The Telegraph Trail | |
---|---|
Directed by | Tenny Wright |
Written by | Kurt Kempler |
Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ted McCord |
Edited by | William Clemens |
Music by | Leo F. Forbstein |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 54 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Telegraph Trail is a 1933 American pre-Code Western film directed by Tenny Wright and starring John Wayne and Frank McHugh. [1] The film also starred stuntman Yakima Canutt as Indian Chief High Wolf, Marceline Day as the heroine, and Duke the Wonder Horse as John Wayne's trusty steed. [2] [3]
A vile scoundrel named Gus Lynch stirs up trouble with the local Indians led by Chief High Wolf, convincing them that if the white man is successful in building a telegraph line through their territory, the Indians will all be eventually eliminated. High Wolf leads his braves to attack and kill a crew of white men they find stringing up telegraph wires in the wilderness. John Trent's best friend is killed in the attack and he leads the townspeople to go out into the Indian lands and finish setting up the telegraph system themselves. Meanwhile, Lynch proposes marriage to the beautiful Alice Keller, who just recently arrived in town with her comical Uncle Zeke. She tells Lynch that she is already engaged to the handsome John Trent, which sets up a fierce rivalry between Trent and Lynch.
The Indians attack the telegraph company's wagon train in a fierce battle out on the plains, and John Trent rides heroically for help and brings back the cavalry just in time to stop the townspeople from being massacred. Trent's sidekick Corporal Tippy gets drunk during the attack, and he and an inebriated Uncle Zeke share some tense but comical scenes during the battle as, drunkenly oblivious to the danger, they use the circling Indian braves for target practice. Chief High Wolf is mortally wounded astride his horse while watching the battle from a distance and when he sees Gus Lynch abandoning him, he uses the last of his energy to shoot Lynch in the back. Trent winds up in a romantic embrace with Alice.
Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group primarily composed of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.
The Lonesome Dove series is a series of four Western fiction novels written by Larry McMurtry and the five television miniseries and television series based upon them.
Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt was an American champion rodeo rider, actor, stuntman, and action director. He developed many stunts for films and the techniques and technology to protect stuntmen in performing them.
Rooster Cogburn, also known as Rooster Cogburn , is a 1975 American Western film directed by Stuart Millar, and starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn. Written by Martha Hyer and based on the Rooster Cogburn character from Charles Portis' 1968 Western novel True Grit, the film is a sequel to True Grit (1969), and the second installment overall in the film series of the same name. The plot details the continuing adventures of Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, an aging one-eyed lawman, whose badge is suspended due to his record of routine arrests that end in bloodshed. He is offered a chance to redeem himself by bringing in a group of bank robbers who have hijacked a wagon shipment of nitroglycerin, and finds himself aided in his quest by a spinster whose father was killed by the criminals.
The Big Trail is a 1930 American epic pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. It is the final completed film to feature Tyrone Power Sr. before his death in 1931, as well as his only sound role.
Lane Chandler was an American actor specializing mainly in Westerns.
The Dawn Rider is a 1935 American Western film starring John Wayne and directed by Robert N. Bradbury.
Blue Steel is a 1934 American pre-Code Monogram Western film directed by Robert N. Bradbury and starring John Wayne. Wayne plays a U.S. Marshal who is trying to capture the Polka Dot Bandit, who has taken off with $4,000. The film also featured Yakima Canutt and George "Gabby" Hayes. It was released as Stolen Goods in the UK, and this version was later released in a colorized version on home video. Since the movie has fallen into the public domain, several versions are in circulation, including a colorized edition with a jarringly re-dubbed soundtrack, including dialogue, music and sound effects.
'Neath the Arizona Skies is a 1934 Western film directed by Harry L. Fraser, produced by Lone Star Productions, released by Monogram Pictures and starring John Wayne. Wayne's character attempts to locate a little girl's father, so that she may claim a $50,000 Indian oil claim. The film co-stars Sheila Terry and Shirley Jean Rickert. George "Gabby" Hayes played a featured character with a speaking role, but his name was omitted from the cast list in the opening credits.
Angel and the Badman is a 1947 American Western film written and directed by James Edward Grant and starring John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey and Bruce Cabot. The film is about an injured gunfighter who is nursed back to health by a young Quaker woman and her family whose way of life influences him and his violent ways. Angel and the Badman was the first film Wayne produced as well as starred in, and was a departure for this genre at the time it was released. Writer-director James Edward Grant was Wayne's frequent screenwriting collaborator.
The Painted Stallion is a 1937 American Western film serial from Republic Pictures. It was the sixth Republic serial of the sixty-six made by that company. Western serials such as this made up a third of the serials from Republic, a studio that was also heavily involved in making B-Western feature films at the time.
Riders of Destiny is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy. It was the first of a series of sixteen Lone Star Westerns made for Monogram Pictures between 1933 and 1935, by Wayne and director Robert N. Bradbury, and the first pairing of Wayne with George "Gabby" Hayes.
Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn is a fictional character who first appeared in the 1968 Charles Portis novel True Grit.
Custer's Last Stand is a 1936 American film serial based on the historical Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. It was directed by Elmer Clifton, and starred Rex Lease, William Farnum and Jack Mulhall. It was produced by the Poverty Row studio Stage & Screen Productions, which went bust shortly afterwards as a victim of the Great Depression. This serial stars many famous and popular B-Western actors as well as silent serial star Helen Gibson playing Calamity Jane, Frank McGlynn Jr. as General Custer, and Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok.
Clifford William Lyons was an American film actor, stuntman and second unit director, primarily of Westerns and particularly the films of John Ford and John Wayne. His Hollywood contemporaries were unanimous in describing him as “a driven taskmaster”.
Charles Hugh Roberson was an American actor and stuntman.
Qualchan was a 19th-century Yakama chieftain who participated in the Yakama War with his Uncle Kamiakin and other chieftains.
Prairie Thunder is a 1937 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and written by Ed Earl Repp. The film stars Dick Foran, Janet Shaw, Frank Orth, Wilfred Lucas, Albert J. Smith and Yakima Canutt. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 11, 1937. It was the last of 12 B-westerns Foran made for Warners as a singing cowboy from 1935 to 1937.
Cyclone of the Saddle is a 1935 American Western film directed by Elmer Clifton, starring Rex Lease, Janet Chandler, Bobby Nelson, and Yakima Canutt.
The Glorious Trail is a 1928 American silent Western film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Ken Maynard, Gladys McConnell and Frank Hagney.