Wells Fargo *** (1937, Joel McCrea, Bob Burns, Frances Dee, Lloyd Nolan, Henry O’Neill, Ralph Morgan, Johnny Mack Brown, Porter Hall) – Classic Movie Review 9932

Director Frank Lloyd’s 1937 Paramount Pictures historical Western film Wells Fargo stars Joel McCrea, who scores in his first Western in an era that suffered with a dearth of big-budget Westerns. He plays Ramsay MacKay, a troubleshooter official for the Wells Fargo express stage company when it was developing through the Wild West into California.

Romance and sentimentality slow Wells Fargo down, but still there is a good yarn, based on a story by Stuart N Lake, an excellent score by Victor Young and smart black and white cinematography Theodor Sparkuhl, while McCrea’s real-wife Frances Dee charms Justine Pryor, as the Southern belle his character weds.

The script by Paul Schofield, Gerald Geraghty and Frederick Jackson uses the story of the express company’s formation for a fictionalised and romanticised yarn. Story-writer Lake used the story for his classic 1957-62 TV series Tales of Wells Fargo, with Dale Robertson. Lake was an Oscar nominee for Best Original Story for The Westerner (1940).

It runs 115 minutes but there is also a cut version at 97 minutes.

Also in the starry cast are Bob Burns, Lloyd Nolan, Henry O’Neill, Ralph Morgan, Johnny Mack Brown, Porter Hall, Robert Cummings, Harry Davenport, Peggy Stewart, Stanley Fields, Clarence Kolb, Granville Bates, Frank Conroy, Lucien Littlefield, Wille Fung and Mary Nash.

It is shot at the Paramount Ranch, 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, and the Iverson Ranch, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, and on various California locations.

Joel McCrea would have been happy to find himself top billed, but it is Frank Lloyd’s name that is above the title on the posters.

Wells Fargo is directed by Frank Lloyd, runs 115 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Paul Schofield, Gerald Geraghty and Frederick J Jackson, is shot in black and white by Theodor Sparkuhl, is produced by William LeBaron executive producer and Frank Lloyd producer, is scored by Victor Young, Boris Morros musical director and John Leipold composer of additional music, and is designed by Hans Dreier and John B Goodman.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9932

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