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Such a frustrating disappointment

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of about twenty Zane Grey novels filmed by Paramount from 1930-1940, WAGON WHEELS is a remake of FIGHTING CARAVAN, a movie about the Oregon Trail. It's definitely a B movie, with its running time under an hour, plenty of library footage to give it some size, Charles Barton sitting in the director's chair for the first time and singing to eke it out -- Even Randolph Scott warbles a couple of lines of the title song.It's worth seeing for Scott in an early western. His first appearance in one had been a bit part in THE VIRGINIAN, but since his success in WILD HORSE MESA and THE THUNDERING HERD, Paramount had been giving him one or two oaters a year, in between the usual assortment of comedies, dramas and even lending him to other studios for musicals. He's solid here, opposite Gail Patrick, with some good support from Raymond Hatton as an old Mountain Man. However, it's still an okay B movie, even if he would do great things in the genre over the next three decades.

Wagon Wheels is a really enjoyable old western to watch. Set in the year 1844, any viewer will find humor, music, drama, suspense, romance, and excellent acting throughout the cast. It is also a superb depiction of some of the elements, and especially equipment that beset an 1840's wagon train heading west. The ensemble actors had a keen sense of playing their roles in a manner depicting that previous period. Randolph Scott leads the players, where he is heroic, valiant of character, and sagacious of spirit. . .while his easy natural ways are endearing. Beautiful Gail Patrick is perfect for her role as a widowed mother taking a 4 year old son west. Her little boy, played by Billy Lee, is one of the great child actors ever, and gives a wonderful performance here. The 3 men leading the wagon west (Randolph Scott & 2 grizzled characters) have a real challenge defeating the elements that fall upon them. I don't want to give the whole story away, only to say I've seen a whole lot of westerns, and this one is one of the most enjoyable to me.

A wagon train rolling from Missouri to Oregon or CA was, of course, a popular theme for a number of early westerns, including the ponderous John Wayne -starring "The Big Trail"(1930) extravaganza. You may prefer this later(1934), more modest, more musically inclined, version, in which Randolph Scott takes Wayne's place as the young wagon master and scout. Like Wayne, Randy has two grizzled mountain men to help him keep things rolling and, like Wayne, he has a cryptic criminal element to deal with. Finally, like Wayne, he has a young single woman who is initially at odds with him, but we know they will eventually end up together. Unlike Wayne, Randy also has 4 y.o. Billy Lee to lighten things up from time to time. Spanky MacFarland had nothing over Billy in terms of charisma and cuteness. Neither would make the transition to teen and adult actor. We first see Billy peeking out of a wicker chest where his mother, Nancy(Gail Parick) has hidden him, having stolen him from her parents. Later, Randy discovers him wandering the camp and is led to Nancy. When Randy inquires about Nancy's husband and motive for joining the train, Billy contradicts her verbal responses with body language. Billy and Randy have taken a liking to each other, which helps change the the relationship between Randy and Nancy from antagonistic to friendly to romantic. Billy later makes mischief with his sling shot, but zaps a couple of murderous 'Indians' with it. He makes a secret wish before blowing out his birthday candles, with a wink at Randy, and dominates the last film scene, having helped achieve his secret wish.Gail PatricK had a substantial film career, mostly as a supporting actress. Relatively tall and thin,well educated, forceful and southern-bred, she made an excellent match for tall, well-educated, aristocratic, southern-bred Randy...., Jan Duggan and Leila Bennett played a pair of eccentric old spinster sisters. Jan played Abby, the bookish one who writes a history of the journey and renders a high brow song around the camp. Uncredited Loraine Bridges, with a strong resemblance to Gail, rendered a more pleasant song at the camp. Of course, the standard "Wagon Train" was sung by groups several times. Raymond Hatton and Olin Howland served as Randy's sidekicks. Both had long careers in bit parts. Monte Blue, playing the chief adversary of Randy, also had a substantial film career as a character actor, often a villain. Here, he serves as scout for fur trapping and 'Indian' interests, who don't want settlers arriving to claim presently free for all lands. Actually, even the Oregon Territory had been pretty well denuded of beaver by this time. The relatively primitive filming technology and acting sophistication, the B&W filming, the often aged-looking films and shabby buildings and clothes of actors tend to give westerns of the '30s and often '40s a more authentic feel than later westerns. That's certainly true of this film, with stock film of long shots from the prior "Fighting Caravans" contributing to the authentic look. The inclusion of occasional music numbers, either sung by the people, or as familiar background music, also helps lighten the atmosphere from drudgery and problems. Presently, this film is available as part of a cheap DVD package of some of Scott's lesser known westerns.There were a few obvious technological anachronisms, such as the firearms and perhaps their modern-looking water pump for putting out fires! Perhaps the most glaring one was their wagon load of kerosene, presumably for lanterns and perhaps cooking stoves. Kerosene, initially distilled from coal, would become available in some areas a decade or so later, but was expensive. Thus, this should not have been available in scaring off an 'Indian' war party. In contrast to actual wagon trains, I saw no oxen teams, which were the most popular draft animals for this journey. I did see quite a few mule teams, which were the second most popular animal for pulling the wagons.

The print for this old western is only fair and unfortunately it does not have any sort of captioning---either closed captioning or DVD captions.I chose to watch this film because it starred Randolph Scott--and I never turn down a chance to see another one of his westerns. Compared to the average film in the genre, Scott's always seem a bit better--much of it due to Scott's seemingly effortless acting. Even here, early in his career, his gentle yet rugged persona is intact--and quite enjoyable in this rather short B-movie. Another reason, it turned out, to see it was young Billy Lee--one of the cutest child actors I can recall--and not in a cloying and saccharine manner.Not surprisingly considering the title, "Wagon Wheels" is about a wagon train that is heading to Oregon but must deal with the elements as well as American-Indians that are being stirred up by a jerky half-Indian (Murdock). Scott and his two very scruffy looking friends are in charge of getting these settlers to their destination.As for the story, it's very straight-forward---without a lot of the sentiment and clichés you'd normally find in a 30s B-movie. As a result, the film does seem a tad rushed but is otherwise pretty watchable.By the way, for historical purists out there, while the story is supposed to be set around 1850, the guns are clearly newer--with the settlers using what appear to be cartridges--which were not readily available at that time in history. Also, while popular in films, American-Indians did NOT make a habit of attacking wagon trains--in fact, it was a very, very rare occurrence.