the topper for me is that the warden’s daughter, who has to be all of seven or eight, is allowed to walk by herself down on the men’s yard and interact with the prisoners. No matter when the film was made, that seems like a very dangerous idea. (The actress who played Jean, Joan Marie Lawes, was in fact the daughter of Warden L. Lawes, who was at the time the warden at Sing Sing prison, so maybe there was some truth in this portrayal.)

For the little bit of plot, we’re treated to a lot of filler, including some fairly complete acts at the prison talent show. There is even a minstrel segment of two men in blackface telling jokes and playing homemade instruments.

           

The acting overall isn’t bad, but there isn’t much more than stereotypes here. Saint Louis, as played by Tracy, seems like a pretty fleshed out character, but his motives seem a little specious at times, especially escaping to help out a friend like he does. In real life, prisoners don’t go back willingly to prison, the way Saint Louis and Dan do.

What little laughs there are in the film are supplied by Warren Hymer, who plays Dan, who is tested to be a moron. One of the better moments is when Dan is ripping up a piece of paper and ends up with a very intricate lacey doily looking piece when he’s done. Hymer was near the beginning of a career in which he would appear in 129 films, including Sinners’ Holiday (1930), Kid Millions (1934), San Francisco (1936), You Only Live Once (1937) and Meet John Doe (1941).

Dan rips up a piece of paper into a fancy doily. The other prisoner, Pop (William Collier Sr.) looks unamused.

Steve, Bogart’s character, also seems pretty three dimensional. In retrospect, the fact that he’s playing a prisoner seems to be right down his alley. Bogart played a lot of petty criminals throughout his early career. But for the most part, he plays Steve rather restrained, which is not something Bogart’s criminal characters were known for. But despite how we think of Bogart on film, he had a lot of experience on stage playing milquetoast men or what he called "White Pants Willie" roles. Steve, in some ways, straddles the two types of roles, a criminal, but still a mother’s boy.

I like Claire Luce as Judy. It’s too bad that she never caught on in films the way the others did. Maybe if Astaire had been able to convince RKO to use her in the film version of The Gay Divorcee, she may have had the sort of career Ginger Rogers did. She seems capable of much more than we get to see in Up The River.

Most of the actors are uncredited in this film, but it’s interesting to see a young Ward Bond in only his seventh film. He plays a bully prisoner who Saint Louis knocks out when he doesn’t like him picking on a young recent arrived inmate.

Even though the film was directed by Ford, it really could have been directed by anyone. I’ve read that Ford turned what had been a drama script into a comedy, but it’s really not a laugh out loud comedy, unless of course, the best lines had been spliced out of the film.

And that is the worst thing about the movie, its presentation. While Fox used the best available sources for the print, they didn’t seem to really try to restore the film in any way at all. There are far too many jump cuts. One has to imagine that the studio could have done better by one of its own releases. They are really doing the film, the director and the actors a disservice by not at least cleaning the film up before selling it.

This is not a bad film, but it is not really worth seeking out, especially in its current state. The only reason anyone would want to see it would be for Tracy and Bogart. Both actors will get much better and have better roles before their careers end. But if you’re a fan of one or both of these actors, like I am, then you might want to see how it all started for them. That’s really the only reason I wanted to see this film in the first place.

Stubs - The Whole Town's Talking (1935)

The Whole Town’s Talking (1935) Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan Directed by John Ford. Produced by Lester Cowan. Screenplay by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin. Based on the story "Jail Breaker" by W. R. Burnett in Collier's (Jul--Aug 1932). Run Time: 93 minutes. U.S.  Black and White. Comedy, Gangster

Two people that you don’t really think would have worked together in Hollywood are John Ford and Edward G. Robinson. Ford is forever connected to the Western genre of films and Robinson is typecast as a gangster and a contract player at Warner Bros. So when I learned the two worked together on a comedy and at Columbia Pictures, a certain amount of interest was raised.

Ford may be best known for his many Westerns, including such classics as Stagecoach (1939), The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), but he also directed The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941).

Robinson would make more comedies, most notably A Slight Case of Murder (1938), which is one of the reasons this film caught my attention in the first place. Robinson, despite being type-cast as a gangster, was a very versatile actor.

Arthur Ferguson Jones (Edward G. Robinson) is late for work for the first time in eight years. He’d bought a new alarm clock, but when it says its 7:30, it’s really past 9. While Jones is late for work we learn that he has ambitions to be a writer and has a bird and a cat for pets. Jones’ day job is working as a clerk (I’ve read several synopsis that say he works at as an advertising clerk, but what he actually does isn’t made very clear.) The owner of the company, J.G. Carpenter (Paul Harvey), wants floor manager Seaver (Etienne Girardot) to make an example of the first person who is late for work, not imagining it would be Jones, whom he also instructed Seaver to give a raise.

Seaver is put in an odd situation, but is rescued when someone comes in even later. Wilhemina "Bill" Clark (Jean Arthur) doesn’t get to work until 9:30. Clark is the object of Jones's unspoken love; he has a photograph of hers, which we learn he stole, up in his apartment as inspiration for his writings. Clark puts her feet up and reads the paper and recognizes the resemblance between a picture of escaped convict "Killer" Manion and Jones, which she points out to a co-worker and soon it is all over the floor.

Wilhemina "Bill" Clark (Jean Arthur) is the object of  Arthur
Ferguson Jones' (Edward G. Robinson) affections.

While Jones lunches at a restaurant, the obsequious Hoyt (Donald Meeks) also notices the similarity and calls the police, hoping to collect the $25,000 reward for his capture. Jones and Clark are taken into custody. Everyone at the police headquarters is convinced they’ve captured Manion. Even Carpenter, who is called down to identify Jones, is convinced he’s Manion. It takes Seaver, who works directly with Jones to establish his identity. Forensics also discovers that his fingerprints are not the same as Manion's. To protect him from another mistaken arrest, District Attorney Spencer (Arthur Byron) gives Jones a special passport to show wary policemen he is not who they think he looks like.

Hoyt (Donald Meeks) thinks he recognizes Manion and calls the police.

Back at the office, "J.G." encourages Jones, an aspiring writer, to sign a deal with newspaperman Healy (Wallace Ford) to author a special serial on his own appraisal of Manion, based on him looking like the gangster. The three men get drunk together, and when Jones returns to the office he kisses the thrilled Clark and tells Seaver Carpenter has authorized putting her back on the payroll.

Jones gets drunk with his boss, J.G. Carpenter (Paul Harvey), and a newspaperman named Healy (Wallace Ford).

But Jones’ buzz gets killed when he gets back to his apartment and finds Manion waiting for him. Manion demands the use of the passport at night to protect him during his criminal activities. Although for the first time in Jones' life everyone is deferential toward him, and Clark affectionately asserts control over his career, Jones lives in perpetual fear of Manion, who has moved in with him.

When Jones finds Manion (Edward G. Robinson) waiting for him in his apartment.

The publicity-seeking criminal demands that Jones's newspaper series be turned into his reminiscences, which raises the suspicion of authorities when Jones writes details about Manion’s escape that were not public knowledge.

When Healy brings Jones’ first paycheck to the office, Jones is not there, but Clark offers to take it to him. But she doesn’t recognize Manion and kisses him. When she sees his gun in its holster she beats a hasty retreat, but Manion has a couple of his boys follow her. When she hurries to the nearest pay phone to call the authorities, they intercept her and take her hostage.

Trying to protect Jones, the district attorney orders him placed under protective custody in prison. Accompanied by a couple of hapless police officers, Detective Sergeant Boyle (Arthur Hohl) and Detective Sergeant Howe (James Donlan), Jones goes back to his apartment, but Manion is still there and takes Jones's place and the two police don’t realize it. Manion goes to the prison to kill fellow gangster, "Slugs" Martin (Ed Brophy), who had turned stool pigeon on him to authorities.

Jones is recalled to the city, but not before Manion has a chance to kill Martin. Seaver, who had come to visit who he thought was Jones and bring him work to complete, catches a ride with Manion back to the train station, but Manion takes control of the car and kidnaps Seaver. The disappearances of Seaver and Clark tip off authorities to the true state of affairs.

Manion decides to take advantage of his mild-mannered doppelgänger and, ultimately, leave Jones "holding the bag" for Manion's crimes. He kidnaps Wilhelmina, Jones' visiting aunt, and a few others, and takes them back to his hideout. He instructs Jones to make a large deposit for Manion's mother's benefit at the First National Bank and then tips the police that Manion will attempt to rob the bank, so police are waiting for him. Jones forgets to bring the check and unwittingly leads the police back to Manion's hideout.

Upon his arrival, Jones is mistaken for Manion by the waiting henchmen and quickly figures out he’s meant to be the fall guy. Manion returns unexpectedly and Jones orders the men to shoot him. The police arrive in time to capture the rest of the gang when they try to make a run for it. Even though Hoyt arrives on scene to inquire about the reward, Jones is given the credit and the money. With his pets and, more importantly, with Wilhelmina, Jones takes off for his long-desired cruise to Shanghai.

At the end, Jones and Wilhelmina take off for this long-desired cruise to Shanghai.

While the film has a happy ending, I’m not really sure I would consider it a comedy. There are too many murders and not enough laughs to qualify for me. Much of the humor is supposed to come from the mistaken identity of mild-mannered Jones for cutthroat criminal Manion. Robinson is more than capable of playing both, but the humor wears thin. Jokes get set up, like Jones leaving his bathtub overflowing when he rushes off to work on his only day late, but there are no consequences. When he returns home, there are no ill effects.

The film, however, was apparently so popular at the time of its release that it made Jean Arthur a star at the age of 35. Her Clark is a fast-talking street-wise girl with a heart of gold, a character type she would be called upon to play for the rest of her career.

The Whole Town's Talking made Jean Arthur a star in Hollywood.

The film brought Arthur to the attention of Frank Capra, one of Columbia’s better directors. He would work with Arthur in such films as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); You Can’t Take It With You (1938); and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). In these films, she played roles very similar in type to Clark.

The spirit of Capra is all around The Whole Town’s Talking, in addition to Arthur, the script was co-written by Robert Riskin, who penned American Madness (1932); It Happened One Night (1934); Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); Lost Horizon (1937); You Can’t Take It With You; Meet John Doe (1941); and Pocketful of Miracles (1961) all films directed by Capra. The Whole Town’s Talking, though, lacks Capra’s humorous and poignant touches.

I’m not sure what exactly went wrong, but The Whole Town’s Talking didn’t click with me. I’m pretty much a fan of everyone involved in the production from director, John Ford, to the stars Robinson and Arthur, to the screenwriter, Riskin, to even the supporting cast members like Donald Meeks. But somehow the parts don’t add up to a greater whole.

Stubs – Stagecoach

Stagecoach (1939) Starring: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt. Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols. Based on the short story “Stage to Lourdsburg” by Ernest Haycox  in Collier’s (April 1937). Produced by Walter Wanger. Run time: 97 minutes. U.S. Black and White, Western.

Dipping our toes back into the films from 1939, we’re taking a look at one of the great Westerns to ever be made: Stagecoach. As we’ve discussed previously, the Western has been a tried and true American film and television genre that has been around in some form since The Great Train Robbery (1903). By the late 1930’s the genre had been somewhat relegated to “B” movie status. The major studios were not making them, but they were being churned out by Poverty Row studios like Monogram and Republic. Westerns were considered a genre for kids and country folk.

John Wayne was one of the frequent stars of these Westerns. Wayne had starred in the big budget Raoul Walsh directed The Big Trail (1930), but since had almost exclusively made serials and Westerns at Poverty Row. One such film we reviewed previously, Overland Stage Raiders (1938), would pair Wayne with Louise Brooks, her last film appearance. While under contract to Republic, he grinded out a Western roughly every eight days. Well known at the time, Wayne was considered by many in Hollywood to be a no-talent “B” movie actor.

John Ford, Wayne’s friend since the latter had been a propman at Fox, had made many silent Westerns, but had not made a sound one. His last silent feature, Hangman’s House (1928) was Wayne’s first screen credit, though he had appeared uncredited in other movies prior. Ford was very influenced by another of Fox’s directors, F.W. Murnau, whose Sunrise (1927) is said to have had a great influence on Ford’s filmmaking in the late 20’s and early 1930’s. He even made his penultimate silent film Four Sons (1928) on some of the leftover sets from Sunrise.

During the 30’s, Ford directed such films as Up the River (1930), which featured the screen debuts of both Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart; Arrowsmith (1931) for Samuel Goldwyn; Doctor Bull (1933) starring Will Rogers; The Lost Patrol (1934) starring Victor McLaglen; The Whole Town’s Talking (1935) with Edward G. Robinson and Jean Arthur; The Informer (1936) again with Victor McLaglen; The Prisoner of Shark Island (1937) about Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth; The Hurricane (1937) a South Seas melodrama and Wee Willie Winkie (1937) starring then superstar Shirley Temple.

John Ford directed Shirley Temple in Wee Willie Winkie (1937).

It was during the filming of Wee Willie Winkie that Ford first used the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California. A location he would also use with Stagecoach. Looking to get back into Westerns, Ford purchased the film rights to Ernest Haycox ‘s short story “Stage to Lourdsburg “ for $2500 in 1937 and started writing a screenplay with frequent collaborator Dudley Nichols. Some changes were made to the story, including the name of lead character from “Malpais Bill” to a more hero-sounding “Ringo Kid”.

Wayne was Ford’s choice for the lead from the beginning, but he didn’t come out and ask his friend to star in the movie. Instead, he asked Wayne to read the script on a boat ride to and from Catalina Island. When he was finished, Ford asked him if he knew any good actors he could suggest. Wayne reportedly told him Lloyd Nolan, but Ford told him he wanted him for the part. Wayne supposedly said, “Yeah coach. I know.”

Script in hand, Ford could apparently find no major studio (Twentieth Century-Fox, M-G-M, Paramount, Columbia or Warner Bros.) interested in making a big budget Western, even though films like: Destry Rides Again (1939), Dodge City (1939), Union Pacific (1939) and, of course, The Oklahoma Kid (1939), were already in production or pre-production at this time. Ford turned to David O. Selznick, then an independent producer about to make Gone With the Wind (1939), and was turned down.

Having Wayne for the lead role also didn’t help. And when he found a producer, Walter Wanger, he was told to replace Wayne with Gary Cooper. But Ford held firm, though he did supposedly agree to hire Claire Trevor for the female lead. By this point, Trevor had already been nominated an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dead End (1937). She actually gets top-billing over Wayne in posters for the original release. (Subsequent releases have lifted Wayne’s name to the top.)

United Artists, through which Wanger distributed, wasn’t keen on a Western either, so Wanger set the budget low at $392,000, especially considering this was to have a lot of action and location shooting. And the location Ford had chosen was Monument Valley, Utah, a location he had heard about from Harry Carey the actor, who had found it on his own travels through the west. The location, which Ford would return to again and again (and would be seen in films by other directors as well, including Forrest Gump (1994) and Thelma and Louise (1991)).

At the time, Monument Valley was off the beaten path to say the least. One of the least accessible locations in the U.S., it was only reached by a 200-mile drive over washboard dirt roads from Flagstaff, Arizona. Members of the crew were billeted at an old CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp. Conditions at Monument Valley were rough, production hours long and the weather at 5700 feet extreme.

Monument Valley would provide the backdrop for the movie.

To save on the budget, he had to take a cut in his own pay, making it for $50,000 rather than his usual $75,000. He also had only $65,000 to spend on the cast. John Wayne was borrowed from Republic, and "was the first star Republic has loaned to a major lot,” according to a New York Times article at the time. Andy Devine was borrowed from Universal and John Carradine was borrowed from Twentieth Century-Fox. Production began in late October / early Nov 1938 and lasted until January 7, 1939. In addition to Monument Valley, the film was also shot in on location at the Kern River near Kernville, Fremont Pass at Newhall, Muroc Dry Lake near Victorville, Chatsworth, Calabasas and Kayenta and Mesa, Arizona.

The film takes place in 1880. Geronimo, the Apache Indian leader, was on the warpath and three riders, including an Indian calvary scout (Yakima Canutt) arrive at Tonto, Arizona to warn the army stationed there. They try to wire Lourdsburg, but the telegram lines go down after a single word is transmitted: Geronimo. The military decides to send a message using the Overland Stage Line, which is about to leave town. The driver, Buck (Andy Devine), has just dropped off his passengers, including Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), the wife of an Army officer, who is on layover in her travels to be with him. Buck also has the payroll for a local ranch that is being dropped off at the Bank, run by Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill).

Buck (Andy Devine), the stagecoach driver, arrives in Tonto.

But before the stage leaves town, several other passengers will join Lucy on her trek. Dallas’ (Claire Trevor) occupation is never spelled out, but she is a prostitute being forced out of town by members of the towns’ “Law and Order League”, a woman’s group. She turns to Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) for advice, but he, too, is being run out of town, since he can no longer pay his rent.

Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) and Dallas (Clarie Trevor) are
 two undesirables that Tonto, Arizona is kicking out of town.

Gatewood’s wife (Brenda Fowler) notifies Henry that the women from the Law and Order League will be joining them for lunch. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but as soon as she leaves, Henry absconds with the $50,000 payroll that has just been delivered.

Town banker Howard Gatewood (Berton Churchill) decides to abscond with local ranch's $50,000 in payroll.

Buck goes looking for his shotgunner and ends up at Marshal Curley Wilcox’s (George Bancroft) office, who tells him the guard has gone with a posse to search for fugitive the Ringo Kid. When Buck tells him that Luke Plummer is in Lordsburg, the Marshal, knowing that the Ringo Kid has vowed to avenge the deaths of his father and brother at Plummer's hands, decides to ride along as guard.

Meanwhile, Peacock (Donald Meek), a travelling whiskey seller or drummer as he’s referred to in the film, speaks like a preacher and is trying to make his way back to his loving wife and family in Kansas City, Kansas. He meets Doc when the latter goes into the saloon for one last free drink before leaving town. When Doc learns of Peacock’s profession and that he still has samples, he is on him like a fly on sugar.

Just before the stagecoach is about to leave, U.S. cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard (Tim Holt) informs Curley that Geronimo and his Apaches are on the warpath and his small troop will provide an escort until they reach Dry Fork. He gives Curley a written message to deliver. Curley informs everyone travelling on the stage is doing so at their own peril, but none have a choice but to continue on. Buck, who is willing to back out can’t because Curley won’t let him. Lucy wants to be with her husband even more if he’s in danger. Dallas and Doc have no choice but to leave town and Doc won’t let Peacock out of his sight.

Hatfield (John Carradine), a southerner, gambler and gunfighter, recognizes Lucy, though she doesn’t him. When he hears of the trouble on the trail he volunteers to be her guardian on the trek. The stagecoach takes off, but is flagged down by Gatewood before it gets out of town. He tells everyone that he has just received a telegram from Lourdsburg and has urgent business there. Curley is bothered by that excuse, since he knows the telegraph lines are down.

Gatewood squeezes Dallas and Lucy (Louise Platt) when he gets onboard the stage.

The stagecoach is crowded. The women are required to travel facing forward and Gatewood sits in between them, across from Hatfield, Peacock and Boone. They don’t get to their first stop before they come across the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), who is standing by the side of the trail with his shotgun. Curley immediately points his rifle at Ringo and puts him under arrest. But Ringo cautions that he might need his help, because he’s seen ranches on fire nearby.

The Ringo Kid (John Wayne) makes a dramatic entrance into the film.

Onboard the stage, Ringo has an instant attraction to Dallas. We learned that he has been in prison since the age of 17, so he is naïve to the way of the world and women in general. He doesn’t know what she is and all he sees is an attractive woman. He doesn’t read too much into how the others treat her, though he thinks their ostracizing is aimed at him because he’s been in prison.

Doc recognizes Ringo, though he has mistaken him for his brother, who we learn is now dead, no doubt at the hands of Luke Plummer. When Doc tells Peacock that he had served as a doctor in the Union Army during the "War of the Rebellion," Hatfield quickly counters using the Southern term, the "War for the Southern Confederacy."

When they get to Dry Fork, the group is told that the cavalry detachment that was supposed to escort them the rest of the way has been sent to Apache Wells. Buck wants to turn back with Blanchard’s group, but Curley demands that the group vote. Only Peacock wants to turn back, so they decide to proceed on to their next stop, Apache Wells. When they sit down for lunch, Lucy Mallory is clearly uncomfortable at having to sit next to a known prostitute. Hatfield offers to sit her next to the window and Lucy accepts.

Lt. Blanchard (Tom Holt) leads the cavalry escort that leaves them at Dry Fork.

Lucy asks Hatfield if he’s ever been to Virginia and he informs her that he had served under her father in the Confederate Army. When they arrive at Apache Wells, Lucy finds out that her husband, who should have been there, had been wounded in a skirmish with the Apache and has been taken for medical treatment. Lucy faints at the news. We find out that she’s in labor. Doc Boone is called into service and sobers up; with Dallas’ help they deliver Lucy’s baby.

Dallas and Doc Boone work together to deliver Lucy's baby.

Later that night, when they’re alone, Ringo proposes to Dallas. Afraid that he’ll find out about her past, she doesn’t answer. But the next morning, after having stayed up watching over Lucy, she accepts on the condition Ringo give up on his plan to fight the Plummers. He agrees, but Dallas insists that he go now and she’ll join him later, as she doesn’t want to leave Lucy and the new baby. She has arranged for him to make an escape and he goes, but not far. When he sees smoke signals, he returns and Curley puts him in handcuffs. Even though they had planned to stay a couple of days so Lucy could recover, they quickly gather up their belongings and leave, hoping to avoid an encounter with the Apache.

Ringo proposes to Dallas, who doesn't answer him.

When the stage arrives at Lee’s Ferry, they find that the station and ferry have been burned and those who had not been killed have fled. Needing his help, Curley releases Ringo from his cuffs. The men tie large logs to the side of the stagecoach so that it will float across the river.

Curley lets the Ringo Kid help repel the Indian attack.

And just when they think they’re in the clear, the stagecoach is set upon by a band of Apaches. The stage tries to outrun the Indians, but they can’t. During the chase, Peacock gets struck by an arrow and Buck is also wounded. They run out of ammunition and Hatfield is about to use his last bullet on Lucy Mallory to save her from being taken by the Indians, when he is fatally wounded. Just when all hope seems lost, the 6th U.S. cavalry arrives to the rescue of the group and chase off the Indians.

Hatfield saves his last bullet for Lucy to keep her from the Indians.

When the stage finally arrives in Lordsburg, the local sheriff is there, but not to arrest Ringo. Rather the telegraph wire has been repaired and news of Gatewood’s embezzlement has arrived ahead of him and he is taken into custody. Mrs. Mallory is told that her husband's wound is not as serious as she had been told and she is taken to him. But before she is carried away, Mrs. Mallory reconciles with Dallas, and Dallas gives her her shawl to show there are no hard feelings.

The cavalry comes to the rescue.

Dallas begs Ringo not to seek vengeance against the Plummers, but he is determined to settle matters. Curley grants him leave and his gun so he can avenge the murder of his father and brother. Ringo finds and kills Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) and his brothers Ike (Joe Rickson) and Hank (Vester Pegg). Afterwards, Ringo returns to Curley, expecting to be returned to jail. He does ask Curley to take Dallas to his ranch in Mexico, but when Ringo boards a wagon and says goodbye, Curley invites Dallas to ride with them to the edge of town. As she climbs aboard, Curley and Doc laugh and start the horses moving, letting the two of them escape across the border.

Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) knows Ringo is coming for him.

While budgeted at $392,000, the film reportedly cost over $500,000 to make, and made $1,103,757 at the box office. More than that, it helped to change how Westerns were viewed. New York Times writer Frank S. Nugent, who we’ve quoted before, wrote that "We've formed the habit of taking our horse operas in a Class B stride...But all that is now changed." Stagecoach may have been one of the several Westerns released that year which helped reclaim the genre from "B" movie status it was the only Western to be nominated for Best Picture in a field of 10 films. It would of course lose that top honor to Gone with the Wind. The film was also very influential for Orson Welles, who claimed to have watched the film over 40 times while filming Citizen Kane (1941). He called Stagecoach a perfect textbook of filmmaking.

Following Stagecoach, Ford would return to the genre that he would be most closely associated with, the Western and Wayne would no longer be considered a “B” movie actor. Ford and Wayne would work together many times over the next two decades and not only on Westerns. Their collaborations include: The Long Voyage Home (1940); They Were Expendable (1945); Fort Apache (1948); 3 Godfathers (1948); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949); Rio Grande (1950); The Quiet Man (1952); Hondo (1953); The Searchers (1956); The Wings of Eagles (1957); The Horse Soldiers (1959); The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); and Donovan’s Reef (1963).

John Ford at left would return to Westerns and Monument Valley again and again.

Music played an important role in Stagecoach as it does in many of Ford’s films. Richard Hageman, Franke Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken received an Academy Award for their score, but it incorporated many American folk songs including  "Lily Dale," "Rosa Lee," "Joe Bowers," "Joe the Wrangler," "She's More to Be Pitied Than Censured," "She May Have Seen Better Days" and "Shall We Gather at the River?" as well as the African-American spiritual "Careless Love;" "My Lulu," music and lyrics by Wilf Carter; "Gentle Annie"; "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”; "Ten Thousand Cattle”  and "Trail to Mexico (Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie)."

Thomas Mitchell was also awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Doc Boone. He became an actor in 1913, but he was also a writer of plays. One which he co-authored, Little Accident, would be made into a film by Hollywood three times. He made his first film appearance in Six Cylinder Love (1923), a silent comedy at Fox which also featured another Stagecoach co-star, Donald Meek.

Thomas Mitchel would win the Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actor for his depiction of Doc Boone.

His big break didn’t come until Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937). From there he would appear in such films as The Hurricane (1937), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Gone With the Wind, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Outlaw (1943) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). In addition to his Oscar, Mitchell won an Emmy in 1952 and a Tony in 1953. He was the first actor to win all three awards. (3/4 of an EGOT.)

The aptly named Donald Meek also made his film debut in Six Cylinder Love. Prior to Stagecoach, he appeared in many films including Ford’s The Informer, Captain Blood (1935) and You Can’t Take it With You (1938). He would also appear in Jesse James (1939), an even more successful, but more maligned Western than Stagecoach. (The film was notorious for its treatment of animals, leading to the American Humane Society’s overseeing of animals used in films.) He also appeared in such films as Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), the Jesse James sequel, The Return of Frank James (1940), Rationing (1944) and The Thin Man Goes Home (1945). His last film, Magic Town (1947), was released after his death in 1946.

Peacock (Donald Meek) takes an arrow in the fight with the Indians.

John Carradine, who played Hatfield in the film, is probably best known for his many appearances in horror films. In all he appeared in 234 films from 1930 to 1990. He auditioned for the role of Dracula, but lost out to Bela Lugosi and the monster role in Frankenstein, losing out to Boris Karloff. In all, he made 11 films with John Ford, becoming part of that director’s stock company of actors. Perhaps his most memorable role was as Preacher Casy in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). He appeared in dozens of low-budget horror films in the 1940’s as a way of financing a touring classical theatre company. He would also appear in 100s of episodes on television including a regular on My Friend Irma (1952-1954) and The Munsters (1964-66). John, the father of acting brothers David and Keith, died of organ failure in 1988.

John Carradine plays Hafield, a Southerner gambler and gunfighter.

One of the better sequences in the film, the Apache attack on the Stagecoach, includes two very famous stunts performed by Yakima Canutt, who not only was the stunt coordinator, he was also a Second Unit Director on the film. An Indian rides along the stagecoach horse team and tries to take control of the horses. Ringo shoots him and he falls down between the horses. Ringo shoots him again and he falls to the ground as the team and the stagecoach ride over him. This would become one of Canutt’s signature stunts.

Yakima Canutt provides the movie's best stunts.

Later, when Buck is shot, he drops the reins of the horses and Ringo leaps from harness to harness until he gets to one of the lead. While we see Wayne riding the lead horse, the Ringo that gets out there is once again Canutt.

Many of the themes associated with John Ford are present in Stagecoach. The film opens with the arrival of the stage in Tonto and closes with the departure of Ringo and Dallas on a wagon; Ford often started and ended his films with such a visual motif. His use of doorways as a frame within a frame, especially in one scene, where Ringo follows Dallas outside, harks to their use at the ending of the Searchers, when Ethan (John Wayne) leaves after rescuing Debbie.

This shot in Stagecoach is similar to the shot at the end of The Searchers.

Often Ford’s heroes are society outsiders, like Ringo is an escaped convict, who let their actions speak louder than words. Additionally, Ringo is joined by two others in the stagecoach, Doc Boone and Dallas, which civilized society has also pushed away. Both Doc and Dallas redeem themselves to a certain extent by delivering the smug Lucy’s baby.

I also read anytime Ford shows a doomed character playing poker, such as Liberty Valance or Luke Plummer, they're holding the "Dead Man’s Hand": two eights and two aces (one of the aces being the spade). This is the same hand, reputedly, that lawman/gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was murdered.

It's never good to get the "Dead Man's Hand" in a Ford western, just ask Luke Plummer.

Ford is also well known for his composition, though he never used a storyboard, or necessarily the same cinematographer from film to film. In this case, we often see Monument Valley in long shots as the wagon, troops and Indians maneuver in its desolate trails. It is not surprising he would return again and again to this site.

Ford is also known for the camera movement or lack thereof. Ford preferred a static camera and long shots, framing the actors. However, one of the most dramatic shots in the film, the first appearance of Ringo, is a dolly that moves in one the character. I’ve watched this movie many times and I’m always a little flummoxed by the fact the shot gets blurry as it moves into towards Wayne before coming back into sharp focus. It seems odd to leave that in a finished film unless Ford was trying to make a point with it. I’m wondering if perhaps he’s trying to do a sort of double take, say from the Marshal’s point of view, rubbing his eyes as it were, to be sure it really is the Ringo Kid standing there and not a mirage. If someone has a better explanation I would love to hear it.

One thing I really like about the film is that even though there were nine people crammed in and on top of the coach, I never got a sense of claustrophobia. A film with a similar number of cast members, Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1941), even though it is set in the open sea, always feels claustrophobic to me. Perhaps it is the fact that Hitchcock liked to film in the controlled environment of a studio rather than on location. The juxtaposition of studio and location shooting keeps Stagecoach from feeling that way for me.

One of the strengths of Stagecoach is its ensemble cast.

There is so much to like about Stagecoach. The acting is very good, the atmosphere is breathtaking and the action leads to a satisfying conclusion and the film is directed by one of the all-time great directors and story-tellers. If you like Westerns, you owe it to yourself to see this film. If you like good stories well told, you should see it too. This is one film not to miss.