Winds of the Wasteland (1936)
When the telegraph puts the Pony Express out of business, partners John Blair and Larry Adams sink their savings into a stagecoach franchise sold to them by a crooked rival, then have to race that same man for a $25,000 government mail contract to win their stake back.
Built around genuine stagecoach-racing stunt work rather than gunplay, Winds of the Wasteland later resurfaced on home video in a colorized print under the title Stagecoach Run, and gave a young Jon Hall an early bit part years before his own leading-man career took off.
Background
Winds of the Wasteland was directed by Mack V. Wright for Republic Pictures and released June 15, 1936, running 54 minutes. It opens with the Pony Express being put out of business by the telegraph; former riders John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams take two horses offered by their old boss, Mr. Dodge, and use them to start a stagecoach line, only to be swindled out of their stake by a rival operator. The two then have to win a stagecoach race entered at Buchanan City to reclaim a $25,000 government mail contract and their money.
What to watch for
The film is built around real stagecoach-racing stunt work rather than gunfights, giving the climax a kinetic, practical quality that’s unusual for a Wayne B-western of the period. Phyllis Fraser plays the love interest, and a young Jon Hall, years before his own run of leading roles, appears in an early bit part. Decades later the film resurfaced on home video in a colorized print retitled Stagecoach Run, a common fate for public-domain westerns of this vintage that found a second life once their copyrights had lapsed.
