WAGONS WESTWARD is another forgotten film from Hollywood's yesteryear. It was directed by Lew Landers, a true journeyman, who had very little directorial style. It's hard to even say he had any genuine classics despite the huge catalog of films he created (in 1942 alone, he directed 12 films!) But, at his best he delivered on well-written stories such as in THE ENCHANTED FOREST, FLIGHT FROM GLORY and BAD LANDS. Probably, his best film is THE RAVEN, but what elevates that film is primarily Bela Lugosi's performance. WAGONS WESTWARD is a standard B-western highlighted by a dual role from Chester Morris.
The story is about twin brothers, Tommy and David - Tommy is a hardened killer; David a man of goodness. In the prologue, their father is killed by Indians and he asks Hardtack, well-played by Gabby Hayes, to look after the troublesome Tommy. Years later their mother is ill and the wanted Tommy reluctantly comes home to see her, only to be arrested as David tipped off the authorities of his return. To help catch the criminals Tommy is involved with, David agrees to go undercover and acts as his brother Tommy to infiltrate the gang and get the bad guys while dealing with the women (a pair of sisters) in his brother's life.
The copy I viewed was only 52 minutes. IMDb lists it at 69 minutes and there is definitely the feeling of scenes missing, so I'm not sure if there is a complete version out there. There are a few nice split-screen shots of Morris playing off of himself in both roles. Morris is terrific. Tommy is aggressive, even against his mother and Hardtack. He plays David as reasonable, humble and courageous. Morris, in a way, has a third performance in that as David, he has to act as Tommy; being bad and dangerous like his brother, but with some of David's hesitation. Gabby Hayes' Hardtack is interested in getting new teeth and has a great line, "teeth is a wonderful invention" as he dreams of purchasing a set of false teeth he saw in an advertisement. Ona Munson also has a few nice scenes as Julie, the sharper of the two sisters involved with Tommy. In the end, though, this film is standard B material and the final showdown between Tommy and David has no dialogue and is poorly handled with no flair.
