A sub-par Lone Star western from a young John Wayne
"West of the Divide" (1934) was the fourth of the poverty row Westerns than John Wayne made for Lone Star. Wayne plays Ted Hayden, who returns home after a long absence to try and find out who killed his father. Pretending to be an outlaw named Gat Ganns, our hero joins the gang of Mr. Gentry (Lloyd Whitlock), who, of course, turns out to be the dirty scoundrel who gunned down Hayden's pa. Gentry now has his eye on the farm of pretty Fay Winters (Virginia Faire Brown), so there is more than vengeance at play here for Mason.In addition to the young Wayne you have George Hays as Dusty Rhodes, who does not yet have the beard we all remember from his days as "Gabby" Hayes, is getting to his famous on screen persona just like the Duke. The action in this one consists mostly of fist fights and does not feature any really great stunts by the legendary Yakima Canutt, who plays Gentry's henchman Hank and who usually provides the best thrills in these oaters. Written and directed by Robert N. Bradbury, who did most of Wayne's Lone Star films, "West of the Divide" is apparently a rip off of a 1932 western "The Reckless Rider." Apparently enough time had passed for people to forget they had seen this story before, but then most of these poverty row Westerns have recurring elements (e.g., Wayne undercover with a gang, the damsel in distress). There is a nice moment at the end between Mason and his kid brother, Spuds (Billie O'Brien), but that does not save this from being a below average one of these films.
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