Fifty Years of Film in 50 weeks, #3: The Covered Wagon, 1923

I knew sooner or later a Western would pop up onto my list and I would not be able to resist it. Well, it's already happened on Week 3 of my quest to watch a new film every week from successive years.

The Covered Wagon (1923)

Director: James Cruze
Writer: Jack Cunningham, adapted from a novel by Emerson Hough
Cinematographer: Karl Brown
Producer: Jesse Lasky for Paramount Pictures
Starring: J.Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, Alan Hale, Ernest Torrence

Why I chose it
Essentially, I couldn't resist a Western, and I had read (The Story of Film, by Mark Cousins) that it was an early masterpiece.

'No-spoiler' plot overview

In 1948, two groups of would-be settlers of the Oregon territory unite their wagon trains in Kansas City to make the trek westward through harsh terrain and hostile Indian lands. Young Molly Wingate (Lois Wilson), while engaged to the shifty opportunist Sam Woodhull (Alan Hale), becomes intrigued by the mysterious but heroic leader of the other group, Will Banion (J.Warren Kerrigan).  Banion is cast out of the combined group when it's revealed he was tried and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army for stealing cattle. Yet before that, he manages to use his wits and experience to get the group out of a few challenging moments, like crossing the Platte River. Once the majority of the travelers reach their destination, the three protagonists must confront their differences.

Production Background and 1923 in Film History
According to his son, producer Jesse Lasky was drawn to the story because his grandfather arrived in California in a wagon train; he wanted to "lift the western from a low-budget potboiler film into an epic," as quoted in Kevin Brownlow's 1980 documentary miniseries “Hollywood." And he arranged for the film to be shot in Utah. Director James Cruze grew up in Utah as a Mormon and observed wagons pass his family ranch. In the design, great pains were taken toward realism, including commandeering local old Conestoga heirloom wagons and hiring hundreds of Plains Native Americans hired to play their ancestors. The film cost $800,000 but made $4 million at the box office, a huge hit. It greatly influenced John Ford and ushered in a wave of epic and romantic Westerns that lasted well into the sound era.

Some other notable film-related events in 1923*:

• Comedian Harold Lloyd wowed audiences with his best-remembered film Safety Last.
• Star Wallace Reid died of an overdose after dealing with a years-long addiction to painkillers.
• The iconic 'Hollywoodland' sign, later shorted to 'Hollywood', was built by a real estate developer in the hills above the burgeoning film town.
• Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. was established, and would soon become a pioneer in developing sound films.
  *Thanks to filmsite.org

My Random Observations 

• The real stars of this film are the natural beauty of the Utah landscape and the stunning cinematography by Karl Brown. I stopped the film several times just to admire the work. 
• Despite expert pacing, the story itself made me yawn. And despite looking good and acquitting themselves well, leads Kerrigan and Wilson could not overcome the unidimensional nature of their characters.
• As in many films, the supporting actors pretty much stole the picture. One of my favorites, Alan Hale, was the villain here -- one day I want to see him play the romantic lead in something, as he was endowed with charisma. (Not sure that's possible). Ernest Torrence as the sidekick Jackson disappeared into his goofy character, the hayseed type he often played in silent cinema (I remember him fondly as Steamboat Bill Sr. to Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr.) I was impressed to read he was a highly educated man and once an operatic baritone.
• I bit my nails whenever I saw animals in danger here, partly because I knew animal welfare standards in films were years away. And there were hundreds of horses and cattle and bison in peril here. Lois Wilson said in an interview that two horses drowned during filming of the scene crossing the Platte River, and she was so upset she couldn't continue her scenes for a day or two.
• Overall, recommended. If you're a fan of the Western, you need to see this one; clearly a major early achievement in the genre.

Screenshots 

'Boy with Banjo' sets the mood of the picture.

Sweet, domestic Molly (Lois Wilson)

Molly charmed by Will fixing a doll for a little girl.

Ernest Torrence (r) is the king of goofy expressions

.

Poor Alan Hale, the villain in this one.

The scenery and breathtaking, realistic cinematography are the real stars here:

Read More

Some interesting film memorabilia and history of the making of the film, and information about the cast and crew can be found here. 

Where to watch
It's currently on YouTube, here, although this version does not have musical accompaniment, and Archive.org as part of a compilation video of 1923 films. Kino Lorber released the film on Blu-Ray in 2018.

Western Movie Summer Part 1: DODGE CITY and JESSE JAMES

I had such a fantastic experience with last year's "Summer of Darkness"--studying film noir with TCM, Ball State University, and several thousand other eager 'students'--that I found a big hole this summer in my film-studying agenda.  To address that, I've decided to learn about the western genre with the help of a course recorded in 2008 by Richard Slotkin at Wesleyan University and now available in podcast form from "iTunes University."  The course is "Western Movies: Myth, Ideology, and Genre."  The western is a film genre that I wouldn't call my favorite, but one that I've come to appreciate more lately.

Professor Slotkin is an English professor, author, and American cultural historian. Understanding the historical context of film is one of the many reasons I love the classics, and this series offers the opportunity to focus on this aspect of the films.  The course recordings include 18 separate lectures featuring that many films, and proceed roughly chronologically.  While it seems unfortunately that some lectures featuring westerns in the silent era were not recorded, the earliest lectures available start with some classics from 1939.  Approximately every other day during my work week I'll listen to a lecture on my morning commute, and in the same week I'll view the films.

As shared by Prof. Slotkin, the Western was starting to make a resurgence in the late 30s, as standard depression-themed films or pure escapism in screwball comedy was starting to run its course.  Westerns now presented an opportunity to reclaim an optimistic past while still commenting on the pros and cons of capitalism, of which 1930s audiences were all too aware.  The course starts with two films made in 1939 that are new to me: DODGE CITY and JESSE JAMES.  These two films present a view of the west through two very different philosophical lenses, according to Prof. Slotkin.  I enjoyed both of them.

DODGE CITY
This Warner Bros. film, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, and directed by Michael Curtiz, is not dissimilar to the swash-buckling adventure films that catapulted Flynn to stardom, often alongside de Havilland.  It has a light-hearted tone through most of it.  Flynn plays an opportunistic cattle trader who helps the railroad establish a foothold in west by making Dodge City, KS, a booming cattle town and prominent new railroad stop, safe from those Western-style gangsters that are extorting citizens for their own gain and benefiting by ensuring lawlessness and violence prevail.

Of the two, this film, argues Prof. Slotkin, has a more pro-capitalistic outlook, as the railroad is presented as a herald of technological and societal progress.  As long as society has heroes like Flynn who will step up and make it safe for women and children, order and progress will win and benefit all.  There is a bit of tension in that *too* much domesticity is ridiculed in the figures of the older women of the "Pure Prairie League", in contrast to the fun women in the neighboring saloon as represented by singer Ann Sheridan, and all the drinking, partying men who raise hell in an extended barroom brawl sequence that is as fun as it is frenzied.

Ann Sheridan and her fellow saloon ladies in bright,
crisp pastels

Alan Hale reluctantly accepts a cup of tea
from the ladies in the 'Pure Prairie League'.  His
being inducted as a member is a wonderful comic touch.

I would agree that this film did capture a sense of optimism, of expansion, using 'right' along with 'might'.  I felt that, unlike JESSE JAMES, the point of view or message of the film was not overly heavy-handed.  Of course, the film stayed away from controversial topics such as the human cost of western expansion for the Native Americans.  For pure enjoyment and joyful tone this film is close to DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, another film from 1939 that I really enjoyed, and wrote about here.  I am not particularly a fan of Errol Flynn, and while he was fine here, I found myself taken with Alan Hale's portrayal of the loyal, and somewhat comic sidekick.  Olivia de Havilland was lovely and feisty, and while eventually succumbing to Flynn's wishes for domesticity, she did have an opportunity to earn a living at the local newspaper.

A very different, but equally enjoyable 1939 big budget western, is 20th Century Fox's  JESSE JAMES, starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda, with Henry King directing.  This one apparently started the 'cult of the outlaw' in popular culture, and there have been upwards of a dozen films on the subject of James.  Here, the railroad figures prominently again, but instead of a sign of progress, it's a sign of capitalist oppression, a sentiment that would be understood by a great number of Americans in the late 1930s.  James himself is initially portrayed somewhat fictionally as being driven to becoming an outlaw as a result of his family and farmer neighbors being illegally threatened by corrupt (railroad) businessmen.  He's someone we root for, and then he goes wrong as he finds he can't resist the criminal life even when better forces, namely the women in his life try to bring him back to the straight and narrow.

Unlike Olivia de Havilland's prominent role in DODGE CITY, the female lead here, Nancy Kelly, has not much to do other than moon and grieve over her man.  Nearly of the shots of the couple together feature Power over Kelly.  Power, obviously, was the big matinee idol, and was playing against type as the scruffy outlaw.  His acting chops were on display, as he was convincing and rather good in the role, as was Henry Fonda as his brother Frank James.  It's a well-paced western with action, pathos, and beautiful on-location vistas in and around Pineville, Missouri. (While the cast and crew were celebrated by residents of Pineville while on location, I was horrified to learn that at least one horse was killed by the stunt it was forced to do in a key scene). While punctuated by comic touches, especially from Henry Hull's blustering newspaperman, the tone of the film is darker than DODGE CITY.  Despite the fault of the opportunistic capitalists, the message that a life of crime doesn't pay, and ultimately can't be justified, is clear.

Power as James cannot be talked out of his next criminal venture.

It was a film that left me interested enough to consider watching the sequel.  Incidentally I recently watched a lesser western called KANSAS RAIDERS (1950) about James' early experiences with renegade confederate leader William Quantrill.  This film, starring Audie Murphy, was also greatly fictionalized but the portrayal of James as a 'misunderstood kid trying to do good but going wrong' is fully intact in this one as well.

The clear message would have been appreciated by 1930s audiences.

Next up in the lecture series:  STAGECOACH and OX-BOW INCIDENT.