California Straight Ahead! ** (1937, John Wayne, Louise Latimer, Robert McWade) – Classic Movie Review 9880

Director Arthur Lubin’s 1937 black and white adventure California Straight Ahead! stars John Wayne, who leads this Universal Pictures second feature about rivalry in the US transcontinental shipping business.

The rivalry leads to a cross-country race between James Gifford (Theodore von Eltz)’s train and an ultra-fast lorry driven by Biff Smith (Wayne), co-owner with Charlie Porter (Emerson Treacy) of a trucking company. It is a race to see who can deliver aviation parts to an ocean liner before a labour strike.

California Straight Ahead! is routine but robust, and both the star and director Lubin bring out the best in the modest material. It runs a mere 67 minutes.

It is Wayne’s 56th film, even before Stagecoach made him a true star!

Also in the cast are Louise Latimer, Robert McWade, Tully Marshall, Theodore von Eltz, Emerson Treacy, Harry Allen, LeRoy Mason, Grace Goodall, Monte Vandergrift, Lorin Raker and Olaf Hytten.

California Straight Ahead! is directed by Arthur Lubin, runs 67 minutes, is made and released by Universal, is written by Herman Boxer (original story) and Scott Darling (screenplay), is shot in black and white by Harry Neumann, is produced by Trem Carr and is scored by Charles Previn.

Labour troubles stopped the film from being shot in San Francisco, so the screenplay was hastily rewritten for Los Angeles, and filming started after many delays in January 1937.

Lubin recalled: ‘We had six days to shoot. There was no time schedule, as there is today, where, if you go late at night or start early in the morning, you have to pay more. In those days, you could shoot 24 hours a day.’

It is the first in Lubin’s series of films with Wayne.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9880

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