Overland Stage Raiders (1938)

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

William Colt MacDonald (characters)
Bernard McConville (story) ...

Release Date:

20 September 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to fly the gold out...

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Pilot | Airline | Cattle | Rancher

Cast

John Wayne	...	Stony Brooke
Ray Corrigan	...	Tucson Smith
Max Terhune	...	Lullaby Joslin
Louise Brooks	...	Beth Hoyt
Anthony Marsh	...	Ned Hoyt
John Archer	...	Bob Whitney (as Ralph Bowman)
Gordon Hart	...	W. T.Mullins
Roy James	...	Dave Harmon
Olin Francis	...	Henchman Jake
Fern Emmett	...	Ma Hawkins
Henry Otho	...	Sheriff Mason
George Sherwood	...	Henchman Clanton
Arch Hall Sr.	...	Joe Waddell (as Archie Hall)
Frank LaRue	...	Hank Milton (as Frank La Rue)
Dirk Thane	...	Dutch, Eastern gangster

Runtime:

55 min | USA:54 min (Western Channel print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4602) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

This was 'Louise Brooks'' final film. Contrary to popular rumor, this was not intended to be her "comeback" to Hollywood; she made it because she needed the money. She was paid $300 for the film. Not long after it was released, she was found working as a salesgirl at Saks Fifth Avenue at a salary of $40 a week.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[reading a reward poster]
First Bandit: One thousand dollars. I guess we ain't worth much to the Oro Grande Company.
Second Bandit: That ain't no decent reward for a self-respecting bandit. What do you say we send Harmon a donation to boost the ante?
First Bandit: Maybe I will - after we polish off the three o'clock stage!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of John Wayne (2007) (TV)

The story behind the film alone is worth the viewing

_Overland Stage Raiders_ marks the convergence of two great performers, one on her way out of film, the other about to begin the most successful run in film history. Louise Brooks, star of G.W. Papst's erotic masterpiece _Pandora's Box_, makes her last appearance in this run-of-the-mill, twentieth-century entry in the "Three Mesqueeters" series. Though the plot is a preposterous hodgepodge involving the opening of air freight service to an isolated cattle town, Brooks is ever the stunner next to John Wayne, who was still a year away from A-line box office success in _Stagecoach_.

I recommend this film for three reasons:

1. The sheer curiousity value. The greatest western actor opposite the greatest actress in the history of German Expressionism while he was on his way up and she was on her way out. They met in obscurity and went on to immortality.

2. The chance to see the raw potential of John Wayne before his work with John Ford. The presence, the charisma, and the physicality that would make him a colossus are all here. Under a competent directior, these would bloom from reliable entertainment into art.

3. Everyone should see a "Three Mesqueeters" movie. This is probably the best series of the 1930s "poverty row" films, and it is a pure joy to see the workmanlike love put into these programmers. They aren't auteur classics, but for many viewers in the period, they were what movies were all about.