The Golden West

It was hard to take this picture seriously since the plot was so contrived and beyond believability. I would say it has too much plot, and is actually a saga or an epic type film, but condensed here to 74 minutes. George O'Brien is the hero of the piece, and it begins as he graduates from an eastern college, on a stagecoach with his bride-to-be, played by Janet Chandler.

Fast forward twenty years, after O'Brien and Chandler move west and are slaughtered by marauding Indians, leaving their young son to be captured. He grows up and becomes their chief. One day he and a raiding party come upon settlers, including the daughter of the ex-girlfriend of his father. They capture the settlers, but soon after he becomes an ally of the U.S. Cavalry.

If it all sounds hard to swallow, it is. Too much plot contrivance squashed in to a picture which needed more run time. Ultimately, the film becomes less interesting as a good story peters out into confusion. The acting is sub-par, but O'Brien is stalwart and masculine and he gets some help from Bert Hanlon as an Irish/Jewish traveling salesman. "The Golden West" is a tough slog except maybe for George O'Brien fans. At Cinevent, Columbus O., 5/13.