West of the Divide (1934)

5/10

bkoganbing23 April 2007

West of the Divide finds the Duke as a man searching for his younger brother and at the same time the people who kidnapped him and murdered their father.

The film opens with a piece of good luck coming their way in the person of the dying gunman Gatt Ganns who's been hired by Lloyd Whitlock to kill rancher Lafe McKee. Of course Whitlock is once again a villain in the Snidely Whiplash tradition who not only wants the ranch, but also has evil designs on McKee's daughter Virginia Brown Faire.

In reviewing B westerns, sometimes I have a tendency to reach back to those 19th century morality plays so popular in that era. Whitlock in fact even laughs like a villain in one of those plays. For reference you should see the Irene Dunne-Allan Jones version of Showboat to see just the kind of drama they used to put on then. It survived in the B western, John Wayne's as well as other's.

Wayne of course by the end solves all the problems concerned and the villain gets his just desserts. We can't say how though.

The Duke pretends to be the recently deceased Mr. Ganns to get the goods on the bad guys along with sidekick Gabby Hayes. He discovers a young kid being raised by one of the outlaws. Interesting in this B western set firmly in the 19th century morality play tradition, we also have a topic so very gingerly touched on as child abuse. A rather adult theme for a western or any kind of picture at that time.

Wayne was just beginning his stay at Monogram Pictures Lone Star westerns, this was his third. Monogram had a stock company to rival the much better one of John Ford. Note how for the next three or four years, the casts are just about the same in every Wayne western at that studio. It gets hard to keep these in chronological order, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of these weren't shot simultaneously.

The best you can say about the Monogram films is that they kept John Wayne employed, not something easily said during the Depression. And they beat those serials he did for Mascot. West of the Divide will never be on any John Wayne fans top 10 list.

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5/10

"I mean that from now on, I'm Gat Ganns, murderer."

classicsoncall16 November 2006

Warning: Spoilers

It appears a little more thought than usual went into this Lone Star Western, as the story line is fairly consistent and director Robert North Bradbury throws in a few elements I haven't seen yet after watching almost all of them. Wayne's character is Ted Hayden, who takes on the guise of wanted murderer Gat Ganns when it might help him get the goods on bad guy Gentry (Lloyd Whitlock). George Hayes, not yet known as Gabby, teams up with Wayne to outwit the baddies and save the day for the Winters (Lafe McKee and Virginia Faire Brown).

It struck me that Wayne's appearance in the film bears some resemblance to another cowboy star, Hopalong Cassidy. His character wears all black, including the tall cowboy hat, and he rides a white horse in the story. Of course, Hoppy teamed with Gabby to round out that connection as well.

The story itself is fairly formulaic, bad guy Gentry wants the Winters ranch and they aren't selling. Stealing their money and their cattle, and getting rid of Mr. Winters all sounds pretty familiar, with Gentry hiring the phony Ganns to help pull it off. Then he plans to eliminate Ganns as well, by killing him and claiming the reward money. Needless to say, the good guys figure it all out, and the payoff is a beaut. As Gentry staggers out of a cabin following a fight with Hayden, his own men gun him down by mistake - OOPS!

Yakima Canutt performs some of the daring stunts he's known for, one involves bringing two buckboard horses to a halt after they've broken away from their rig, with Yak riding the hitch like a pair of water skis. There's a wilder one though, when as Hayden, he dives off his horse and through the window of a cabin in pursuit of Gentry. It's one of the better stunts you'll see Yak perform in this or any movie.

Typically, John Wayne gets the girl at the end of the picture, but it's not surprising. Earlier in the story, his character Hayden remarks to Gentry - "...I'll stay at the Winters place tonight, I got a few things I want to pick up". The difference this time out though, the film doesn't end in a clinch between the new couple. Instead, they chase down young Jim Hayden after he embarrasses big brother and Fay into a match up.

For trivia fans, you might want to keep that 'Wanted' poster for Gat Ganns in mind if you look up some more of Wayne's Lone Star films. It appears again tacked to a cabin wall in a scene from "The Trail Beyond". Even in the Thirties they found ways to economize.

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6/10

Return to the Past

lugonian26 December 2022

WEST OF THE DIVIDE (1933/34), a Lone Star Production released by Monogram Pictures, with story and direction by Robert N. Bradbury, stars John Wayne in his third low-budget western for the studio. Though not as classic as his latter westerns as STAGECOACH (1939) or THE SEARCHERS (1956), this minor production clocked at 54 minutes, which could have been an episode to an hourly western television series in later years, is actually not that bad. As with all his Lone Star productions (1933-1935), all resembling early talkies of the late 1920s, and lacking underscoring, the plot and action sequences along with the youthful presence of John Wayne, still learning the ropes as a movie cowboy, somehow make up for it.

Rather than having a five-minute prologue to the situation involving the central character as a 12-year-old boy, production values save time and cost by opening the story revolving the now adult Ted Hayden (John Wayne) accompanied by his friend, "Dusty" Rhodes (George "Gabby" Hayes, minus his beard that would later make him famous) resting out in the wilderness discussing the murder of Hayden's father when he was a boy. Left for dead, Ted is said to be found and taken in by Dusty, who, after two years under his care, has brought him back to heath. Ted also has a little brother whose mother died at the time of his birth, and wants to find him. During this reminiscing of the past leading to both men returning to the scene of the crime, Ted and Dusty notice a man stumbling to the ground, dying after drinking poisoned water. Finding an envelope on his person, they find the deceased to be Gat Ganns, a wanted killer with a $5,000 reward for his capture. Convinced of Ganns association with Jeffrey Gentry (Lloyd Whitlock), the man who bought his father's ranch, to be responsible for his father's death and brother's abduction, Ted, who bears a close resemblance to the deceased, poses Ganns to work under Gentry to see if his hunch is correct. In the meantime, Gentry, losing his bid to buy the ranch belonging to Fred Winters (Lafe McKee) and his daughter, Fay (Virginia Browne-Faire), schemes to get that ranch regardless. He has two of his henchmen to follow and rob Fay of the $3,000 for bank deposit to ruin for father financially. Accidentally shot while hiding in an abandoned barn, Fay is later found unconscious by Ted, who takes her to Doctor Silsby (Philip Kieffer) for treatment. Having found her money, Ted deposits it for her in secret at the bank. Now working for Gentry to do away with Winters, Ted later saves Spud (Billy O'Brien), a 12-year-old boy from a runaway coach and from the brutal whipping by his brutal father, Butch (Blackie Whitford. The closer Ted gets to his father's murder, the more his life is in danger. Other supporting players include Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwire and Horace B. Carpenter.

As with many of Wayne's early westerns, he bonds well with his co-stars, Virginia Browne-Faire, and youngster, played by Billy (billed Billie) O'Brien, another good reason the film works so well. Even with lack of production values, it still has charm. Chances are the plot summary had been used earlier or later with other western actors, but it's John Wayne, better known as "The Duke," who's the reason this and other his early westerns have remained watchable long after its theatrical releases.

Distributed on video cassette in the 1980s, the decade where this and other of Wayne's Lone Star westerns frequently played for a while on public television, WEST OF THE DIVIDE, also available on DVD, has had its cable television presentations, namely American Movie Classics (1996-2000) and Encore Westerns. Beware of prints with new and poorly constructed underscoring used during opening and closing credits, along with scoreless scenes that would be rough sledding for viewers to stop watching long before the movie comes to a close. (**1/2)

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Gabby Hayes fans need to see this one

wrbtu7 May 2003

I bought this film because a book I read stated that it was the first

film that was important in the development of the "Gabby" (George)

Hayes character who was so enjoyable in the Hopalong Cassidy &

Roy Rogers (& others) films of the 1930s & 1940s. Hayes here

plays a character named "Dusty." He has a scruffy, grizzled look,

but doesn't yet have the beard that came later. Hayes has the

same voice & intonation as he used later, but engages in none of

the comedic antics that where such a big part of his "Gabby"

character. Is it a coincidence that John Wayne rides a white horse,

wears a big 10 gallon black hat & black shirt, & has the same

sidekick as Hopalong Cassidy did, all two years before Hoppy got

started in the movies? The Hopalong Cassidy movie character

seems to bear more resemblance to John Wayne in this movie

than he does to the Hoppy character as portrayed in the Clarence

Mulford books! Blooper: John Wayne's kid brother calls him "Dad"

in one scene! This is an enjoyable film, especially if you like Gabby

Hayes. What ruined it for me was a new soundtrack (basically,

swirling organ music) that was unnecessary & detracted from the

movie. I have the SONY release, copyrighted 1985 by Fox/Lorber,

so beware of that version if you like your old movies to be

unadulterated, as I do.

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3/10

Bad Lone Star

jayraskin11 October 2007

This was the fourth of the sixteen Wayne Lone Star series. I must respectfully disagree with those on IMDb who rate it highly. I thought it was one of the worse in the series. It has all the bad elements of the series, bad acting, convoluted and dull plot,anachronisms (telephones, automobiles and women in 1930's clothes). Only the stunt work is excellent, providing the five or six interesting moments.

At one point, Wayne turns to the bad guy and says that he's acting like a character out of a dime novel. He's exactly right. The bad guy and the story are stereotypes even for 1933.

The series seems to move between films that basically follow straight stereotypical Western stories and films that provide funny and clever twists on the stereotypical stories. This one is played straight and thus only has interest for cinema or Western historians. The other type ("Riders of Destiny" and "the Star Packer," for example) are still quite entertaining 75 years later.

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7/10

Now I know why my grandfather loved westerns so...

shrine-217 June 2000

I was a TV addict at a very early age. I lived with my grandparents, and my grandfather and I used to fight over what to watch on his television. He loved westerns; we watched "Cheyenne," and "Wyatt Earp," and "Rifleman," and numerous others during the fifties. I didn't quite share his enthusiasm for these shows, but it was a way to pass the time with him. But after seeing "The West Divide," I know why he loved westerns so. Some may refer to it as a B movie, but I think the B stands for basic. There's something thrilling about its lack of artifice. The sound of fists connecting to flesh doesn't have that ungodly amplification that later, more technically sophisticated examples of the genre had. The sentiment is rarefied like the open air. When the heroine is shot, it's played out plainly and purely; sometimes you can get a stronger emotional effect without a musical score. And the sequence with the runaway team is bracing; I figure the legendary Yakima Canutt stunted in this scene.

And then there is the young John Wayne. I think it is during this period in his career that he proved himself to be the giant star he became. When he dons white buckskin in "The Telegraph Trail," he becomes almost otherworldly. Here he plays a man posing as an outlaw to find the killer of his father. By the time he has set things right, lying supine in his long-lost brother's arms, you understand why so many moviegoers couldn't get enough of him. His entire body in that moment gives way to the scene, and you cherish how tenderly and passionately he's willing to play his part. This movie taps into that well of memories some of us have with family and loved ones, and as Father's Day is tomorrow, it helps remind me what deep, elemental emotion men often feel that these days goes unacknowledged. I certainly wasn't aware of it in those days with my grandfather; but I've gained a new consciousness that has come with my being about his age at the time and watching things I know he'd have loved. Like "The West Divide." It makes you wish they made more westerns like this one.

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4/10

Masked Identities, Horses, Dust.

rmax30482313 March 2011

Warning: Spoilers

Another John Wayne Monogram Lone Star Production, in which the cast is almost the same, the plots variations on evil versus good, the acting perfunctory and the whole shebang put together in a time slightly longer than it takes to read a review of it.

It was filmed in Kernville, some miles north of Bakersfield, a popular place a day's drive from Los Angeles. Kernville is accessible mountainous country often used for Westerns, ambitious or otherwise. The final race between the coach and the Indians in John Ford's "Stagecoach" was shot there.

Like some of Wayne's other inexpensive and hasty Westerns, this was written and directed by Robert Bradbury, the father of one of Wayne's childhood friends, later known as Bob Steele, from his days in Lancaster, California.

There isn't much of substance to the movie. Horses gallop -- Yakima Canut gets prominent screen credit -- and money is mishandled and everyone carries a gun and uses it. It's of interest for fans of John Wayne or the productions of the Poverty Row studios like some people I could name. Well -- one person I could name, anyway, who took the trouble to track down the original location of studios like Monogram and PRC and photograph them as they now are. One was turned into a fast-food chicken restaurant.

It's easy enough to criticize these shabby films but they kept the actors and crew employed during the difficult times of the Great Depression. With no fanfaronade, they filled double-bill slots at the local theaters too. And one must ask one's self if, after all, they were more mindless than some of the crap that now keeps American audiences glued to the television set. Are they really worse than, say, "Oprah", "World's Wildest Police Videos", or rock videos? Aren't they all at or near asymptote?

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7/10

the duke

kairingler5 June 2014

Along with the usual cast of characters , that the Duke usually performs with this movie attracted my attention more so than some of his other "b" westerns save for a few,, maybe because in the beginning of this one he plays or rather I should say pretends to be a killer to get deep inside of a gang to find out who killed his dad and kidnapped his brother,, he is very good at this and has the criminals totally convinced well except for one,, and eventually they find out he is not who he says that he really is... Yakima Cannut , and George "Gabby" Hayes also star with John Wayne,, rather enjoyable western LoneStar. I would definitely recommend this to anyone being a fan of the early John Wayne movies before he became a star.

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3/10

John Wayne Fights Child Abuse with His Fists!

Chance2000esl20 May 2007

An average Lone Star film -- built on convenient coincidences (Gat Gann just happens to walk into the scene and dies, and, as luck would have it, just happens to bear a letter of introduction to the man, "Gantry" who, as fate would have it, just happens to have killed John "Ted" Wayne's father and for whom Ted goes to work because Ted just happens to look just like Gannon in his "Wanted" poster, etc., etc.) and clichés.

Interesting for: 1) the stunt work of Yakima Cannutt-- riding a buckboard hitch with a boy on his back,and later diving through a window from a horse; 2) the child abuse theme that culminates in John Wayne's heartfelt hugging of young "Spud" at the end.

Other than that, not much here, even by Lone Star standards. No real character development, except for John Wayne's passionate presence; George Hayes just chews tobacco.

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6/10

Average Lone Star

JoeytheBrit8 September 2005

John Wayne stars as Ted Hayden in this one, lithe young companion of grizzled old George 'Gabby' Hayes, who was just starting to develop into the character now so familiar to Hopalong Cassidy fans. Ted is an orphan, left for dead by the varmints who done fer his paw, and saved from beneath his father's dead body by Hayes' Dusty Rhodes. All this and much more is related to the viewer in the opening scene, a conversation between the pair that is nothing but a huge chunk of exposition that is as lacking in subtlety as it is replete with information. Hayden has returned to his hometown to catch the man with the mad laugh who killed his father, and poses as Gat Ganns, all-round bad egg, who bears more than a passing physical resemblance to our hero.

This is a fairly acceptable entry in John Wayne's Lone Star series of films made in the early to mid-thirties. There is quite a diverting storyline, even though the acting is as creaky as usual for these flicks. It's the stunts that stand out in all of the low budget efforts Wayne made in those days, and their success is thanks to stuntman extraordinaire Yakima Canutt. You get the impression as you watch that some real hair-raising risks were taken to capture these scenes and you sometimes wonder whether it was worth it considering the poor quality of most other aspects of the films. Watch out for Canutt standing in for bad guy Lloyd Whitlock, who sports a full head of greying hair, in the fight with Wayne near the end of the film. Canutt had dark hair and a noticeable bald patch, but hack director R. N. Bradbury obviously didn't believe in going to the expense of making even a perfunctory effort to disguise the actors' physical differences. Oddly enough, it's this kind of lack of attention to detail that make the Lone Star films so curiously endearing.

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5/10

Okay Entertainment

FightingWesterner6 December 2009

John Wayne and George Hayes come back to the place where Wayne spent his childhood in order to find out who killed his father and what became of his baby brother twelve years earlier. Wayne and Hayes then go undercover to stop a group of ranch thieves.

There's a few good scenes and a decent climax in this entry in Wayne's Lone Star western series but mostly this is middle of the road entertainment with a bit too much talking and not enough action this time around.

However, this does have some better-than-usual acting for the series. Duke and Gabby's performances are also quite likable, as is the actor that played Wayne's young friend.

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10/10

Gabby and Duke Undercover

hines-200029 February 2020

It doesn't get any better than John Wayne in shootouts, fisticuffs, a runaway stage coach and chase scenes. Gabby Hayes is clean-shaven but as feisty as ever. Who better to play John Wayne's love interest then silent screen leading lady Virginia Brown Faire. Lafe McGee, Earle Dwire, and Yak round out a wonderful cast with Robert Bradbury directing. In the poverty row era, Lone Star put out some great action-packed westerns.

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7/10

Decent enough John Wayne B-Western

Tweekums28 November 2018

This early John Wayne western sees Wayne playing Ted Hayden, a man who was left for dead as a boy when he father was killed. In the opening scene he discusses this with the man who looked after him. As they talk a man staggers towards then; he lives just long enough to hell them he has drunk water from a poisoned well. He is carrying papers that identify him as Gat Ganns, a wanted killer who was hoping to work for a certain Mr Gentry; the man who now owns the Hayden farm. As Hayden looks rather like Ganns he takes his place and sees Gentry about the job. It turns out Gentry is trying to acquire a neighbouring ranch and wants 'Ganns' to kill the owner... he also has designs on the owner's attractive daughter. Hayden is determined to find a way to save them. He also learns the truth about who killed his father.

While this isn't exactly a great western it is rather fun. The plot may be fairly predictable but it provides some decent action; this includes fist fights and some solid horse stunts. In most films of this sort the attractive leading lady quickly falls for the handsome hero but here she doesn't even meet him till quite a way into the film... he finds her earlier but she is unconscious. There are some fairly weak points; the opening involves quite a coincidence and Hayden doesn't look particularly like Ganns; certainly not enough that anybody shown the photograph on the wanted poster, as Gentry was, would believe he was Ganns. The acting is decent enough; John Wayne is solid as Hayden and Virginia Brown Faire is suitably sparky as Fay Winters, daughter of the ranch owner Gentry had feelings for. Lloyd Whitlock was a solid bad guy although the character was almost a pantomime villain. Overall this isn't a must see but it is fun if you enjoy westerns and have an hour to kill.

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3/10

Another John Wayne B-movie screwed up by Fox Lorber and the Encore Channel--as well as some poor writing.

planktonrules21 July 2010

Warning: Spoilers

Like a slew of other John Wayne B-westerns shown on the Encore Channel, this one has a 'new and improved' musical track created, I assume, by the Fox Lorber company who distributed it. Frankly, the music is obviously new but not the least bit improved over the normal public domain copies of this film you can download for free. The problems with the music are many. First, the same sound track is used in many of the Wayne films--the exact same music. Second, the music is often dropped into scenes like a sledgehammer with little appreciation of whether or not it's appropriate! Third, being modern electronic music, it's totally inappropriate to the film. Fourth, the music is much louder and hollow-sounding than the rest of the film--and quite distracting.

For fans of Westerns, you may or may not recognize Gabby Hayes in this one. Early in his B-movie days, he had not yet solidified his old coot persona--and his beard is absent here. I wasn't surprised, as I've seen him play villains and erudite gentlemen around this same time period--but those familiar with his days as Roy Rogers' sidekick might be surprised by his earlier personas.

The starts out horribly. Wayne and Hayes are sitting by fire having a conversation that would never happen in real life. Instead of talking like two normal folks, they do a lengthy exposition where they explain the back story in only a few moments--as if they are reading a script. As I said, no one talks that way--especially when both the characters are supposed to already be familiar with what they are talking about--as it involved them! This is sloppy screen writing at its worst and was a device used to avoid the 'unnecessary' addition of a couple more moments of dialog and action to set the same foundation for the film. And, considering that these Wayne films all were under one hour long, such gimmicks for economy sake weren't that uncommon...but it's still sloppy. And, naturally, you can assume that what follows will all relate to this back story involving the murder of Wayne's father.

Soon afterwords, John and Gabby come upon a woman who was accidentally shot a bit earlier. They cart her off to town for medical attention. I loved the next scene where the doctor says that they got her there just in time, as she had a severed artery. There is no way she could have survived this long with such a serious wound (she probably would have died within minutes). And, I loved when the doctor then said the wound wasn't very serious!! Crazy! I would love to know who was the medical consultant for this film....Dr. Hackenbush, perhaps?! Like "Randy Rides Alone" (also John Wayne, 1934), this film soon involves a gang and their efforts to steal land away from a nice young lady and her father. Naturally, the chivalrous Wayne will help girl and in the process catch those who killed his Pa. The only noticeable difference is that, for once, in this film Wayne is dressed in black...a departure from the usual cliché of a hero in white.

Along the way, Wayne saves the life of a kid and sees that the kid's father is a bit of a sadistic brute. Naturally, the way to deal with this is to beat the snot out of him--which Wayne does with surprising difficulty considering the guy looked old and a bit pudgy. Wayne remarks that this guy's face is familiar....could it be this guy has a clue as to the identity of the gang who killed Dad?! Gosh! Aside from the black hat and a nearly clean-shaven Hayes, there really are no surprises here. In fact, compared to Wayne's other B-movies, this one is definitely a few notches below them--mostly because of the quality of the script. Sure, I can accept the formulaic aspects of the movie--heck, this is what you expect in a B-western. But everything is telegraphed and presented so poorly--that's why this one is so atrociously written. It's a shame, as with a bit of a re-write, this could have been a lot more watchable--though re-writes was a luxury not usually afforded to Bs.

By the way, in addition to the dippy doctor, I also liked when the rancher told Wayne and Hayes that he'd phoned the Sheriff! Such bizarre anachronisms set in the old West were not actually that uncommon in films of the genre. Heck, Gene Autry often had such plot devices in his films--such as chasing the guys on horseback using a pickup truck!!

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Disappointing

dougdoepke4 June 2007

Warning: Spoilers

Pretty tame Lone Star fare, not up to later standards. Nothing much distinguishes this 60 minutes of sagebrush opera. The plot is easy to follow-- Wayne assumes a false identity in order to bring his father's killer to justice. In the process he rescues an old rancher and his daughter from the clutches of a ruthless land grabber and unexpectedly finds a brother. Unfortunately, the locations are nondescript, not much stunt work or hard riding, while the outlaw gang gives up without the usual fight. Also, there's no real personality or color to compensate for the general absence of excitement. Hayes and Canutt too are largely wasted. Perhaps the high point is a lengthy fist-fight that doesn't quite follow the usual formula in outcome. All in all, however, a definitely sub-standard Wayne Western.

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4/10

Revenge oater with little atmosphere

shakercoola2 January 2021

An American Western; A story about a frontiersman who poses as an outlaw to infiltrate a band of outlaws in order to get close to their ringleader who murdered his father. This film is a remake of Partners of the Trail (1931). John Wayne has authority but labours through as the cowboy on a mission. The film fails to create enough atmosphere dispite the robust support from George "Gabby" Hayes as the sidekick. The plot is too convoluted and the chase scenes and shoots out feel lifeless because the characters are not allowed to develop fully.

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6/10

That John Wayne was a Bad Guy at heart , , ,

oscaralbert16 June 2016

Warning: Spoilers

. . . is borne out once again in WEST OF THE DIVIDE. What DOES this title mean? On most any map, West is to the Left--that is, it's on the Sinister Side. Clearly, it's Wayne's "Ted" character who's standing WEST OF THE DIVIDE here, in full alignment with the Forces of Evil (namely, his father's murderer, Squire Gentry). Wayne easily slips into the role of "Gat Ganns," a notorious assassin-for-hire, facing the Hangman's Noose. Though Wayne's Real Life defection to the Dark Side was still a decade away, his penchant for Jekyll and Hyde movie roles during the 1930s is as much an indicator of future behavior as Middle Schooler Omar cheering for the hijackers on 9-11. Preachers discourage us from Playing with Hellfire, as Wayne does in WEST OF THE DIVIDE and most of his other early flicks. When Damien fatally runs down his Mommy with his tricycle in the original OMEN, it's hard not to think of the baby-faced Wayne in a picture such as DIVIDE, cutting his teeth for the deviltry to come in THE ALAMO, RIO BRAVO, and CHISUM. (Perhaps the inevitable "666" birthmark is the reason Wayne never appears shaven-headed in a movie.)

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3/10

The Heavy Hand Of Fate

slokes7 October 2016

There's a short list of films where John Wayne's character dies. I don't think "West Of The Divide" is on that list, but look again.

In the opening five minutes, we watch a man collapse after drinking from a poison water hole. A close up reveals him to be none other than John Wayne. Less than a minute later, he's dead.

Don't worry: That's not a spoiler. John Wayne is playing two characters in this movie. One, Gatt Gans, is a deadly outlaw who, as mentioned, winds up just dead. The other, Ted Hayden, happens to look like Gans, which Hayden discovers after lifting a wanted poster off Gans's corpse. It turns out Gans was en route to perform a hired killing, and it just so happens Hayden has some unfinished business with the hombre behind it.

"Maybe fate's kinda taken a hand in this deal," Hayden observes, before telling his pal Dusty (George "not yet Gabby" Hayes) that he'll pretend to be this bozo with the identical kisser.

Fate indeed takes a hand in "West Of The Divide," a mighty heavy one, too. "West Of The Divide" is practically nothing but fate taking a hand.

A couple of scenes on, a young woman rides away from two bandits. She falls off her horse and hides in a barn. A few moments later, the bandits ride by and happen to get into a fight over losing her. One pulls out a gun, and in the scuffle unknowingly wings her with a bullet. Minutes later, while she's bleeding dangerously close to death, Hayden and Dusty just happen to decide to bunk down in the same barn. Dusty discovers some blood, and well...

That's not even mentioning the little boy who happens to have his own connection to Hayden's past, and happens to be associated with the group of baddies who happen to be after the woman and her money, and happens to pick just the right moment to lift some bullets from someone's gun...

As much as it happens to reek of plot convenience, "West Of The Divide" also offers some memorably weak acting. The father, the chief villain, the woman, all play their roles with wooden stiffness. Even Hayes lacks his typical elan.

Wayne by contrast is terrific, whether making friends with the boy or delivering some long and pointless exposition to Dusty about how Dusty saved him when he was a boy ("Anyway, it won't do you no good, livin' this all over again," says Dusty after stringing out Hayden's tale for five long minutes.) Wayne also grimaces with believable anger when he catches up with someone he's been after for a long time. Given the material, it would have been understandable if Wayne had just gone through the motions, but he really inhabits the part. It's a foretaste of what he would do with better roles in the not-so-distant future, though he didn't always perform as well as this in his B-picture days.

The stunts here are solid, too. One involves a man standing on a runaway buckboard as it disintegrates around him, maybe the coolest stunt in the whole Wayne run of Lone Star pictures.

When I wasn't watching Wayne, I was mostly just bored with this. Director Robert N. Bradbury maintains his characteristically slow pace, making all the silly fate twists he throws at you easier to notice. The Lone Star pictures were meant for casual viewing, and by younger viewers, but even with the bar lowered so it seems somehow not quite low enough for this dull oater.

For Wayne completists only who want to see him in a rare double role, and playing a bad guy, too. Just don't go anywhere for the first five minutes. After that, though, there's little point sticking around.

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6/10

West of the Divide

CinemaSerf8 November 2023

I have recently seen a colourised version of this Lone Star effort, and it's quite an enjoyable outing for the duo of John Wayne ("Tom") and his lively, dependable sidekick "Gabby" Hayes, Sure, the story is a variation on a well-known theme - Duke's father is killed when he is young and years later he encounters the killer when he infiltrates his gang. This time "Gentry" (Lloyd Whitlock) is trying to force old man "Winters" (Lafe McKee) from his ranch, but luckily for the latter the Duke is on hand to thwart this evil plan, and he has a beautiful young daughter "Fay" (Virginia Faire) who has caught the star's eye too. There is plenty of action packed into just under an hour before and ending that, though I thought really rather poor, still just about holds up. One of many, this one, but still fun for JW fans.

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3/10

John Wayne fans may like it more than others

phantopp10 May 2010

Warning: Spoilers

"Ted Hayden" (John Wayne) joins an outlaw gang under the guise of a man he found dying to find the one or ones responsible for his father's death. Only to discover the gang leader's is the one responsible, but love and previously unknown family.

This is not a bad movie, but may not be for all. First of all, there are a lot of audio problems throughout the film, which is fairly short by today's standards. There are times that you have to strain to hear some performers with weaker voices. I noticed, in a scene at the end of the film, a sound from the microphone when they switched to close-ups of the actors in scene possibly due to changes in the audio.

John Wayne is possibly the best performer in this film. He is easily the easiest for the audience to connect with. His sidekick (George "Gabby" Hayes) is, in my opinion, completely forgettable only due to not being on screen much. I also found Virginia Brown Faire, who played Wayne's love interest, to be pretty poor in her performance. I just could not believe her as she said many of her lines.

A big problem with this movie is that, due to the short length of the movie (under an hour), there was just not enough time to develop the characters or any subplot. If you ask me, the romantic subplot was really rushed. There was just no time to expand any of the main plot as well.

The chemistry between performers was pretty good. I would have liked to have seen more between Wayne and Hayes, as well as Wayne and the young boy who Wayne's character befriends. Due to Faire's lackluster performance, it was hard to believe the relationship between her and Wayne at times.

Like the audio, the sound effects were pretty bad. There were more fist fights than gun fights in this movie. While you could hear gun shots in this film, it was nearly impossible to hear punches "connect." You have to really strain to hear the smack of the punches apparently connecting during fights, especially when they were fairly distant from the microphone on set.

As for wardrobes, they were all pretty nice. However, none of the clothing appeared to have been worn for some time by the people, it looked pretty much new. All the clothing looked really nice though, and fit the classic Old West stereotype created by Hollywood.

There was absolutely no music in this film. Music could have helped enhance the mood of some scenes, but because the movie was from the early days of Hollywood, it wasn't needed.

There is an extremely little amount of violence in this movie. Due to the time it was made, there is absolutely no blood. The most violent thing in the entire film is a fist fight. Parents, young children could watch this without you worrying about an excessive amount of blood.

This movie wasn't bad, but it's far from perfect. Fans of "The Duke" will probably like this a lot more than others. However, his fans will most likely enjoy it more.

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6/10

A fairly average addition to the western genre that is still worth a watch

kevin_robbins21 April 2023

West of the Divide (1934) is a movie that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a young man who was orphaned as a kid and wants to get into a gang to earn a living. The young man pretends to be a wanted outlaw so the gang takes him in. As he works with the gang, he discovers the gang leader was responsible for him becoming an orphan. He decides to leave the game and protect a family that may be the gang leader's next victims. The young man may fall in love and discover even more about his history and family in the process.

This movie is directed by Robert N. Bradbury (The Lucky Texan) and stars John Wayne (True Grit), George 'Gabby' Hayes (Randy Rides Alone), Lafe McKee (Queen of the Jungle), Virginia Brown Faire (Broadway Billy) and Virginia Brown Faire (The Lawless Frontier).

The storyline is fairly cliche and straightforward but still fun to watch unfold. The dialogue and acting are a bit rigid, but John Wayne was a great main character and an easy character to root for. The special effects are a lot of fun - both the Stagecoach stunts, shootouts and fight sequences. The villain was entertaining but an awful shot.

Overall, this is a fairly average addition to the western genre that is still worth a watch. I would score this as a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

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4/10

Tough to love

Leofwine_draca12 May 2021

Warning: Spoilers

A real western cheapie with John Wayne. This one sees him adopting the identity of a dead man (a common plot theme still utilised today) in order to infiltrate a gang of bad guys to take them down. The dialogue is all stiff and stilted, the characters paper-thin, the action non-existent, so it's a tough one to love.

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8/10

Slightly lower production values still produce good movie

morrisonhimself13 October 2017

Frequently used story gets a good presentation here in "West of the Divide," and the excellent cast helps ensure high quality.

Young John Wayne and grizzled George Hayes start with what I learned in college theater-history classes was called a "feather-duster" scene, where characters -- such as a maid, with a feather-duster -- tell the background of the story, today called "the back story."

It's kinda corny, but isn't too damaging.

Probably even in 1934 what was about to happen was predictable, but, before that predictable ending, enough happens in between it should hold the viewer's interest. It held mine.

When the hero meets the leading lady, there is no poor-writing instant romance. In fact, there is no real contact. It's an unusual boy-meets-girl.

That girl is Virginia Faire Brown, who is shown with 74 credits, although she never rose to be a major player and certainly not a star. But she is very attractive, even elegant, with an unusual dark-haired beauty.

Her character's father is played by the veteran Lafe McKee. The sheriff is by that veteran, and very talented actor, who didn't, alas, often enough get to show just how good an actor he was, Earl Dwire.

Chief bad guy is played by "Loyd Whitlock," who is usually known as Lloyd Whitlock, a very busy man with more than 200 credits!

OK, good story, great cast ably performing, lots of riding scenes, and a no-music-track realism that should keep you pinned to your seat. And if you want to see it, there's a good print at YouTube.

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4/10

Forgettable very early Duke

pmtelefon21 February 2023

I'm a big fan of John Wayne and his films. I watch his movies all of the time. However, I am not a fan of his post-"The Big Trail" pre-"Stagecoach" low budget westerns. They all seem like the same movie to me. "West of the Divide" seems like more of the same. If I was a little boy in 1934, I would have really enjoyed this movie. Watching it all these later, it's okay at best. Duke does an okay job, I guess, with very little material. The supporting cast is passable. I did find Virginia Brown Faire strangely intriguing but I wouldn't want that to get around. "West of the Divide" is only worth watching if you're trying to see all of John Wayne's movies. If that what you're trying to do, go for it.

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5/10

West of the divide

coltras3510 April 2024

Ted Hayden's father, a sheriff, is killed by a gang of outlaws. Ted becomes determined to seek revenge and bring the killers to justice. He tracks down the gang to a nearby town, where he meets a young woman named Fay (Virginia Brown Faire), who is being forced to marry the gang leader, Jim (Lloyd Whitlock).

Ted poses as a wanted outlaw to get closer to the gang and gain their trust. He also tries to protect Fay from Jim's abusive behavior. Along the way, Ted learns that one of the gang members, Mort is actually his long-lost brother. The two brothers reunite and work together to take down the rest of the gang.

West of the Divide has an interesting story, a serviceable plot and some really good stunts. It's not the most action-packed John Wayne western (it's a bit talky) but it still can keep one interested. Strangely, for the era, child abuse is touched upon. Then again, this western is pre-code or on the borderline.

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