everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Fritz Lang is better known and regarded for his work in German Expressionism and Thrillers. Films such as Metropolis, M and The Big Heat are some of the impressive works that asserted Lang as a major presence within cinema history. Yet I feel more of his lesser – acclaimed work should be discussed. One such film being Western Union, a western full of character and dynamic situations.The main plot line focuses on the beginnings of the Western Union, a company setting up telegraph poles across the west in order for faster communication to the east. This shows the building of modernisation in an area which was still untamed. It is spearheaded by Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) who's happy at the fact that his dream is materialising. But Western Union is not solely about one man and his dream of modernisation. In fact the main plot line sets itself as a juxtaposition of change which the main characters want to happen within themselves. This desire for change fuels the drama in the film's narrative. This is first shown with Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) who works as the deuteragonist throughout the narrative. He goes from being moraless to a man of kindness after finding Creighton injured. At first Shaw questions his sudden change in character, muttering to himself he's like Santa Claus. But Shaw soon amerces himself into the role of the good guy by working alongside Creighton for Western Union. Shaw's desire for change creates personal conflict within himself and his old accomplice Jack (Barton MacLane), who along with his gang attempt to use Shaw in their intention to destroy the telegraph poles for the confederacy. Although this is not historically accurate, it enforces the juxtaposition of change. Shaw wants to change for the better whilst his old gang want to aid the confederacy in their own quest for change in America. We also see a desire of change in Richard Blake (Robert Young), a young eastern man from an established family trying to prove himself as the opposite of a tenderfoot as he is referred too.A significant scene of Blake transforming his image is when he is challenged to ride the most stubborn horse from the stables. Dressed in western style attire he brought from the east it creates the notion that Blake is acting pretentious for the real citizens of the frontier. Yet after huge resistance from the horse Blake manages to assert the horse to his control. This scene shows the enhancement of change not only in Blake's personality but also in the opinion of others, most importantly Creighton's sister Sue (Virginia Gilmore). Impressed by his skills this creates a love triangle between herself, Blake and Shaw which is not only works as a comical aspect in the narrative but also a way of Blake and Shaw trying to prove themselves to Sue which relates to their own personal changes. However in attempting to change it results in Blake and Shaw being marred into tragedy. When up against a group of drunk Indians Shaw does his best to diffuse any tension without resorting to violence. However Blake, still inexperienced and wanting to prove himself to others goes for his gun and shots an Indian dead. Blake's actions against the Indian show his eagerness to change into a more masculine figure but at the cost of an unjustified death. However when Blake next resorts to his weapon, it is not only justified but concludes his transition from inexperienced easterner to a masculine westerner.After destroying the majority of Western Union's goods Shaw seeks revenge by having a shoot out with his old gang. This results in tragic consequences for Shaw who redeems himself at the cost of his life. This is when Blake arrives to seek justice by gunning down Shaw's killer Jack in a one on one shootout. On the surface it comes off as a typical western finale, the heroic figure triumphing over evil. But deep within it concludes Blake's transition, no longer the tenderfoot everyone thought he was.Western Union sums up the transitions of change as a fruition of a better future. Creighton's plan of modernisation is complete along with Blake's new experience benefiting his life from there on in. Even if Shaw's transition ended in his death it certainly was not in vain, "It's a long way from Salt Lake City to Boot Hill in Elkville, but I think he can hear it".

Lang does Hawks as well as Hawks does in the first part of this extraordinary Western, before settling down into typical deterministic, dark and guilt-haunted Lang for the finale.This is one of those films that shows its greatness almost instantly but at the same time very subtly. Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) is on horseback and being pursued, we know not why -- he stumbles on wounded Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) and decides to take his gun and horse, but discovering that Creighton is in a bad way, decides to fix him up first. This is conveyed mostly through facial expressions and very brief, clipped dialog - in 2 minutes we know that Shaw is an outlaw, but basically a good guy. Shaw ends up helping Creighton on his way to civilization, then disappears.Cut to a few weeks or months later, with Creighton on the mend and in charge of an expedition to lay telegraph wire going west from Omaha. He hires Shaw as a scout, who tries to leave when he finds out that Creighton is in charge; but Creighton wants him anyway, repaying a debt and sensing something quality. Also hired is a tenderfoot, son of a benefactor of the project, but atypically the Easterner Richard Blake (Robert Young) is quite competent as he shows right away in an amusing but exciting bronco-busting sequence. Both of the hires vie for Creighton's sister Sue (Virginia Gilmore) who - again not typically - seems quite as able to take care of herself as any man. The camaraderie between the three men, the comedic elements involving an unwilling cook and various rough and tumble types, and the wonderfully played light romantic elements dominate the first third of the film and reminded me more of Howard Hawks' "Red River" or "Only Angels Have Wings" than most Lang - but they are so well played and the action progresses so naturally that it doesn't matter, and doesn't alter our pleasure - if it does perhaps change our expectations - as the more usual Langian themes of the haunted past, dark secrets and the immense pull of the easier, destructive and evil ways come to dominate the later part of the film. Shaw's old pals come back to haunt him as the the wagon train and its wires move westward; attacks mount on the crew, and Shaw has to wrestle with what, if anything, he is to tell Creighton about his tortured relationship with Jack Slade (Barton MacLane), leader of the outlaws.Beautifully shot in early Technicolor and moving fairly seamlessly from sound stages to western locations, this is for my money easily Lang's best western and one of his very best films, conveying as potently as any of his films the tragic inability of men to escape their pasts and build a new future. Scott is as good as I've seen him, showing more with a flick of an eye than a lot of actors can do in a paragraph of dialog, and the rest of the cast is uniformly fine. The inevitable showdown between Shaw's past criminal life and his potential future is extraordinary, and a surprise even for a longtime Lang devotee such as myself; and even in 1941 it seems there was no place more fraught with meaning on the margins of civilization than the barbershop and the dusty street outside. You can get a shave, you can feel like a new man, but you can't really ever be one as long as the old ties are still holding you back.Genius.

ASCENDING to power in 1933, Hitler and his "National Socialist German Workers Party", which of course we all know as the Nazis, tightened their grip on the country more and more as the time went by. Early in their rough-shod trampling of the German People, they called any and all artists, newspaper men and film makers into their Nazi HQ in order that the may be informed of just what the newly declared "Third Reich" (aka 'Empire') expected of them.WHEN the Master Director from the German Cinema's Silent Impressionist and Expressionist era, Mr. Fritz Lang, was called in to meet with Herr Goebels; he listened attentively and said nothing. Immediately after leaving the Minister of Propaganda's office, Herr Lang went directly to the train station and took a passenger directly to Paris. Not even going back to his residence, Fritz Lang did not return to Germany (at least not until many years later. He remained in France; eventually immigrating to the United States of America.* MR. LANG went right to work in America; creating a variety of most enjoyable, solid and substantially literate upper echelon movies for many a year. Included in this smörgåsbord of titles is today's lucky subject, WESTERN UNION (20th Century-Fox, 1941).TYPICALLY a film about the Old West and Pioneer Days needed both quality as well as quantity of cast. WESTERN UNION qualified on both requisites. We are treated to a fine array of starring talent as well as a supporting cast which makes just about every minute and each scene a delight to our senses.HEADING up the playbill are Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger and Virginia Gilmore. Others prominently displayed are folks like John Carradine (playing not a vampire or other scary guy, but a Physician), George "Slim" Summerville (veteran character actor, Silent Film veteran and graduate of Mack Sennett's Keystone Comedies), Chill Wills (always dependable supporting player and former singer in "The Avalon Boys") and burly bad guy Barton MacLane. Added to this mix, we have names like Russell Hicks, Victor Killian, Minor Watson, George Chandler, Addison Richards, Irving Bacon, James Flavin, Francis Ford, Frank McGrath and Kermit Maynard (Ken Maynard's bro).PROMINENT in those American Indians featured are: Chief Big Tree, Chief Thundercloud and Mr. Jay Silverheels. Also featured is that one great representative of the Aboriginal Peoples of North America is that great, singularly impressive and memorable example of the Red Man, the Louisiana Native, Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera DeCorti of Sicilian immigrant parents).THE filming of the fine outdoor scenes was done on location in Arizona and Utah and rendered in the highest grade of Technigolour available. (There is no Monument Valley; but then, that's the Province of Mr. John Ford.) IN some respects this film is a far more amazing accomplishment than we might think; for it took a sort of pulp magazine story, adapted it to the tastes and idioms of the pre-war America of the late thirties and early forties. All of this being done by a German born Director who was only had been in Hollywood and America for the shortest length of time.IN its final analysis, WESTERN UNION, while it may not be the most historically accurate example of the Western Genre; we just don't care. It scores in all of the necessary categories needed for a great night at the movies! SO, who really cares about little details such as "accuracy"? WE give Mr. Lang and 20th Century-Fox a rating of ****!NOTE: * We just saw a special on PBS station WTTW, here in Chicago that was all about all of the Film Actors, Directors and other Artisans whom the Nazi rise to power caused to take refuge in America and Hollywood. (It seems that Movie Folks and Scientists were the biggest Export for Germany at this particular time; being that the Scientists who built the Atomic Bomb, as well as the future NASA people, came from Europe at this time.) POODLE SCHNITZ!!

Hard to believe this was directed by Fritz Lang since he mostly directed crime dramas and mysteries. This movie has a cast that includes Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger and John Carradine. Scott plays an outlaw who tries to go straight and leave his old gang and winds up saving Jagger's life. Jagger works for Western Union, a telegraph company that plans to have telegraphs out west. Jagger hires a lot of men to make sure it is done because they have to worry about Indian attacks and bandits. Scott is in charge of the men and Young is a telegraph expert who can't shoot a gun but can ride. Scott meets up with his old gang who want to stop them but Scott can't tell anyone. It's a pretty good western and Lang should of directed some more westerns.