Obviously intended to be an epic western, based on the Zane Gray novel of the same title. A rare, for the times, Technicolor western, it concerns the trials of the telegraph line construction crew in dealing with 2 sets of antagonists: 1)an outlaw gang working for the Confederacy, as well as for itself, often dressed as Indians 2) real Indians(Lakota Sioux), who sometimes object to the building of the line through what they consider their hunting grounds. In contrast, historically, construction apparently went smoothly, being completed in only 3 summer months. However, the line was constructed out of Chicago, instead of Missouri to hopefully avoid interference from Confederate sympathizers, and in the years after it was built, there was occasional sabotage by Native Americans. Also, strangely, historically, construction toward the east and west BEGAN, rather than ended, at Salt Lake City, not at Omaha, as dramatized. This is in contrast to the first transcontinental railway. This was a rudimentary single iron wire system. Near the end of the decade, a multi-wired system was constructed along the path of the transcontinental railway, presumably using the railway to haul equipment and provide shelter for the workmen, thus making construction much easier.
Robert Young was a curious choice as first-billed. Clearly, it's much more Randy Scott's picture. Perhaps this was because Young's character wasn't tainted with a history of outlawry, as was Scott's, and because he survives to the end of the film, whereas Scott's character doesn't. In any case, Young seemed rather out of place in a western, usually playing aristocratic urbane characters. Although Scott sometimes played urbane characters, mainly in the '30s, he was also a well-established western character. Dean Jagger, as Creighton, serves as the chief engineer and office boss, to Scott's main role as field boss and trouble shooter. Scott opens the film, a lone rider, with a posse on his tail some distance away, riding through a bison herd(looks dangerous), before discovering an injured Creighton, whom he helps get to a stage outpost to rest up.
Veteran comedian Slim Summerville serves as the unlucky and reluctant "Cookie", whose culinary efforts sometimes are destroyed by bumpy wagon rides, invading Indians, etc.. In an Indians attack, a stray bullet puts a hole in his pot of boiling water, spouting a leak that burns his hind side. Chill Wills and John Carridine are also sometimes present to add a bit of authenticity and humor. Virginia Gilmore serves as the romantic interest for both Scott and Young, humor included when they separately show up at the office where she is in the evening to do a bit of flirting, and find the other there. However, there's no hint of a serious romance developing, even at film's end. Young(or presumably his stuntman) also provides some humor when he wants to impress the westerners with his horse-handling skill in riding the worst bucking bronco in the town coral. He stays on for a wild ride around the coral, followed by a ride down the main street of Omaha, into and out of a saloon.
Scott's character is one of those ambiguous persons that the Hays Commission hated, who straddles the fence between the 'good' and 'bad' guys, trying to go straight, but bothered by his old outlaw buddies, who could spill the beans on his past to his employer. Scott spends most of the film reluctantly deflecting blame from them for vanishing cattle or horses or unexplained fires and "Indian" attacks. But finally, he, as well as Creighton, has had enough, and he goes gunning for the outlaws, including his brother, who is the leader. This episode is the finale of the film.
This film was released just 2 years after Cecil DeMille's related epic film "Union Pacific", which is based on the building of the first transcontinental railroad, which occurred a few years after the building of this telegraph system. Of course, this project took years, instead of a few summer months, to finish. Sometimes, these two films get confused in people's minds because of the rather similar subject and common word "union" in their 2 word title. I think "Union Pacific" is the more interesting of the two.
Robert Young was a curious choice as first-billed. Clearly, it's much more Randy Scott's picture. Perhaps this was because Young's character wasn't tainted with a history of outlawry, as was Scott's, and because he survives to the end of the film, whereas Scott's character doesn't. In any case, Young seemed rather out of place in a western, usually playing aristocratic urbane characters. Although Scott sometimes played urbane characters, mainly in the '30s, he was also a well-established western character. Dean Jagger, as Creighton, serves as the chief engineer and office boss, to Scott's main role as field boss and trouble shooter. Scott opens the film, a lone rider, with a posse on his tail some distance away, riding through a bison herd(looks dangerous), before discovering an injured Creighton, whom he helps get to a stage outpost to rest up.
Veteran comedian Slim Summerville serves as the unlucky and reluctant "Cookie", whose culinary efforts sometimes are destroyed by bumpy wagon rides, invading Indians, etc.. In an Indians attack, a stray bullet puts a hole in his pot of boiling water, spouting a leak that burns his hind side. Chill Wills and John Carridine are also sometimes present to add a bit of authenticity and humor. Virginia Gilmore serves as the romantic interest for both Scott and Young, humor included when they separately show up at the office where she is in the evening to do a bit of flirting, and find the other there. However, there's no hint of a serious romance developing, even at film's end. Young(or presumably his stuntman) also provides some humor when he wants to impress the westerners with his horse-handling skill in riding the worst bucking bronco in the town coral. He stays on for a wild ride around the coral, followed by a ride down the main street of Omaha, into and out of a saloon.
Scott's character is one of those ambiguous persons that the Hays Commission hated, who straddles the fence between the 'good' and 'bad' guys, trying to go straight, but bothered by his old outlaw buddies, who could spill the beans on his past to his employer. Scott spends most of the film reluctantly deflecting blame from them for vanishing cattle or horses or unexplained fires and "Indian" attacks. But finally, he, as well as Creighton, has had enough, and he goes gunning for the outlaws, including his brother, who is the leader. This episode is the finale of the film.
This film was released just 2 years after Cecil DeMille's related epic film "Union Pacific", which is based on the building of the first transcontinental railroad, which occurred a few years after the building of this telegraph system. Of course, this project took years, instead of a few summer months, to finish. Sometimes, these two films get confused in people's minds because of the rather similar subject and common word "union" in their 2 word title. I think "Union Pacific" is the more interesting of the two.