By Bob Bloom The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Feb. 20, unless otherwise noted: The Covered Wagon (Blu-ray) Details: 1923, Kino Lorber Rated: Not rated The lowdown: This silent feature is usually referenced as the first big-budget Western epic, though Westerns were — even by this juncture — a movie staple. The serious Westerns of William S. Hart and the breezy action films of Tom Mix dominated the genre at the time, but “The Covered Wagon” was something different. It’s scope was bigger than anything previously filmed as it tells its story of a group of pioneers who leave Westport Landing, now Kansas City, in 1848 for far-off Oregon. The movie is panoramic — including Indian attacks, a buffalo stampede, prairie fire and wide rivers to cross — and intimate, as it recounts a love triangle between a young woman, Molly Wingate (Lois Wilson), a brutish Sam (Alan Hale) and the dashing Will (J. Warren Kerrigan). The film chronicles the hardships and dangers faced by this hardy men and women who wanted to make new lives for themselves in an expanding nation.
New to View: Feb. 20
New to View: Feb. 20
New to View: Feb. 20
By Bob Bloom The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Feb. 20, unless otherwise noted: The Covered Wagon (Blu-ray) Details: 1923, Kino Lorber Rated: Not rated The lowdown: This silent feature is usually referenced as the first big-budget Western epic, though Westerns were — even by this juncture — a movie staple. The serious Westerns of William S. Hart and the breezy action films of Tom Mix dominated the genre at the time, but “The Covered Wagon” was something different. It’s scope was bigger than anything previously filmed as it tells its story of a group of pioneers who leave Westport Landing, now Kansas City, in 1848 for far-off Oregon. The movie is panoramic — including Indian attacks, a buffalo stampede, prairie fire and wide rivers to cross — and intimate, as it recounts a love triangle between a young woman, Molly Wingate (Lois Wilson), a brutish Sam (Alan Hale) and the dashing Will (J. Warren Kerrigan). The film chronicles the hardships and dangers faced by this hardy men and women who wanted to make new lives for themselves in an expanding nation.