Westward Ho (1935)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 19, 2022

This short feature sees John Wayne as the troubled "Wyatt" - a man who, as a young boy, watched his parents gunned down and is brother "Jim" (Frank McGlynn Jnr.) kidnapped. Spool on fifteen years or so and the two brothers encounter each other on a wagon train. It seem the brother has joined up with the dirty varmints who killed their folks and is now eyeing up the valuables! Sheila Bromley provides the love interest for both men, so a little gun totin' love triangle ensues as this film follows a rather formulaic trail... The one thing that does differentiate it is ... singing... Yep, Wayne's gang are quite happy to sit by the side of the road and burst into song just before, or after, they engage in their good deeds. Luckily, we don't get this too often - not because it is so very bad, but because it really slows the pace down as surely as an ad break would. Plenty of fun fisticuffs but essentially just one for fans of the Duke, otherwise instantly forgettable fayre.