Whispering Smith--the movie

Last week, we looked at the 1906 novel Whispering Smith, which was made in a movie five times between 1916 and 1948. The last film, which starred Alan Ladd, seems to be the only one available to watch.

But that's okay, because it's a really outstanding movie.

The differences between the book and the movie are interesting. As one would expect, a lot of the supporting characters are eliminated or have their roles in the story reduced. Most notable in this is railroad supervisor George McCloud. In the novel, he's pretty much a co-protagonist. In the movie, he's very much a supporting character. His love interest, Dicksie Dunning, vanishes completely.

The most notable difference is how the movie handles the villain, Murray Sinclair. In the novel, he's pretty much already a lost cause. But here he's still close friends with Smith and still living happily with his wife Marion. The movie opens with Smith taking out a band of train robbers, but he's wounded in doing so. His convalescence is at Sinclair's home, allowing the movie to establish their friendship (and show us that Smith is also in love with Marion--though as in the novel he's too honorable to follow up on this).

Sinclair has his faults, but he's not an out-and-out villain quite yet. Even when he loots cargo off wrecked trains, he does so because this is considered the traditional thing for railroad workers to do and he doesn't really think of it as stealing. But when this costs him his job, he hooks up with an outlaw gang and begins his true moral decline.

Even so, Whispering Smith tries to help him, even offering to allow him to leave the territory without being arrested. At Marion's urging, Sinclair is ready to do so. But then a man is killed during a train robbery and its now too late to turn back.

It's an interesting and effective twist on the characters from the novel--using pretty much the same personalities and backgrounds, but turning the story into a human tragedy centered around Sinclair.

Ladd gives a typically strong performance as Smith, while Robert Preston is very good as Sinclair. Preston eventually became synonymous with con artist Harold Hill from The Music Man, so it's a lot of fun to watch him play the burly, quick-tempered Sinclair.

The movie seems to have moved the action back in time a decade or two. The novel has telephones and a smattering of electric lights. The movie is set more solidly in what we commonly think of as the Wild West, with nary a phone line in sight.

There's some magnificent location photography, several excellent action scenes and, of course, lots of cool trains.

Another difference between book and film: Smith's first name is changed from Gordon to Luke. I have no idea why, but there you have it.

There's one thing that both the movie and the novel have in common that I simply love--both versions of the story completely respect the sanctity of marriage. Both novel Smith and movie Smith are in love with a married woman, but both Smiths instantly and completely reject the idea of following up on these feelings. Neither Smith will dishonor a good woman by suggesting she be unfaithful.

Whispering Smith--the novel

A few months ago, we took a look at one of the railroad stories written by Frank H. Spearman. I mentioned at the time that I had never read Spearman's best-known novel Whispering Smith, which was one of the

best-selling novels of 1906. It's also been filmed a number of times, with the first version produced in 1916 and the last in 1948. There was also a short-lived television series starring Audie Murphy made in 1961.

Well, I've now read the novel and, by golly, it's a lot of fun.

It's set in the turn-of-the-century Old West, where the resourceful George McCloud is a new railroad supervisor based in the town of Medicine Bow. One of the first things McCloud has to do is fire work-gang leader Murray Sinclair, because Sinclair refuses to give up his "right" to loot valuables from a wrecked cargo train.

This causes a lot of trouble. Sinclair is popular with his men and with many of the ranchers in the area, many of whom think Sinclair is being treated unfairly. That makes McCloud unpopular enough to pin a target to his back. And Sinclair does not otherwise go quietly into the night. It's not long before one train is wrecked and another is robbed. That Sinclair is responsible is obvious, though no legal proof exists.

All this has brought Gordon "Whispering" Smith into the picture. He's the railroad's trouble-shooter, a job that largely involves making sure outlaws and thieves do not interfere with railroad business. Over the course of the story, this means facing down a known killer who is after McCloud, arranging a raid of a canyon used as an outlaw hideaway and organizing a posse to track down Sinclair.

The fact that Sinclair and Smith were boyhood friend makes the job more difficult. The additional fact that Smith is in love with Sinclair's estranged wife Marion makes it even more difficult.  But it's a job that's gotta be done.

(Something important to Smith's character should be mentioned here. Smith has never approached Marion about how he feels or done anything to dishonor her marriage--regardless of how unhappy that marriage might be.)

I really enjoy Spearman's prose. There's a lot of understated humor present and at times the story almost give the impression of rambling aimlessly. But it never really rambles at all--the events and the characters are all laid out for us clearly and the plot unfolds logically. We are given an often vivid impression of the time and place in which the story is set.

The characters are great as well. George McCloud and his love interest--the pretty and very brave Dicksie Dunning--both get their respective Crowning Moments of Awesome, while Whispering Smith proves to be brave, smart, resourceful and compassionate.

It's impossible not to like and admire Smith. There's two related incidents in the book that really define his character. When a compatriot of Sinclair kills a rancher and orphans a ten-year-old boy, Smith takes it on himself to comfort the boy and see to his future welfare. But a few chapters later, when he mortally wounds a murderer, he also takes it on himself to give what comfort he can to the dying man. Nothing Smith does or says excuses the murderer's actions--but Smith is not capable of turning away from a suffering man.

The action scenes are also done well and involve a nice mix of railroad stuff and gunfights. One particularly exciting chapter involves McCloud figuring out how to save himself and a work crew when they are caught in a blizzard while laying new track. Another involves Smith in a gun fight against three outlaws--in which the horse he is riding begins

to panic when the bullets start to fly.

It is a terrific novel, telling an exciting story while often giving the impression that you are listening to a grizzled Old-Timer telling you the tale while you are sitting around the fireplace.

Anyways, just as I was finishing the book, I was reminded that I actually own the 1948 film. I bought it awhile back as part of a four-movie set I found in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, but had forgotten I had done so. I think we'll take a look at this film next week. It'll be fun to compare it to the novel.