SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . so Warner Bros. was in an even better position to Warn America about Looming Threats as it released THE TELEGRAPH TRAIL during the Depths of the Great Depression. As "John Trent, Army Scout" John Wayne yet again portrays a Robin Hood-like Socialist, fighting Corrupt Capitalism, as he did in countless flicks up until World War Two, when he used some Big Business Connections to Dodge the Draft, and afterwards Cozied up to the few Actual Capitalist War Heroes, such as Brig. Gen. Jimmy Stewart. (Trying to over-compensate for Turning Yellow, Wayne would go on to send hundreds of Valiant Veterans to the Poorhouse, Prison, or Early Graves while heading several Vigilante Groups during the 1950s.) But as an "innocent" 20-something, Wayne fights against Corrupt Businessman "Gus Lynch" and Lynch's band of Tea Party-style Terrorists. Like Today's Leading Capitalist, Trumplestiltskin, Lynch attacks the Media--in this case, the brand new "Singing Wire" or Intercontinental Telegraph. Instead of saying that his female critics are "bleeding from their Wherevers," as does Trumpenstein, Lynch simply crates them up in his version of Pandora's Box. But Lynch brazenly rides side-by-side with Terrorist Leader "High Wolf," just as the Teflon Don has been seen shamelessly climbing into bed with Vladimir "Mad Dog" Putin of Russia.

Michael_Elliott The Telegraph Trail (1933)** 1/2 (out of 4) A company is trying to hang telegraph wire out West but their men keep coming under attack by Indians so they send John Trent (John Wayne) out there along with his sidekick Tippy (Frank McHugh). Once out there John strikes up a relationship with Alice (Marceline Day) and begins to realize Gus Lynch (Albert J. Smith) is actually the one making the Indians attack.This "B" Western certainly shows its low-budget nature but if you're a fan of such films then there's enough going on here to keep you entertained throughout the rather short running time. If you've seen enough of these films then you already know that they rarely have much of a story or at least much of an original one. The entire bit with telegraph wire had already been done countless times by 1933 but what's one more film? The highlight is certainly the cast with Wayne in good form as he obviously has no problem playing the hero. Day is good in her role as is Smtih in his. Duke, the horse, is back once again with his name in the credits right by Wayne. I also thought McHugh added some nice support and gets the biggest laugh in the film when he gives his silly one-tone laugh.With that said, the film comes up ultra cheap at the end when the majority of the big battle is taken from other movies. The footage is obviously from a silent movie so that takes some points away since they couldn't even stage their own scenes here.

classicsoncall The opening credits proclaim this film a Four Star Western, but in actuality it was a Warner Brothers unit that John Wayne made six movies for in 1932/1933 before moving on to B Studio Lone Star Productions. These pictures aren't easy to come by so it was a pleasant surprise to catch it the other day on the Encore Western Channel, just recently revamped with new logos and screen graphics.The biggest kick I got out of this picture had to do with the captioning, and I have the feeling that someone at the service might have had some larceny in their heart when they worked the scene when bad guy Gus Lynch (Albert J. Smith) confronts John Trent (John Wayne) and his sidekick Tippy (Frank McHugh) for the first time at Zeke Keller's Trading Post. Lynch pinches Tippy's nose hard and puts him down to the ground before going after Trent. When Tippy gets up, he says what sounded to me like, "He got my nose". However the captioning had "This f...in' nose" and it caught me off guard so completely that I replayed the scene four times to see if I had it right (I had the picture DVR'd). My immediate thought was that the captioner might have been inspired by a scene in both versions of "The Longest Yard". Anyway, chances are this goof, if it was a goof, will be corrected soon enough, but folks, believe me when I tell you, it was there! Well with that out of the way, let's get to the story. I was somewhat surprised to see Frank McHugh in the picture as John Wayne's sidekick. Generally he'll show up in more than a handful of Jimmy Cagney flicks, which brings up an interesting trivia note. In Cagney's "Footlight Parade", also released in 1933, his character watches this film as a theater marquee announces "Silent Pictures are Finished". As one would expect, McHugh's Corporal Tippy provides the picture's comic relief, a running gag of his having to do with the gals he left behind stretching all the way from Topeka to Nogales and several points in between.As in most of John Wayne's early Westerns there's a pretty gal on hand. In this case it's Marceline Day as Alice Keller, who concocts a story about being engaged to Wayne's character based on a picture she sees of him, in order to thwart a marriage proposal from bad guy Lynch. The story line has some fun with the misunderstanding, particularly with Corporal Tippy's grievance over his buddy having a secret girlfriend. This all plays out to a conclusion that would happen again and again with Wayne's early Westerns, in as much he closes out the picture giving his gal a kiss.The action scenes in the film consist mostly of an Indian attack instigated by Lynch who's in cahoots with Indian White Wolf (Yakima Canutt). With Trent attempting to complete a telegraph line in the territory, Lynch incites White Wolf with the idea that a completed line will bring in more settlers who will kill off the Indians. In reality, Lynch means to preserve his strangle hold on commerce in the area by disrupting any competing supply sources while gouging settlers with his prices.Before closing I really need to mention Wayne's horse. In this, as in all six of his Warner pictures, Wayne rode a light colored horse listed in the opening credits as 'Duke'. Duke was quite resourceful during the Indian attack, lining himself up to dispatch a couple of renegades through a tent while protecting Miss Alice. Earlier he had some comical scenes with Tippy as well. I'd really like to catch a few more of these Warner Westerns starring Wayne, because in the only other one I've seen, "Haunted Gold", Duke had even more screen time going to bat for the film's hero. Catch that one if you can along with "The Telegraph Trail".

utgard14 Another B western from the early '30s with a young John Wayne and his horse Duke. A greedy white man is stirring up Indians to attack men installing telegraph lines. Army scout Wayne is sent to investigate. Frank McHugh plays Wayne's sidekick. He seems really out of place in a western. Get back to the city with Cagney, Frank. Marceline Day plays the inevitable love interest. Her character is responsible for some of the goofier parts of the plot. But she's likable and pleasant enough. It's a routine but enjoyable western with some comedy and romance. Nothing to write home about but Wayne fans will probably enjoy it for curiosity's sake.