Carson City (1952)

Director: Andre De Toth

Cast: Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, Raymond Massey

Synopsis: When a banker finds his stagecoach shipments of gold from Carson City are vulnerable to holdups, he commissions the building of a railroad through the mountains.

If it’s a 1950s B-Western it must be a Randy Scott (Roberta, The Bounty Hunter) movie, and sure enough our stolid hero makes a typically energetic entrance, flying backwards through a saloon’s swing doors, launched there by the fist of an opponent who, rest assured, quickly comes to regret throwing that punch. Scott’s a railroad engineer hired to build a track by a banker who is growing a little fed up with having his bullion shipments hijacked by a gang known as the ‘Champagne Bandits’ for their peculiar habit of feeding their victims picnic food and champagne while they carry out their robberies.

It’s a pretty routine story, efficiently told by Andre de Toth, a director whose talent always outshone the budgets he was given to work with – although that was, apparently, the way he liked it. Not only does Scott have to contend with the attempts of nefarious A. J. ‘Big Jack’ Davis, ably played by Raymond Massey (Things to Come, East of Eden), the mine owner behind the robberies, to foil his engineering project, he also has problems with his half-brother (Richard Webb – American Empire,The Black Dakotas) who loves the woman (Lucille Norman)who only has eyes for Scott.

Carson City is nothing special, and is instantly forgettable, but it will probably keep you entertained while you’re watching it.

(Reviewed 11th February 2012)