Customer Reviews

Covered Wagon [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

THE COVERED WAGON was based on the novel of the same name by the now forgotten writer Emerson Hough and recounts the 1848 trek of a wagon train from Kansas City to Oregon. It remains a landmark film in many ways. Originally planned as just another Western programmer, it was expanded by director James Cruze into the TITANIC of its day.

Cruze, the son of Mormon parents, grew up in Utah and could still remember the Old West as it really was. He saw this film as the opportunity for him to advance beyond the programmers and Fatty Arbuckle features that he had been doing at Paramount up until then. He demanded total authenticity which included not only the original locations, but also a cast of 3000 (including real Native Americans) and over a hundred genuine Conestoga wagons. Despite the enormous expense and the prolonged shooting schedule, the film was one of the biggest successes of the Silent Era and Cruze was on his way to becoming one of the top directors of the 1920's (another of his epic films OLD IRONSIDES is also available on video).

The acting is restrained by the standards of the time which helps the film to play well with modern audiences. J.Warren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson are fine as the lovers but the film belongs to character actors Alan Hale Sr.(the father of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND's Skipper), Tully Marshall, and Ernest Torrence. Watching the film is like having history come to life before your eyes. The print used for the video is of high quality with a colorful score by Gaylord Carter, one of the last great practitioners of silent film organ playing. Many thanks to Paramount for making this landmark epic along with several other silents available for home viewing and at a reasonable price too.

Considering the era of films and the yet unexplored technology of the firm industry, The Covered Wagon remains a classic unto itself. This film is the granddaddy of all the great western epics yet to be filmed. I must also mention that the star, J. Warren Kerrigan is my third cousin, and I have spent my lifetime trying to discover if The Covered Wagon was on video or if the film still existed. Casually strolling through your website, not even thinking about this great film, I was in shock when the title popped up on my computer screen. I must say I became quite emotional. Thank you amazon.com.

PARAMOUNT issued this VHS of THE COVERED WAGON (pink and olive green logo on the slipcover) in both SP and SLP speed, so buying one without contacting the seller first may be a gamble. This particular dub has a HiFi 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).