I count at least four variations of this story that has the reconstruction with the railroad bypassing Texas which creates an issue for the cattlemen there, basically threatening to bankrupt their main source of business. They have to get their cattle there by any means necessary which means taking them by foot or by calve. Richard Arlen and Fay Wray are childhood friends reunited after the war but she resents him for fighting on the side of the North while her father ended up being killed fighting for the South. Wray's guardian and adviser, Claude Gillingwater, is convinced that Arlen is up to no good trying to sabotage their journey to Abeline while in fact it's one of the trusted leaders, Ian Maclaren, causing all the trouble and using Arlen as a scapegoat. This includes killing an Indian woman which sets the Cherokees (said to be peaceful) to declare war.
A well done historical drama was remade by Paramount as "The Texans" and later independently as the classic "Red River". You know what kind of film you're watching when you have characters names Splint, Digger, Spud and Lumpy, as well as a friendly young Mexican boy played by George Mendoza who is completely on Arlen's side and aides him without the knowledge of anybody else in the camp.
While this is not a classic of the western genre (considering the better remakes), it doesn't have the technical gloss of those but being an early talking is pretty impressive with its cast of hundreds, lots of action and a believable conflict. That makes this one of the best westerns of the early sound era, considering the hundreds of D grade programmers that came out and worthy of historical value. Gillingwater is a far cry from the cranky rich men he played, although he's basically playing a cranky old cowboy.
A well done historical drama was remade by Paramount as "The Texans" and later independently as the classic "Red River". You know what kind of film you're watching when you have characters names Splint, Digger, Spud and Lumpy, as well as a friendly young Mexican boy played by George Mendoza who is completely on Arlen's side and aides him without the knowledge of anybody else in the camp.
While this is not a classic of the western genre (considering the better remakes), it doesn't have the technical gloss of those but being an early talking is pretty impressive with its cast of hundreds, lots of action and a believable conflict. That makes this one of the best westerns of the early sound era, considering the hundreds of D grade programmers that came out and worthy of historical value. Gillingwater is a far cry from the cranky rich men he played, although he's basically playing a cranky old cowboy.