Robert Taylor is Blake Cantrell, a Maryland plantation owner who goes broke and is forced to put his land up for sale. He heads West to Cumberland County, where the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is under construction.
There he quickly runs into trouble with Capt. Starkey, boss of the Bullet Stage Line. Starkey has his own problems. Stage profits are plummeting thanks to the coming of the railroad and the owners of the stage line — pretty Susan Griffith (Florence Rice) and her Aunt Amanda (Helen Broderick) — are on a tour to discover the route of the problem.
Susan and Blake are old friends. They went fox-hunting together, they briefly romanced … until he insulted her and she suggested he find a job. He finds one all right, for her stage line.
And he stumbles upon a shocking discovery. Capt. Starkey has been boosting profits by allowing a man named Arnold (Charles Bickford) to run slaves north into Pennsylvania and freedom.
What neither Blake or Starkey know is that Arnold’s real name is Morgan … and he isn’t herding the slaves into freedom … he’s kidnapping them then reselling them.
Either way, transporting slaves is against the law, and when Blake reports his discovering to authorities, Starkey is hauled before a judge. So — much to Blake’s surprise — are the stage line’s owners.
By the time all is said and done, Morgan has been tracked down and killed, Blake and Starkey have saved one another and put aside their differences to become friends, and Susan and Blake wind up in one another’s arms.
Relatively entertaining piece of fluff thanks to snappy dialogue and some unusual scenes — like the railroad passengers pushing the train up the hill, like the open carriages passengers travel in behind the steam engine, and like the bull that refuses to leave the railroad tracks. But the characterization of the slaves is hopelessly dated.
Directed by:
W.S. Van Dyke
Cast:
Wallace Beery … Capt. Boss Starkey
Robert Taylor … Blake Cantrell
Florence Rice … Susan Griffith
Helen Boderick … Aunt Amanda
Charles Bickford … Morgan / Arnold
Barton MacLane … Mr. Crowder
John Qualen … Davy
Clinton Rosemond … Enoch
Charley Grapewin … Old Puff
Robert Gleckler … Sheriff Barney
Cy Kendall … Foreman Ross
Paul Everton … Allan
Claudia Morgan … Carolyn Talbot
Runtime: 97 min.
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