Western Union

Adventures while setting up the telegraph line on the Great Plains

As the Civil War breaks out in 1861, a former outlaw (Randolph Scott) joins the team wiring what is now Nebraska and Wyoming for telegraph service. Dean Jagger plays the executive of the project while Robert Young is on hand as a tenderfoot from back East. Meanwhile Virginia Gilmore plays the potential romantic interest of the good-badman (Scott) and the heroic newcomer (Young).

Directed by Fritz Lang and based on the Zane Grey book, "Western Union" (1941) was a pretty big Western in its day and effectively mixes intrigue, action, romance and comedy. While Barton MacLanes villainy as Jack Slade is too silent movie-ish and the geography is disingenuous, this ranks...

I wonder if Fritz Lang had these three imposed on him by the studio system or whether he chose them? Anyway, sadly the folks we have leading this interesting, pioneering, adventure don't really manage to raise the film from a rather procedural mediocrity - despite this being quite a fascinating story of determination and diplomacy. We start with "Shaw" (Randolph Scott) discovering the injured "Creighton" (Dean Jagger) whilst someone is being pursued by a posse. He helps the man to a nearby house where he abandons him to the well meaning folks who help him recover. It turns out that "Creighton" is a Western Union surveyor sent by the company to plan for the coming of the telegraph. Skip on a while and the two are reunited on the construction...