Wagon Wheels (1934)

Load of rubbish!!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Copyright 21 September 1934 by Paramount Productions, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 3 October 1934. U.S. release: 15 September 1934. U.K. release: 23 March 1935. 6 reels. 56 minutes. Alternative U.S. TV title: CARAVANS WEST.SYNOPSIS: Fur trappers stir up Indians to attack a wagon train headed for Oregon in 1844.NOTES: A re-make of Fighting Caravans (1931) which starred Gary Cooper as Clint Belmet, Fred Kohler as Murdock and Lily Damita as the heroine.Charles Barton's first film as full director.COMMENT: You would naturally expect William A. Wellman's close friend and longtime minor associate to model his first film after the master. But Hollywood is usually so unpredictable and illogical, it's actually a surprise to find this surmise actually happening. Barton never became a really class "A" director and his later films with the likes of Abbott & Costello and Donald O'Connor are just about as far away from Wellman territory as it's possible to get. But here he makes a reasonable attempt to follow Wellman's foot-steps with a slice of historical saga. Although the plot is different, notice how close in mood and structure and atmosphere this movie is not only to Wellman's Westward the Women (1951), but even more to Ford's Wagon Master (1950).It's said that this movie uses out-takes from Fighting Caravans, which is probably correct though the footage is so skillfully integrated and matched that most people will assume that a lot of money was spent on Wagon Wheels. It certainly looks mighty impressive. Not only ruggedly picturesque, but vividly, colorfully realistic. The action spots are vigorously staged, and though there is room for romance and sentiment, these elements are for the most part subordinated. With three exceptions, the approach is unvarnished and unglamorously realistic. The exceptions are a bit of amusing comic by-play between Jan Duggan's over-romantic spinster and Raymond Hatton's rough-hewn frontiersman, three or four rousing musical interludes (a device which certainly brings Wagon Master to mind), and some unfortunate but fortunately limited encounters between our hero and a typically Hollywood precocious ankle-biter, over-enthusiastically played by Billy Lee. The rest of the cast is much more agreeable, with Randolph Scott contributing his usual stalwartly ingratiating performance, Gail Patrick making a surprisingly spirited heroine, and solid character studies from the likes of Jan Duggan, Leila Bennett, Raymond Hatton, villainous Monte Blue, and Olin Howland doing more than justice to a major role. All told, Barton's direction has the necessary sweep and pace, whilst production values are by "B" standards outstandingly lavish.OTHER VIEWS: It seems a contradiction in terms to talk about a "B" epic, but that's exactly what this remarkable film is. In fact were it not for its short running time, Wagon Wheels could make every claim to being a class "A" feature - and no audience would argue the point. The scriptwriters have packed an astonishing amount of incident into 56 minutes, and yet seem to have found plenty of time and opportunity not only for lavish pictorial effects of the multi-wagon train stretching clear to the horizon but for rich characterizations and three or four appropriately realistic musical interludes as well... In fact the emphasis throughout is firmly on realism. The film conveys not only a vivid record of the rigors of the trek, but an unvarnished look at the pioneers themselves: heroes certainly, but with feelings and dreams, lusts and emotions strangely recognizable as akin to our own.

One of about twenty Zane Grey novels filmed by Paramount from 1930-1940, WAGON WHEELS is a remake of FIGHTING CARAVAN, a movie about the Oregon Trail. It's definitely a B movie, with its running time under an hour, plenty of library footage to give it some size, Charles Barton sitting in the director's chair for the first time and singing to eke it out -- Even Randolph Scott warbles a couple of lines of the title song.It's worth seeing for Scott in an early western. His first appearance in one had been a bit part in THE VIRGINIAN, but since his success in WILD HORSE MESA and THE THUNDERING HERD, Paramount had been giving him one or two oaters a year, in between the usual assortment of comedies, dramas and even lending him to other studios for musicals. He's solid here, opposite Gail Patrick, with some good support from Raymond Hatton as an old Mountain Man. However, it's still an okay B movie, even if he would do great things in the genre over the next three decades.

Wagon Wheels is a really enjoyable old western to watch. Set in the year 1844, any viewer will find humor, music, drama, suspense, romance, and excellent acting throughout the cast. It is also a superb depiction of some of the elements, and especially equipment that beset an 1840's wagon train heading west. The ensemble actors had a keen sense of playing their roles in a manner depicting that previous period. Randolph Scott leads the players, where he is heroic, valiant of character, and sagacious of spirit. . .while his easy natural ways are endearing. Beautiful Gail Patrick is perfect for her role as a widowed mother taking a 4 year old son west. Her little boy, played by Billy Lee, is one of the great child actors ever, and gives a wonderful performance here. The 3 men leading the wagon west (Randolph Scott & 2 grizzled characters) have a real challenge defeating the elements that fall upon them. I don't want to give the whole story away, only to say I've seen a whole lot of westerns, and this one is one of the most enjoyable to me.

I was surprised during the opening credits to see that this picture was based on the Zane Grey Western story 'Fighting Caravans'. A film with that title appeared in 1931 starring a young Gary Cooper with much of the same story line. This time the destination is Oregon, while in the earlier movie, the wagon train was heading to Sacramento. The principal character, wagon-master Clint Belmet is portrayed by Randolph Scott, and he has a couple of sidekicks, Bill O'Leary (Olin Howland) and Jim Burch (Ray Hatton) who help out with the wagon teams. Belmet has this thing against 'lily white women going across the Rockies', but after a while, he begins to take a liking to Nan Wellington (Gail Patrick), and the feeling appears mutual. Nan's four year old boy Sonny (Billy Lee) provides some of the picture's comic relief in his relationship with Belmet, and manages to fire off a few well placed slingshot rounds during the Indian attack that closes out the story.I have to say, the wagon train itself was quite an impressive affair, and a lot more rustic looking than you got with your classic TV Westerns. Watching them make their way across deep rivers and through rugged mountain passes covered with snow made you wonder how rugged those folks had to be to even contemplate such a journey.Surprisingly to me, the film offered more than a handful of songs provided by various characters, including the title tune done a couple of times by cowboys round the campfire and again by rugged gal Hetty Masters (Leila Bennett). The action in the story was provided by a couple of Indian attacks against the pioneers, instigated by villain Murdock (Monte Blue) who was hired by fur traders to prevent them from reaching their destination. With Randolph Scott on hand however, the settlers prevail to continue on their journey to a better life than the one they left.