''The Wagon Master'' is a 1929 American sound
part-talkie
A part-talkie is a sound film that includes at least some "talking sequences" or sections with audible dialogue. The remainder of the film is provided with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. These films more often than not contain ...
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
sound film
A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...
starring
Ken Maynard
Kenneth Olin Maynard (July 21, 1895 – March 23, 1973) was an American actor and producer. He was mostly active from the 1920s to the 1940s and considered one of the biggest Western (genre), Western stars in Hollywood.
Maynard was also an occa ...
, directed by
Harry Joe Brown
Harry Joe Brown (September 22, 1890 – April 28, 1972) was an American film producer, and earlier a theatre direction, theatre and film director.
Biography
Harry Joe Brown was born in 1890 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a producer, he had a p ...
, and written by Marion Jackson and Leslie Mason. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the
Western Electric
Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...
sound-on-film system. The film was edited by Fred Allen and the cinematographer was
Ted D. McCord. Maynard's character in the film was referred to as "the Rambler." There is a whip fight in this kinetic film. Maynard is believed to have been the first onscreen "Singing Cowboy" in this movie, succeeded by
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
as "Singin' Sandy" Saunders in ''
Riders of Destiny
''Riders of Destiny'' is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy (the first being Ken Maynard in the 1929 film ''The Wagon Master''). It was the first o ...
'' (1933) and
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
after Wayne eventually declined to flourish a dubbed singing voice in future endeavors; Autry "auditioned" for the mantle in the 1934 film ''
In Old Santa Fe
''In Old Santa Fe'' is a 1934 American Western film directed by David Howard, starring Ken Maynard, George "Gabby" Hayes and Evalyn Knapp and featuring the first screen appearance of Gene Autry, singing a bluegrass rendition of "Wyoming Waltz" ...
,'' starring Maynard.
Plot
Cast
*
Ken Maynard
Kenneth Olin Maynard (July 21, 1895 – March 23, 1973) was an American actor and producer. He was mostly active from the 1920s to the 1940s and considered one of the biggest Western (genre), Western stars in Hollywood.
Maynard was also an occa ...
as The Rambler
*
Edith Roberts as Sue Smith
*
Tom Santschi
Paul William "Tom" Santschi (October 24, 1880 – April 9, 1931) was an American leading man and character actor of the silent film era.
Personal life
Santschi was born in Missouri to Paul Santschi, a Swiss immigrant, and Margaret Kern, a nat ...
as Jake Lynch
*
Jack Hanlon as Billie Hollister
*
Al Ferguson
Al Ferguson (19 April 1888 – 4 December 1971) was an Irish-born American film actor.
Born in County Wexford, Ireland, he appeared in nearly 300 films between 1912 and 1956. Billed as Smoke Ferguson, by 1912 he was making Westerns for Selig Po ...
as Jacques Frazelle
*
Bobby Dunn
Robert P. Dunn (August 28, 1890 – March 24, 1937) was a comic actor who was one of the original Keystone Cops in '' Hoffmeyer's Legacy''.
Early years
Dunn was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Richard P. and Melissa Dunn, and attended ...
as Buckeye Pete
*
Frank Rice as Grasshoper Jim
See also
*
List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
This is a list of early pre-recorded sound and part or full talking feature films made in the United States and Europe during the transition from silent film to sound film, sound, between 1926 and 1929. During this time a variety of recording syst ...
References
External links
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*
*
1929 films
1929 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
American black-and-white films
Transitional sound Western (genre) films
Universal Pictures films
1920s American films
Part-talkie films
1920s English-language films
English-language Western (genre) films
{{1920s-Western-film-stub