West of the Divide (1934)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 13, 2022

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.