Kino Lorber once again taps in the Western genre and has assembled three films from the Universal pictures’ library in a box set. Called Western Classics 1, this set consists of a trio of Westerns from the 1940s with some legendary, big-name actors who are synonymous in the genre. The three films in this set are When the Daltons Rode, The Virginian and Whispering Smith

When The Daltons Rode(1940) is a story about the Dalton Brothers, Bob, (Broderick Crawford, The Black Cat, Beau Geste, Goliath and the Dragon), Grat(Brian Donlevy, The Quatermass Experiment, The Glass Key) , Caleb(George Bancroft, Each Dawn I Die, Old Ironsides), Ben (Stewart Erwin, Hold Your Man, Chained) and Emmett(Frank Albertson, Psycho, Fury) who are falsely accused of a murder and become outlaws. Lawyer Tod Jackson (Randolph Scott, The Tall T, Pittsburgh) arrives in Kansas to pay a visit his old friends, the respected Dalton family. He arrives just as the Dalton family is about to lose their land to a crooked land development company. Ben Dalton accidently kills one of the land surveyors. When Tod is preparing to move on to his next destination, he hears about the murder and decides to stick around to try and help his friend Ben in a court battle over the fake murder charge. Tod is unable to help his friends because all hell breaks loose during the court proceedings, turning the Daltons into outlaws, as Bob Dalton, who happens to be the sheriff, throws his badge away and kills another man during their escape from the courtroom. The remainder of the film is filled with chase scenes, train robberies and shootouts as the Dalton brothers go on a rampage. While all of this is going on Julie King (Kay Francis, In Name Only, For the Defense), Bob Dalton’s fiancé and Tod have fallen in love with each other.

This was the first time I have ever seen When the Daltons Rode and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The film is just bonkers with mayhem from start to finish. Director George Marshall packs a ton of action in the film’s short running time, just over 80 minutes. On top of the action, there is romantic subplot involving Tod Jackson, Julie King and Bob Dalton.  Kay Francis’ performance as Julie is excellent playing a troubled woman who is about to marry Bob Dalton, whom she does not really love preferring to marry Tod instead. This added some melodrama to the film, which is what she was known; the role was perfect for her. On the downside, Francis’ role is somewhat small as was the top-billed Randolph Scott. Both actors seem to just disappear during the middle of the picture

In the midst of the violence and romance When the Daltons Rode also has some comedy relief from a friend of the Daltons, Ozark Jones(Andy Devine, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How the West was Won) which doesn’t seem to quite fit the mood of the film, but still works nevertheless. Devine, known for his raspy voice, tended to play humorous characters during his career; this role was the most serious I have seen him in, and it was still partly tongue-in-cheek. Broderick Crawford steals the show in this movie, becoming the focus as the film progresses. This film certainly had to have helped in launching his career into becoming a headline actor.

Moving on to The Virginian (1946) which is based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel of the same name, is a remake of the 1929 movie that starred Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. The story is about schoolteacher Molly Wood (Barbara Britton, The Spoliers, I Shot Jesse James) who travels from Vermont, arriving in Medicine Bow in the state of Wyoming where she meets the Virginian (Joel McCrea, Foreign Correspondent, Sullivan’s Travels) who immediately takes a liking to her as does his friend Steve Andrews(Sonny Tufts, Cat-Women on the Moon, So Proudly We Hail). Corrupt castle rustler Trampas (Brian Donlevy, The Quatermass Experiment, The Glass Key), the antagonist in this film has a gang who are causing violent incidents with other cattle rustlers. The Virginian’s friend Steve happens to be working with Trampas, causing friction between them. Seeing all the violence Molly gets a bit disenchanted with life on the frontier, even though she loves the Virginian, she thinks about leaving it all behind.

The Virginian is a decent film, overall, I felt it was a run of the mill lackluster Western and not exactly the best example of legendary actor Joel McCrea’s work. Brian Donlevy is the best, most charismatic character of the film playing the evil Trampas. He was excellent at playing villainous roles. The cinematography by Harry Hallenberger is also one of the better parts of the film, capturing beautiful scenery and the mood of the film.

Whispering Smith (1948) is about railroad detective Luke ‘Whispering’ Smith (Alan Ladd, Shane, This Gun for Hire) believes that an old friend and colleague of his, Murray Sinclair(Robert Preston, Blood on the Moon) who was fired from his job has joined a group of corrupt train robbers. Led by outlaw Barney Rebstock (Donald Crisp, City for Conquest, Brother Orchid) and his number one henchmen, Whitey (Frank Faylen, (The Grapes of Wrath) the robbers terrorize until Luke and the law do something about it. Because Murray is Luke’s friend, he is conflicted; Luke tries to reason and advise Murray to leave and start fresh, but it is too no avail as Murray has gone too far over the edge, deep into madness and jealousy. Whispering Smith is a tremendous film with a great cast and wonderful direction. Robert Preston hands in a superior performance as Murray Sinclair, a character who was not stacked with a full deck to begin with, spirals down from a rich landowner to a train robber. Brenda Marshall is also excellent as the estranged wife, Marian Sinclair. Her acting is so incredible, seeing her expressions as she is torn between leaving her criminal husband or trying to help him. Alan Ladd is also superb as Whispering Smith; he adds a touch of edginess to the character, giving the film somewhat a Noir touch to it, as one could expect, having starred in The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia and This Gun For Hire (also with Robert Preston) a few years earlier.

Western Classics 1 is presented by Kino Lorber. All three films have their own Blu-ray case, housed in a gorgeous box.

The image for When the Daltons Rode overall is satisfactory with a crisp, clean black and white image. The boosted contrast gives the picture more details and an added sharpness. Early in the film, there are some speckles, minor print damage and vertical lines on the left side which disappear. The rest of the video is solid with film grain present throughout without the use of any digital manipulation.

The Virginian and Whispering Smith, both of which are technicolor films, feature beautiful 1080p transfers with colors coming in rich and bold, especially blues. Scenery is detailed throughout. Skin tones for both movies also look accurate and are highly detailed. Black levels are balanced, enabling you to clearly see any activities taking place at night, which there is not much of. Neither film has any signs of DNR or other artificial enhancements.

The audio track for all three films, English DTS-HD master 2.0 is also clear with no signs of drop-offs, hissing or other defective sounds. Dialog is clear with the lossless audio, and gunshots action sounds, and the thrilling musical scores in each film by Frank Skinner (When the Daltons Rode), Daniele Amfitheatrof (The Virginian) Adolph Deutsch (Whispering Smith) sounding the most potent.

Optional English subtitles are offered for the trio of films on this set.

All three films have similar extras, consisting of a commentary and a pair of trailers. The commentaries are what you would expect, a wealth of information about the cast and crew, behind the scenes information, and analysis. All of them are great listens and worth your time if you enjoy good, professional commentaries.

When the Daltons Rode has a commentary by Toby Roan. Canyon Passage is the other trailer paired with this film.

The Virginian features a commentary track by author and film historian Lee Gambin and actress / film historian Rutanya Alda. The trailers for this disc include The Virginian and The Gunfight at Dodge City.

Whispering Smith includes a commentary by Simon Abrams. Theatrical trailers for this Blu-ray include Whispering Smith and Boy on A Dolphin.

Western Classics I is a great set of films assembled in one terrific set. The films are satisfactory, even The Virginian did not click with me, I will still watch it again with others. The audio and video quality for this package are top of the line and the commentaries for each film is a bonus! This is a no-brainer to add this to your collection. Yes, it is easily highly recommended!

When the Daltons Rode

Director – George Marshall

Cast- Randolph Scott, Kay Francis, Brian Donlevy

Country of Origin – USA

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

The Virginian

Director – Stuart Gilmore

Cast – Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts

Country of Origin – USA

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Whispering Smith

Director- Leslie Fenton

Cast- Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall,

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 8/8/20