User Reviews

This "Wagon Train" episode is very close to the 1950 Barbara Stanwyck movie no man of her own where she played a desperate woman on a train who is mistakenly confused for the new wife of a returning son. This episode has Stanwyck in a similar situation although she is a reluctant participant in a scheme to defraud a wealthy man to get reward money for her return after the wife was believed to have been kidnapped and killed by Indians. Charles Drake, not having seen his wife in 10 years, falls for the scheme either out of wishful dreaming or pure naivete, and he finds that Stanwyck has picked up far too many Native customs to be acceptable among the decent people of the Wagon Train. Kathleen Freeman is one of the gossipy women who considers Stanwyck a heathen for utilizing Indian dress and medicines.

This is a sensitive episode in the sense that it shows both sides of the white man and the native, showing human side of natives rarely presented on screen that Stanwyck has picked up. This episode also points out that the natives only resorted to violence against the white man in order to protect their long-established way of life that the white man invaded in an effort to take over the land. While Stanwyck seems a bit too modern in attitude and certain styles, she is of course mesmerizing, and the subtlety she shows when overhearing the gossipy women wagging their tongues is a very well written scene. I would rank this as an important episode in the "Wagon Train" series for the compassion it shows to a large group that has been highly marginalized.

Barbara Stanwyck, in her second appearance on Wagon Train, is cast as a woman who's been rescued from the Utes after years in captivity. But Caroline Casteel had originally been abducted by the Cheyenne, not the Utes. So writer Gerry Day quickly lets us know things may not be as they seem. Indeed, we soon learn she is not actually Caroline. Her name is Lily Martell, and she had spent time in captivity with the real Caroline. During that period she learned about Caroline's former life.

After Caroline's death, Lily is bought by a conman (Robert F. Simon) who knows Caroline had been married to a very wealthy businessman (Charles Drake). Together they devise a scheme to cash in on Caroline's situation, by having Lily pose as Caroline. If it all sounds a bit convoluted, that's because it is, but the plot works thanks to Stanwyck's performance. Using Caroline's memories in place of her own, Lily soon returns to civilization and joins the train headed by Chris Hale (John McIntire).

It is established that Chris Hale knew Frank Casteel, and he has sent word to Frank back in St. Joe that Caroline is alive. A short time later Frank joins the train with his son (Roger Mobley) to be reunited with "Caroline." Of course, this all hinges on Frank overlooking slight discrepancies, as well as accepting the fact Caroline would have changed considerably in the ten years since they were separated. Fortunately, Caroline and Lily were approximately the same age and size, plus they shared certain physical traits. Also, Lily is very convincing at playing "Caroline." Especially when she mothers young Jamie, the boy.

What might have been a routine con story suddenly changes direction in the middle of the episode. The children on the train become sick with fever, including Jamie. The remedies used by the other mothers do not seem to be working. These same women have been ostracizing Caroline/Lily for being a squaw. It is revealed that Caroline and Lily had both learned the ways of native medicine; and Lily is able to prevent the kids from dying. During a key scene with Chris, she makes a slip about how she was taught to brew a life-saving potion from another tribe she lived with, not the Utes or the Cheyenne. Chris goes along with the scam temporarily in order to ensure that she is able to save the children.

It's a story about compromises, more than it's a story about lies or about deception. Lily does not get a happy ending with Frank and Jamie, which I felt was realistic. However, she is able to earn the respect of others-- namely the people that had judged her. There is a scene where she says she may write to Jamie, then she leaves the train to forge a new existence elsewhere. This was the first time Barbara Stanwyck was directed by Virgil Vogel, who would direct her again on Wagon Train as well as in many episodes of The Big Valley.