The Fugitive (Young Duke Series)

Rating:
Summary: A sub-par Lone Star western with a young John Wayne
Review: "West of the Divide" (1934) was the fourth of the poverty row Westerns than John Wayne made for Lone Star. Wayne plays Ted Hayden, who returns home after a long absence to try and find out who killed his father. Pretending to be an outlaw named Gat Ganns, our hero joins the gang of Mr. Gentry (Lloyd Whitlock), who, of course, turns out to be the dirty scoundrel who gunned down Hayden's pa. Gentry now has his eye on the farm of pretty Fay Winters (Virginia Faire Brown), so there is more than vengeance at play here for Mason.

In addition to the young Wayne you have George Hays as Dusty Rhodes, who does not yet have the beard we all remember from his days as "Gabby" Hayes, is getting to his famous on screen persona just like the Duke. The action in this one consists mostly of fist fights and does not feature any really great stunts by the legendary Yakima Canutt, who plays Gentry's henchman Hank and who usually provides the best thrills in these oaters.

Written and directed by Robert N. Bradbury, who did most of Wayne's Lone Star films, "West of the Divide" is apparently a rip off of a 1932 western "The Reckless Rider." Apparently enough time had passed for people to forget they had seen this story before, but then most of these poverty row Westerns have recurring elements (e.g., Wayne undercover with a gang, the damsel in distress). There is a nice moment at the end between Mason and his kid brother, Spuds (Billie O'Brien), but that does not save this from being a below average one of these films.

Rating:
Summary: Ok film,the earliest Duke movie I've seen
Review: I was excited as this is the oldest Duke movie I have seen. It is shocking to see him so young but he still looks the same and his acting is brill. This doesn't last long though.

Rating:
Summary: Refurbished to Perfection
Review: The old Lone Star(Poverty Row)films by the young John Wayne were difficult to watch as they all seem to be staid versions of the other B westerns. But UAV has improved on these films by an almost total overhaul of the features. The films were edited down to 20 or so minutes to make the stories tighter and more taut. Thus the "lagging" portions were eliminated. The applied colorization is top notch as the colors are brilliant and lifelike. The renditions doesn't have the effect of the old colorized versions. The sound has improved especially with the presence of background music and better sound effcts (gunfire doesn't flat). Thus, the revided edition no longer has the feel of a poverty row production but a top notch B western. Now, even the youthful John Wayne's looks as if he can really act! Congratulations to all those involved in the project.