At first I paid attention to Stagecoach because I hoped to use this film to analyze the style of classic Hollywood soundtracks in the 1930s, but I did not expect that this film, which was released in 1939, would make me, an audience from 2021, so fascinated.
First of all, starting from the name, the poetic and romantic translation comes from "Poems of Mulan" "A thousand miles to the military aircraft, Guanshan is like flying". Combined with the content of the movie, you will find that the title of the movie is more appropriate: 9 strangers from different backgrounds, because of different purposes, traveled through the vast western desert together. In order to avoid the pursuit of the Indians (Apache), this journey is full of dangers. The amazing thing is that although the Indians and the protagonists’ chase shootout was staged in the 20-minute countdown in this only one-and-a-half-hour movie, the audience expressed various humorous characters in the movie. and the looming crisis. When seeing the village looted by the Indians, the woman lying dead on the ground, the atmosphere of terror gradually shrouded the character's heart. This classic chase is really exciting. On the one hand, thanks to the foreshadowing ahead, the audience will be very worried about the safety of the characters in the car (men will be scalped, women will be insulted); on the other hand, Hollywood live shooting ( The combination of Monument Valley in the United States) and synthetic images makes people feel immersed in the scene, and there is quite a kind of determination to escape "to leave the Yellow River at once, and reach the top of Montenegro at dusk".
The musical style of "Flying Over Mount Guan" embodies the characteristics of the classic Hollywood soundtrack of the 1930s: the main keynote is an adapted folk song (Folk Song); music is usually used to make up for the editing connection; some character actions reflect the Mickey Mouse style ( Micky-mousing) style (Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) walks to town tavern with prostitute Dallas (Claire Trevor))
The tiny enclosed space of the carriage becomes the perfect place for the story to unfold, and the beginning of The Heightful Eight seems to pay homage to that. We can see many interesting topics along the way: 1. Colonization and anti-colonialism of Indians and white colonists, racism (in "I Am Not Your Negro" James Baldwin borrowed this used the classic gunfight chase scene from "Flying Over Mount Guan" to accuse racism: white people are portrayed as heroes in the movie defending their homeland, when in fact they were colonizing and killing the indigenous people here); 2 . Class differences; 3. Discrimination and prejudice, etc.
I have to admire that this 1939 film is quite exquisite in terms of costumes and composition:
The "gentleman" and ladylike outfits are in stark contrast to Ringo Kid (John Wayne) and Dallas, who escaped from prison to avenge their father.
Finally, I finally saw the image of the classic western hero John Wayne in this movie. I have read articles that the image of the tough western guy created by John Wayne even inspired American soldiers during World War II.
At the end of the film, the doctor and driving guard Curley (George Bancroft) also don't forget to give the couple a sentence: "They are saved from the blessings of civilization. They have obtained the gift of civilization." Ringo Kid helped save people's lives, kept his promise, and promised Dallas a new life, and Dallas also used his kindness to win the respect of others, so they got the reward from civilization to them.
To sum up, in this film, belief and questioning, love and desire, prejudice and arrogance are all vividly reflected, and in the end, people defend their dignity and beliefs with practical actions, and establish mutual trust. The new era has placed good wishes. From every angle, it is a classic in Western movies.
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