Stage to Chino (1940) Poster

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6/10
O'Brien Eases Out
boblipton19 October 2018
George O'Brien is a postal inspector. He goes undercover to court pretty Virginia Vale, who owns a stage line, and to investigate Roy Barcroft, who owns a rival line and most of Chino, and is running a gold-shipping scam.

It's a light-hearted RKO B western. Hobart Cavanaugh has a pretty big and moderately funny role as a drummer who has whatever goods are needed for any plot point. Despite the usual good standards of O'Brien's RKO westerns, he was getting tired of the grind. He had been a huge star at Fox in the 1920s, for John Ford and in such prestige movies as SUNRISE. With the coming of sound he lost his contract and went into B movies, until RKO got his contract in 1938. For three years he toiled in popular B Westerns, but this one would be his next-to-last in the series. He would largely retire thereafter and, after a hitch in the Navy (he was also a WWI Navy vet), would play a few more roles for Ford and deal with his investments.
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6/10
Undercover with the Postal Service..........
revdrcac6 June 2006
George O'Brien was a mainstay of several decades of westerns, beginning in the silent era. The barrel-chested Irishman was a favorite of John Ford and appeared in several John Wayne films .

This pre-war western features O'Brien as an undercover Postal Inspector involved in a seedy fight over a Postal contract. O'Brien gets to the bottom of the shady dealings and puts an end to the nefarious scheme.The villains are suitably mean-spirited and menacing .....

The acting, script and direction in this film are typical of similar films of the era. This movie remains popular with western fans and is often shown on Cable TV. O'Brien does a good job in this one, demonstrating a tough likability that fits well with the character.
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6/10
Where's the Sidekick?
bsmith555214 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Stage to Chino" was one of the last George O'Brien RKO oaters before he left for WWII service. This time O'Brien plays Dan Clark who is a postal inspector working under cover investigating a gold shipping scam where miners are being cheated when their gold dust is being "weighed" before converting it to cash.

A stagecoach carrying Caroline McKay (Virginia Vale) , the owner of the McKay stage line, salesman Boggs (Hobart Cavanaugh) and Pedro (Martin Garralaga) a miner, is stopped by a gang led by Pete Branagan (Harry Cording) and Dolan (Tom London). They "rough up" the driver Bill Hoagland (Glenn Strange) who is really in cahoots with the gang. Dan Clark (O'Brien) just happens along at the right time to foil the attempted robbery.

Clark suspects town boss Dude Elliot (Roy Barcroft) as being behind the scam. He has set up his own stage line to compete with the McKay line. Caroline's uncle Charlie Lait is helping her manage the line but is in league with Elliot to get Caroline to sell the stage line at a low cost. Dan hires on with the McKay line as a driver. He is competing with the Elliot line on a daily run between Chino and Precott Arizona. But, the mail always gets through with Dan driving. The two stage lines are competing for the government mail contract by the way.

When Elliot tries to get his burly driver Slim (William Haade) to fight Dan, Slim senses a double cross and sides with Dan following a major saloon brawl. Dan tricks mining agent Wheeler (Ethan Laidlaw) into revealing the leaded weights used to convert miners gold into cash, Elliot blames him for the trouble. The sheriff (Bob Burns, again) arrests Wheeler but Elliot has him murdered before he can talk.

Dan gets the miners to send their gold to the mint by mail and Elliot contributes his own gold as well but..............................................................

An above average singing group, The Pals of the Golden West provide the musical talent with four jumpy numbers featuring a female singer whose name I was unable to learn. My favorite "B" western bad guy Roy Barcroft turns up in this one all "duded" up for his role. He would go on to a lengthy career, particularly at Republic Pictures through the 40s and 50s.

Virginia Vale plays the heroine for the third picture in arrow, and O'Brien again walks off with her at the end. Previous sidekick Slim Whitaker is no where to be seen here. Hobart Cavanaugh and William Haade provide the sidekick humor. Also in the cast is Billy Benedict as Happy..
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7/10
Stage to a pretty good western!
robsmithjr7 June 2019
The film opens with, not one, but two tunes typical 1930s-40s films of the western U.S. The plot is pretty standard for westerns. It's the writing that sails this far above most. Same with the cinematography being far better than most westerns. Casting was also very good to make this a better than average film. A key to this is including the Horatio Boggs character and having veteran character actor Hobart Cavenaugh playing the part.

The story is of a bad guy stealing from the town's folk is nothing new. Another good casting decision of having Roy Barcroft play the character as a bad guy, but not inherently evil, is a smart one. The movie becomes much less heavy handed or amateurish as many westerns can be. About the music: It's placed in appropriate areas that add to the storytelling. About the lighter tough: Cavenaugh has a few really humorous spots in the film. He's not a sidekick here, but a part of the actual story. "Whitey" Benedict is also a part and he always helps a scene.

Certainly one of the weakest parts of the film is George O'Brien as the lead. His oddly muscular shape and stiff delivery leadens the affair a bit. He tends to be more peppy than others in the western hero role and that helps.

The very ending is a real hoot. The last line and actions would've benefited so many other romantic or comedic tales.

Bottom line: i recommend this film. 7 out of 10 points.
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6/10
western from 1940.... not so bad.
ksf-29 November 2018
A very typical western from 1940, with songs by Pals of the Golden West. and filmed in the hills north of Hollywood. Virginia Vale is the bombshell owner of the stage line, but her stages are getting robbed. Dan Clark (George O'Brien) comes to the rescue during one holdup. and SO much yodeling. Gotta knock off a point for all the yodeling. Gold mining, arguing over claims. Bar room brawls. It's pretty good. Directed by Ed Killy. was a DIRECTOR from 1935 to 1945... but then seems to have been Assistant Director after that up to 1961... kind of odd.
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7/10
Stage to Chino
coltras3521 March 2024
Caroline (Vale) is trying to secure a mail contract for her stage line. She's being plotted against by her Uncle Charlie (Carl Stockdale) and Dude Elliott (Roy Barcroft). Dan Clark (George O' Brien), an undercover postal inspector, intends gets to the bottom of the nefarious goings-on, unexpectedly aided by a traveling salesman (Hobart Cavanaugh).

Stage to Chino is a typical O'Brien-Vale entry, which spells enjoyable. It's lighthearted with the usual scheming bad guy, fistfights, saloon brawl ( O'Brien's most impressive stuntwork of the series is during a big barroom brawl sequence where he jumps up on the bar and swings from a lantern! ), Stagecoach action ( in one scene O' Brien transfers from one moving stagecoach to another. Apparently O' Brien did the actual stunt work.), romance and yodelling. The plot moves swiftly, and ends satisfyingly.
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4/10
George goes postal
bkoganbing18 October 2018
George O'Brien stars in this western with a familiar plot. He's working undercover as a postal inspector to find out who's behind a gang of robbers and also help decide who gets a mail contract. Just the casting will tell you that perennial western villain Roy Barcroft has to be the bad guy. And it's our heroine Virginia Vale who has the other stagecoach line.

I will say Barcroft has a few rackets going, run out of his saloon. Nice to diversify.

As in all these westerns there is a stagecoach race as the climax. Guess who wins.

Hobart Cavanaugh has an interesting part who knows who O'Brien is but keeps his mouth shut. He's a salesman with a drinking problem, but he always is carrying devices that prove handy for O'Brien.

Nice story, but we've seen it all before.
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