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The Virginian (Gary Cooper) never asked for much in life, so he's perfectly content with being the foreman at the biggest local cattle ranch, and that he has somehow managed to make the new schoolmarm Molly (Mary Brian) fall in love with him is really just a bonus - and considering his courtship of her, it's really more of a case of opposites attract. The Virginian has also given his best friend Steve (Richard Arlen) a job at the ranch, even if Steve's a bit of a loose cannon. What's more worrying is that Steve is friends with local bully Trampas (Walter Huston), a suspected rustler. And when the Virginian one day catches Steve trying to brand one of their ranche's cow's with Trampas' sign ... he let's him off easy, but knows that trouble's brewing. At the next cattle drive, Trampas, Steve and a few others steal quite a number of the herd entrusted to the Virginian by driving them down the river in the water to avoid any tracks. However, the Virginian manages to track them down, and while Trampas makes a timely getaway so nobody can link him to the crime, the others are hanged on sight - much to the Virginian's dismay, but Steve leaves him his gun and a reconciliatory letter. Later, the Virginian is shot at and almost killed by Trampas in an ambush. While he's on his sickbed, Molly learns about Steve's execution under the Virginian's watch and almost leaves him - but ultimately she agrees to become his wife instead. On the day of the wedding, the Virginian runs into Trampas, and the two agree to shoot it out for good ...

As one of the first all-dialogue westerns back in the day, The Virginian sure deserves a place in history, even if that also works against the movie, as it's very evident that on a purely technical level, not everybody was comfortable with the new medium of sound, so - as with many early talkies - many scenes feel rather static while cinematically, the film's clearly from a transitional period, as despite some great images it fails to find its own language and one can't but notice the film could have done with a musical score. Storywise, the film's really chock-full of genre clichés and really comes into its own only late when it's upon the hero to see his best friend hanged, but unfortunately that dilemma is somewhat cancelled out by Steve's reconciliatory farewell note and the mere fact that the Virginian is put into the sickbed pretty much right after, leaving it to his sweetheart to do his mulling. That said, this dilemma and the final showdown form an interesting bridge to another Gary Cooper classic from over two decades later, High Noon.

In all, The Virginian sure deserves a watch as a document of its time, and it's sure a milestone for launching Gary Cooper's career and for being one of the earliest sound westerns, but on its own terms its hardly a masterpiece.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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