The Telegraph Trail (1933)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

John Wayne (John Trent), Marceline Day (Alice Ellis), Frank McHugh (Sergeant Tippy), Otis Harlan (Zeke Keller), Albert J. Smith (Gus Lynch), Yakima Canutt (High Wolf), Lafe McKee (Lafe, old-timer), Clarence Geldert (Cavalry commander), Slim Whitaker, Frank Ellis, and "Duke".Director: TENNY WRIGHT. Screenplay: Kurt Kempler. Suggested by the 1927 scenario The Red Raiders by Marion Jackson. Photography: Ted McCord. Film editor: William Clemens. Music director: Leo F. Forbstein. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Sid Rogell. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.Copyright 25 March 1933 by The Vitagraph Pictures, Inc. A Warner Bros-First National Picture. No New York showcasing. U.S. release: 18 March 1933. U.K. release: 17 April 1933. 59 minutes.SYNOPSIS: For reasons that are never made clear, a white trader stirs up the Indians to attack the telegraph linesmen and construction workers. NOTES: As far as I know, this is the only film directed by Tenny Wright, one-time silent film actor and assistant director who rose to become production manager at Warner Bros where he made important contributions to just about all the famous Warner features of the 30s and 40s. COMMENT: Instead of re-making the 1927 Ken Maynard western, "The Red Raiders", this time producer Schlesinger (of later Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes fame) decided to have a new story fashioned around the original film's truly spectacular action footage. This was a bad mistake. Not only is the new plot weak, but it's full of holes, inconsistencies and downright stupidities. The whole business with the box — what did they need a big empty box for, in the first place? — is a good example of the writer's haphazard approach. At first it seems the box is fairly solid, but later on it's revealed there's a hole in the side big enough for the girl to put her hand through. The heroine's actions throughout are almost totally unbelievable, but the hero's are only marginally more convincing, mostly because he is called upon to react to, rather than initiate events. His reaction times are stupendously slow. From the very first scene with the telegraph message from Jonesy, it takes a considerable time for the import of the message to sink into his thick skull. It seems to go against the whole canon of "B"-western lore to infer the hero is slow-witted, but this suggestion of brawn with no brains is confirmed in his very first encounter with the heroine in which he displays a similar, singular lack of even basic mental acuity. His immaturity is then further demonstrated by his complete change of attitude towards the girl. No wonder John Wayne constantly looks uncomfortable, hesitant, even confused! The support players are of even less help. McHugh and Harlan are both over-zealous bores whose comic cut-ups provide little genuine amusement. Albert J. Smith does what he can with the heavy but is stymied by a script that provides him with virtually no motivation. Canutt plays the Indian in a totally clichéd manner.Wright's slack, slow direction is compounded by the cutting in of obviously silent-speed material. Along with McCord's deliberately flat photography (to tone in with the copious Red Raiders action directed by Albert Rogell), these technical credits lend the movie the air of a musty if awesomely spectacular museum piece. Wayne's efforts to regain his "A" standing certainly took a backward jolt with this entry.

The Telegraph Trail (1933)** 1/2 (out of 4) A company is trying to hang telegraph wire out West but their men keep coming under attack by Indians so they send John Trent (John Wayne) out there along with his sidekick Tippy (Frank McHugh). Once out there John strikes up a relationship with Alice (Marceline Day) and begins to realize Gus Lynch (Albert J. Smith) is actually the one making the Indians attack.This "B" Western certainly shows its low-budget nature but if you're a fan of such films then there's enough going on here to keep you entertained throughout the rather short running time. If you've seen enough of these films then you already know that they rarely have much of a story or at least much of an original one. The entire bit with telegraph wire had already been done countless times by 1933 but what's one more film? The highlight is certainly the cast with Wayne in good form as he obviously has no problem playing the hero. Day is good in her role as is Smtih in his. Duke, the horse, is back once again with his name in the credits right by Wayne. I also thought McHugh added some nice support and gets the biggest laugh in the film when he gives his silly one-tone laugh.With that said, the film comes up ultra cheap at the end when the majority of the big battle is taken from other movies. The footage is obviously from a silent movie so that takes some points away since they couldn't even stage their own scenes here.

The opening credits proclaim this film a Four Star Western, but in actuality it was a Warner Brothers unit that John Wayne made six movies for in 1932/1933 before moving on to B Studio Lone Star Productions. These pictures aren't easy to come by so it was a pleasant surprise to catch it the other day on the Encore Western Channel, just recently revamped with new logos and screen graphics.The biggest kick I got out of this picture had to do with the captioning, and I have the feeling that someone at the service might have had some larceny in their heart when they worked the scene when bad guy Gus Lynch (Albert J. Smith) confronts John Trent (John Wayne) and his sidekick Tippy (Frank McHugh) for the first time at Zeke Keller's Trading Post. Lynch pinches Tippy's nose hard and puts him down to the ground before going after Trent. When Tippy gets up, he says what sounded to me like, "He got my nose". However the captioning had "This f...in' nose" and it caught me off guard so completely that I replayed the scene four times to see if I had it right (I had the picture DVR'd). My immediate thought was that the captioner might have been inspired by a scene in both versions of "The Longest Yard". Anyway, chances are this goof, if it was a goof, will be corrected soon enough, but folks, believe me when I tell you, it was there! Well with that out of the way, let's get to the story. I was somewhat surprised to see Frank McHugh in the picture as John Wayne's sidekick. Generally he'll show up in more than a handful of Jimmy Cagney flicks, which brings up an interesting trivia note. In Cagney's "Footlight Parade", also released in 1933, his character watches this film as a theater marquee announces "Silent Pictures are Finished". As one would expect, McHugh's Corporal Tippy provides the picture's comic relief, a running gag of his having to do with the gals he left behind stretching all the way from Topeka to Nogales and several points in between.As in most of John Wayne's early Westerns there's a pretty gal on hand. In this case it's Marceline Day as Alice Keller, who concocts a story about being engaged to Wayne's character based on a picture she sees of him, in order to thwart a marriage proposal from bad guy Lynch. The story line has some fun with the misunderstanding, particularly with Corporal Tippy's grievance over his buddy having a secret girlfriend. This all plays out to a conclusion that would happen again and again with Wayne's early Westerns, in as much he closes out the picture giving his gal a kiss.The action scenes in the film consist mostly of an Indian attack instigated by Lynch who's in cahoots with Indian White Wolf (Yakima Canutt). With Trent attempting to complete a telegraph line in the territory, Lynch incites White Wolf with the idea that a completed line will bring in more settlers who will kill off the Indians. In reality, Lynch means to preserve his strangle hold on commerce in the area by disrupting any competing supply sources while gouging settlers with his prices.Before closing I really need to mention Wayne's horse. In this, as in all six of his Warner pictures, Wayne rode a light colored horse listed in the opening credits as 'Duke'. Duke was quite resourceful during the Indian attack, lining himself up to dispatch a couple of renegades through a tent while protecting Miss Alice. Earlier he had some comical scenes with Tippy as well. I'd really like to catch a few more of these Warner Westerns starring Wayne, because in the only other one I've seen, "Haunted Gold", Duke had even more screen time going to bat for the film's hero. Catch that one if you can along with "The Telegraph Trail".

Another B western from the early '30s with a young John Wayne and his horse Duke. A greedy white man is stirring up Indians to attack men installing telegraph lines. Army scout Wayne is sent to investigate. Frank McHugh plays Wayne's sidekick. He seems really out of place in a western. Get back to the city with Cagney, Frank. Marceline Day plays the inevitable love interest. Her character is responsible for some of the goofier parts of the plot. But she's likable and pleasant enough. It's a routine but enjoyable western with some comedy and romance. Nothing to write home about but Wayne fans will probably enjoy it for curiosity's sake.