Winds of the Wasteland (1936)
The arrival of the telegraph put Pony Express riders like John Blair and his pal Smoky out of work. A race will decide whether they or stageline owner Drake get the government mail contract.
- Mack V. Wright
- Joseph F. Poland
Rating: 5.3/10 by 27 users
Alternative Title:
Winde der Wildnis - DE
Stagecoach Run - US
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 00 hour 54 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: contract, stagecoach, pony express, telegraph
Just what the lawless West needed - a US Government race, with $25,000 to the winner, for the company that can deliver the mail the quickest. That's just the tonic John Wayne and Larry Adams need as the business they recent paid "Cal Drake" through the nose for is already suffering from the decline of their local mining town (It has one resident for each side of the street!) and of the encroaching telegraph. Now we've got all sorts of devious goings-on as teams scheme for this lucrative contract and the portrayals - with Phyllis Fraser adding some love interest - are all quite good fun. There is loads of action, a stagecoach race, and the sometimes quite witty dialogue helps keep this from dragging. It smacks of a little better production values - it is still cheap and cheerful, but the lighting and audio are distinctly better than in some of Wayne's earlier work. Nothing much original here, though - but worth a gander on a wet afternoon.
