Above: A title card for Chapter 3 of OVERLAND MAIL (Universal, 1942).

OVERLAND MAIL

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1942. Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Helen Parrish, Noah Beery Jr., Don Terry, Noah Beery Sr., Tom Chatterton, Harry Cording, Charles Stevens, Robert Barron.

OVERLAND MAIL is another Universal serial that I enjoyed as a youngster, but began downgrading as I entered my "Republics only" phase. But, after seeing Johnny Mack Brown's quartet of excellent Universal Western serials, and Dick Foran's equally classic pair of Universal Western serials, I decided it was time to give OVERLAND MAIL another look. It didn't disappoint me.

OVERLAND MAIL starts with frontiersman Jim Lane (Lon Chaney Jr.) being assigned by Colonel Medford (William Gould) to put a stop to the Indian attacks plaguing the stagecoach mail service and the Pony Express in the La Paz area. Lane suspects that white men are behind the Indians' attacks, and, after picking up his pals Buckskin Bill and Sierra Pete (Don Terry and Noah Beery Jr.) sets out to investigate the situation. Jim quickly discovers that white men are indeed involved in the attacks, which are being made by half-breed outlaw Puma (who else but Charles Stevens?), his badman cohorts, and the renegade warriors of Chief Black Cloud (Chief Many Treaties). Our three heroes team up with Tom Gilbert (Tom Chatterton), owner of the Overland Mail company, and his daughter Barbara (Helen Parrish) to put a stop to the raids, but no one realizes that Gilbert's best friend, businessman Frank Chadwick (Noah Beery Sr.), is spearheading all the skullduggery, and plans to get ahold of Gilbert's mail contract when the Overland has been bankrupted by the trouble. Naturally, Jim, Buckskin, and Sierra don't find this out till the last chapter, but they engage in plenty of battles with Chadwick's henchman Gregg, Puma, and the other heavies until the puzzle pieces fall into place and the big showdown comes.

As Universal's last real Western serial (the only sagebrush cliffhangers the studio made after it were RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY and THE SCARLET HORSEMAN, both more spy dramas than true cowboy adventures) OVERLAND MAIL marks the end of an era at Universal. Fortunately, they sent the classic Western out with a real bang. The serial has perhaps the tightest plotting of all the Universal westerns, and combines the thirties feel and thirties approach of its predecessors with increased forties slickness. Though Lon Chaney Jr. is dressed in the trademark black buckskins always worn by Johnny Mack Brown, directors Ford Beebe and John Rawlins use stock from the Brown serials very sparingly. Even the traditional silent-film Indian attack footage (which by now seems like an old friend) is interspersed with the new action so as to make it almost undetectable. A couple of set-pieces from OREGON TRAIL are recreated with all new footage, and some music from WINNERS OF THE WEST and others finds its way into the mostly original score. These borrowings add to the fun of OVERLAND--it's sort of a climactic montage of the best moments of Universal westerns. The pacing is as fast as the earlier Universal classics, while the gun battles are a bit more realistic, with more direct hits and no "shoot-the-guns-out-of-their-hands" tactics. There are fewer fistfights than usual, but one never notices their absence; the audience is kept too busy with riding, chasing, shooting, and some very fine performing.

There are few examples of really offbeat casting in serials--the cliffhangers in general were big on typecasting. However, OVERLAND MAIL takes a real chance by making Lon Chaney Jr. the hero--but it works. Lon had served his apprenticeship as a henchman in serials long enough (in SECRET AGENT X-9, RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY, and ACE DRUMMOND, among others), and his success as THE WOLF MAN must have prompted Universal to give him the lead in his final chapterplay. Now, success as the Wolf Man doesn't automatically qualify you as a serial hero, but Chaney pulls off his role in the best style. There's never a hint of the tortured doubt and sorrow he conveyed so convincingly in the famous horror film; instead he's decisive, good-natured, and ready for anything. He's convincing in the action scenes, menacing when intimidating the villains, jovial when chatting with his sidekicks, crafty when pulling strategy on the villains, and gentlemanly when conversing with the heroine and her father. If anyone doubts that Chaney could play a wide variety of roles, let him watch OVERLAND MAIL. Lon is fully worthy to don Johnny Mack Brown's costume and take over the job of battling Charles Stevens and the like.

Chaney has a commanding presence, but he's matched by a very strong supporting cast, headed by his "sidekicks", Don Terry and Noah Beery Jr. If this had been filmed just a year earlier, Terry (who had already done two starring serials) would probably have had the lead instead of Chaney, but he handles the switch well. I can't think of another serial hero who switched to playing a sidekick so well; it's almost hard to believe the Terry of DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY and SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND is the Terry of OVERLAND MAIL. Buckskin is just as competent as Don Winslow is, but a very different character. Complete with a rough, boisterous drawl and stubbly chin-whiskers, Terry is the picture of a tough, dependable frontiersman. Noah Beery Jr., as Sierra, is his usual likeable self, his easy-going demeanor and wide grin concealing considerable savvy. It's especially nice to see him do his "wise hayseed" bit without getting killed off, his too-frequent fate in A-movies like TEXAS RANGERS or DECISION AT SUNDOWN. In the best tradition of Universal Western sidekicks, both Buckskin and Sierra are capable of handling plenty of action by themselves and come to Chaney's rescue more than once. All three men together form a team of heroes well qualified to give the bad guys a hard time.

However, Noah Beery Sr. as the villainous Chadwick, gives it right back. The senior Beery is unparalleled when it comes to playing jovial but two-faced bad guys. You never feel the good guys are stupid for believing Beery's facade of heartiness; he's just so convincing. Whether cheerily worming Tom Chatterton's secrets out of him (Chatterton: "I'll use my cattle to pay off my note". Beery: "That's wonderful, Tom--where are you keeping your herd?"),, bouncing sarcasm off his henchman Robert Barron (Barron: "You sure got everything figured out." Beery: "It's called using your head, Darson. You should try it some time."), or grimly going over his plans for the tenth time ("I tell you I've got to get ahold of that million-dollar mail franchise") Beery is a delight to watch. You're continually torn between dislike and admiration of the scheming but good-humored Chadwick, and his dying repentance in the final chapter does not seem at all out of character.

Lovely Helen Parrish, a prolific B-movie actress who should have done more serials, is quite endearing as the heroine, very ladylike but also a bit willful and petulant, always adamantly refusing to obey anyone unless their orders agree with her own ideas. While this impulsiveness makes some serial heroines seem merely irritating, Miss Parrish is still very loveable, her tenderness and concern for her dad--and Chaney--outweighing her stubbornness. Tom Chatterton is upright and genial as her father, dedicated to getting the mail through but also concerned for the future of his business. Our sympathies are always with Gilbert as he continually struggles to keep the Overland Mail going.

Charles Stevens, as sneaky, cowardly, and deceptive as ever, does himself proud as Puma. A Universal western serial just wouldn't be complete without old Charlie. In classic Stevens tradition, Puma always affects a high-and-mighty attitude when with his henchmen ("The Puma takes orders from no one!") but never dares to stand up to his villainous superiors, despite his big talk. Harry Cording, as Chadwick's chief thug Gregg, is brutal and menacing, with his ever-present squint boding no good to anyone that gets in his way. Few more sinister or more intimidating henchmen have been seen in cliffhangers. Robert Barron, a master of slick villainy himself, makes a good foil for Noah Beery Sr. as Chadwick's business partner Darson, lording it over Cording and Stevens but always relapsing into surly silence when verbally bested by Beery. Carleton Young, Riley Hill, and Ethan Laidlaw, three highly skilled heavies, are the other key henchmen, but it's hard to get a good look at them since their characters spend the entire serial disguised as Indians, complete with war paint. Their voices, particularly Young's, are still unmistakable, however.

Jack Rockwell, another stalwart, has an unusually touching part as a gunman who hires out to Chadwick only to get money to send his wife east for her health. Jack Clifford is the Sheriff, Forrest Taylor has a small bit as a crony of Buckskin's, and Ben Taggart plays a suit-wearing henchman who attempts to doublecross Beery Sr. and regrets it. William Desmond pops up as the town banker, and the Cavalry is represented by Frank Pershing, William Gould, and George Sherwood. Ruth Rickaby gets a lot out of her small part as a cackling old hag who guards Parrish for the villains in one chapter, and Chief Thundercloud makes a "guest appearance" of sorts as a friendly Indian chief who helps Buckskin and Sierra save Jim from the Puma. Chief Many Treaties is the grim, hostile Chief Black Cloud, and Tom Steele may be spotted as a Pony Express rider. Marguerite De La Motte, a former silent star, is given high billing but a miniscule part as a cafe waitress, and former Universal B-western star Bob Baker, given ever higher billing but only a slightly bigger role, makes two cameo appearances as a young Buffalo Bill.

The script, by Paul Huston and the talented Western novelist Johnston McCulley gives the characters a lot of depth and personality, even more than usual in a Universal outing. There are some excellent cliffhanger endings, including an impressively staged scene where a stagecoach carrying Chaney, Parrish, Terry, and Chatterton overturns in front of a herd of stampeding cattle. The familiar locations from other Universal actioners are used, with the cave from OREGON TRAIL making a welcome return appearance.

While most movie series do not "go out on top", it has happened at least twice in the case of serial series--with Republic's Dick Tracy serials, and Universal's line of two-fisted cowboy cliffhangers. OVERLAND MAIL brings a long line of classic adventures to a wonderful close.