Carson City (1952)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
Banker William Sharon becomes desperate that his gold and silver shipments
from Carson City to Virginia City are the helpless targets of a band of outlaws called
"The Champagne Bandits."
In true Robin Hood-fashion, after robbing the stage of its bullion, they treat its passengers
to a fried chicken picnic replete with champagne.
Sharon becomes convinced that the only way to foil the gang is to build a railroad to carry the ore,
but that will take an extraordinary engineer in such mountainous territory.
Sharon finds his man in brawling adventurer Jeff Kincaid, an experienced hand
at difficult jobs and former resident of Carson City who knows the difficult terrain very well.
It becomes a reunion of sorts as Kincaid's half brother works for the local newspaper,
but they soon become rivals for the affections of Susan Mitchell, the publisher's daughter.
Kincaid also has to fight the town's hostility to his boisterous railhands and ongoing efforts
by the outlaws to sabotage the project.
Written by duke1029

Cast
Randolph Scott ... Silent Jeff Kincaid
Lucille Norman ... Susan Mitchell
Raymond Massey ... Big Jack Davis
Richard Webb ... Alan Kincaid
James Millican ... Jim Squires
Larry Keating ... William Sharon
George Cleveland ... Henry Dodson
William Haade ... Hardrock Haggerty
Don Beddoe ... Zeke Mitchell
Thurston Hall ... Charles Crocker
Vince Barnett ... Henry
and many more...

Directed
André De Toth ... (as Andre De Toth)

Writing Credits
Sloan Nibley ... (screenplay) and
Winston Miller ... (screenplay)
Sloan Nibley ... (story)

Produced
David Weisbart ... producer
Bryan Foy ... producer (uncredited)

Music
David Buttolph

Cinematography
John W. Boyle ... director of photography (as John Boyle

Trivia
This was Warner Bros.' first film shot in WarnerColor.

Goofs
Anachronisms
In the scene where the train is taken over near the end of movie,
alternating shots of the cars show modern couplers and air brake hoses on the cars
appearing and disappearing. The time period was before these were invented.

Continuity
Just before Mickey Simpson and his group break through to Randolph Scott
and his group of trapped men, Scott blows out the candle that's illuminating his dark prison. When the film cuts to the view from the rescuers point-of-view shot, light can be seen through the hole.

Revealing mistakes
When the bandits push the freight wagon over the cliff, the dead driver's body cannot be seen.

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
Bell Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA
Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Carson City is a 1952 American Western film directed by
Andre DeToth and starring Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, and Raymond Massey.

Based on a story by Sloan Nibley, the film is about a railroad construction engineer
whose plans to build a railroad line between Nevada's Carson City and Virginia City
are met with hostility by the locals, who feel the trains will attract outlaws

Filmed on location at Iverson Ranch, Bell Ranch, and Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park,
Carson City was Warner Bros.' first film shot in WarnerColor.

User Review

Catering Bandits
12 July 2007 | by bkoganbing (Buffalo, New York)

Quote from bko

Carson City has the distinction of two real western characters hiring the fictional character played by Randolph Scott to build a railroad from Virginia City to Carson City. William Sharon(Larry Keating) is getting very tired of having his gold shipments held up by a gang of bandits who also cater when they do a holdup. Sharon approaches banker Charles Crocker(Thurston Hall)who also is a big wheel in the Central Pacific railroad to build a spur line so he can ship by railroad.

Of course the railroad has its opponents in Carson City and quite subtly mine owner Raymond Massey is heading the opposition. Because Massey doesn't have a working mine, he does it the easy way, he robs the gold from the other guys and then ships it as his own.

Massey's the brains behind those bandit/caterers. His bandits holdup the stagecoach have the passengers removed and then show them to a picnic lunch topped off by a magnum of champagne. The other passengers don't care when the rich Larry Keating gets robbed and aren't too helpful to the law. It's unique in westerns I have to say, but it's also kind of silly, the sort of stuff you might see in a western from Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, but not Randolph Scott.

Starting out with such a silly premise it was hard for me to get really into Carson City, even after it turned deadly serious with Massey trying to stop the railroad in any way he can.

Randolph Scott had a unique leading lady here, radio singer Lucille Norman who sings not a note. That's a pity because the woman had a wonderful soprano. I have an album she did with Gordon MacRae of the score from The Desert Song. Lucille is the daughter of Carson City Clarion editor Don Beddoe who gets murdered by Massey when his suspicions are aroused. Lucille is also got Scott's half brother Richard Webb, TV and radio's Captain Midnight as a rival suitor and opponent of the railroad. Randy's got all kinds of personal problems for taking on this job.

Carson City is also badly edited. There were a few things that were left in the air that I'm sure wound up on the cutting room floor.

Randolph Scott's legion of fans will like Carson City, but it's far from his best work.

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