Covered Wagon (Silent)

Covered Wagon (Silent)
Customer Review: Paramount VHS of 'The Covered Wagon' is badly flawed
The two star rating for the VHS tape of THE COVERED WAGON is not due to the movie itself, which is a solid 4 stars, but because of a major fault of manufacture. The buyer is advised to look elsewhere for this title rather than purchase a tape with the pink and olive green logo on the slipcover. Caveat emptor: RECORDED IN SLP MODE-- tape tracks poorly. All else is OK. This particular dub has a Hi Fi soundtrack of a very appropriate organ accompaniment which includes varying renditions of the "theme song" of the California Gold Rush of 1848-49, "Oh Susanna" (one of these "takes" sounds like a banjo). "The Covered Wagon" as a film has only a few flaws, not enough to distract from a well-done story: At times, there's too many intertitles, especially in the first half-hour. Transfer may be from two sources, one of which is somewhat blurry looking. The buffalo hunt includes less than 20 of the critters (they were still scarce in the 1920s). The limp carcass of a horse is rolled off a cliff to simulate a wounded animal falling to its death; an unnecessary, gratuitous and unrealistic stunt. Everything else is good-- a great cast (particularly Alan Hale as the villain) and over a hundred vintage Conestogas take us on a journey across the Great Plains to where the two wagon trains split: one heads north to Oregon and fertile farmland, the other south to the California gold fields. Along the way the settlers encounter teachery from within and without. A love triangle is used very effectively, and there's a few interesting peripheral characters, like the legendary mountain man Jim Bridger, and Will Jackson, a grizzled yet lovable sidekick to our hero, Will Banion. Ably directed by Mormon-raised James Cruze, this is unfortunately one of the only examples of the director's 100 movies still in existence; the quality here makes the viewer want to see more of Cruze's work. Also recommended to silent cinema fans is TUMBLEWEEDS (1925), an exciting story of the Oklahoma Land Rush which is also cowboy star William S. Hart's farewell movie. (VHS - SP mode)
Customer Review: The western (almost) starts here
It's refreshing to see this well-loved, simple classic in such good condition. The VHS print is excellent, the film itself is only slightly dated, and the actors don't ham too much (Ernest Torrence and J Warren Kerrigan are stand-outs). The direction by James Cruze is solid. His use of close-ups is sparing, but effective. The storyline began to wander a bit after the wagon-train had crossed the Platte, but the final 10 minutes puts things to right again. Together with "Tol'able David" and "the Iron horse", this is the start of the modern western-movie and as such important viewing.