Young Duke Wayne in the 1930's

[Phillyrich]

Are there any fans of the young John Wayne out there? Since Philly is about to be clobbered with a massive snowstorm, I'd like to spend some a few days with John Wayne--before stardom--in the 1930's.

Not long ago I acquired an old video cassette produced by Leonard Maltin on the young John Wayne. Wayne was a part of about 75 films in the 1930's between the failed "The Big Trail" in 1930, and his first big success "Stagecoach" in 1939. He worked as a prop man, bit player, star in cheapie westerns, etc, as he honed his craft. I'd like to learn more about his small studio film era.

What dvds exist with good prints of his better 30's films? Are there any good "Films of" John Wayne books that cover this period well? A lot has been written on Wayne, but too much of it is just "movie star hero" stuff. I'd like a little more depth.

I understand a new John Wayne biography will be out about April 2014, by Scott Eyman.

[Harold Aherne]

If you're looking for westerns, Olive has released DVDs and Blu-Rays of many 1935-39 Republic films: The New Frontier, Westward Ho, King of the Pecos, The Lawless Nineties, The Lonely Trail, Overland Stage Raiders, Pals of the Saddle, Red River Range, Santa Fe Stampede, Frontier Horizon, The Night Riders, Three Texas Steers and Wyoming Outlaw.

Wayne appeared in several Columbia pictures in 1931-32, then never worked there again because of his loathing for Harry Cohn. Sony has released two of his western from that period on DVD, Texas Cyclone and Two-Fisted Law (which are really Tim McCoy vehicles), and TCM included Arizona (1931) in its pre-code Columbia set. In the latter he's the leading man to Laura La Plante.

The six programmer westerns Wayne made for Warners in 1932-33 are also available, either as singles or as two triple-features. The titles are The Big Stampede, Ride Him Cowboy, Haunted Gold, The Telegraph Trail, Somewhere in Sonora and The Man from Monterey. He can also be seen in brief roles in Baby Face and Central Airport, which Warners have also released.

-HA

[Mike Gebert]

The Lone Star ones are all over since they're PD, but the entertainment value is mostly camp; the best one is supposed to be Randy Rides Alone, and you can tell which day each shot was shot on because shirts change in the middle of fight scenes, plus you get Wayne supposedly singing, in which the voice of an operatic tenor singing cowboy songs suddenly bursts from his lips.

[Christopher Jacobs]

The Blu-rays of John Wayne's Republic productions from the 1930s put out by Olive Films look mostly outstanding and sometimes truly excellent. The films themselves range from routine formula action to quite good western melodrama sometimes with deeper modern subtext that was likely intentional at the time. Every one is at least a good solid average B-western and often well above average as B-westerns go. All are competently produced and some are unexpectedly very impressive in their cinematography and editing.

Sadly the major discount distributor of Olive Films, Import CDs, has recently raised its prices quite a bit, but for western and/or Wayne fans, the Blu-rays are still worth it. I've reviewed several of Olive's Republic titles in the "Old Movies in HD" thread.

[Phillyrich]

Thanks, Harold, Mike and Chris.

[Changsham]

Interesting watching John Wayne's character in BABY FACE. I failed to recognise him until I read a review of the film later. Being an unsuspecting boy toy for an ambitious woman is so not what we expect of him.

[s.w.a.c.]

There's always the novelty of seeing Duke opposite Louise Brooks, in her final role, in Overland Stage Raiders (1938).

[syd]

The Shadow of the Eagle (1932)

This serial holds my interest
because of John Wayne, Dorothy
Gulliver, Edward Hearn and that
true nut, stuntman Yakima Canutt
(who doubled Wayne in some shots).