BYU

Harold B. Lee Library

Western Union

Starring Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine.

  • Time: 7:00 PM
  • Date: Friday, February 27, 2009
  • Place: HBLL Auditorium, 1st Floor; Admission is free; arrive early for seats.


About the Event
Starring Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine. Prolific author Zane Grey’s last published novel was brought to the screen in dazzling Technicolor showing off the changing hues of southwestern Utah’s red rock country of Paria in Kane County. The tale involves Western Union’s chief engineer Edward Creighton (Jagger), who unknowingly hires an outlaw bank robber (Scott) as scout for the crew that is stringing the telegraph line from Omaha to Salt Lake City in 1861. Indian attacks and the tenderfoot son of the company’s major stockholder complicate matters considerably. Scott’s persona as a lonely and tarnished hero begins in this film. Ably directed by German emigre Fritz Lang, whose forte was crime drama, Western Union was a major hit of the season. Variety noted that Western Union “is mounted with expansiveness as a super-western of upper-budget proportions, and displays some of the most eyeful exterior panoramas in Technicolor that have ever been photographed.” 20th Century-Fox, 1941. 95 mins. Technicolor. Director: Fritz Lang.

Links and Materials