Wagon Train (TV Series) The Clara Duncan Story (1959) User Reviews

One of the more "poignant" episodes

[drystyx · 7/10 · 6 July 2021]

This episode begins with a lynching, and the three men who do the lynching suspect someone saw them.

It's one of the episodes that was obviously meant to be more dramatic and meaningful than most episodes. Was it a landmark episode? I don't know. Maybe time will tell. And I mean "real time", like a hundred years.

So how does this fit into the Wagon Train? Well, the "witness" the three men were worried about was an artist. No spoiler, as this becomes obvious early.

So, the three men want to destroy a painting the artist made of the lynching. This doesn't have a lot of logic to it in terms of people thinking rationally, but three men who performed a lynching wouldn't be thinking rationally. They think they could be identified off of a painting of an anonymous lynching in an anonymous place.

There is an especially terrifying and needlessly hateful scene of a man burning alive. At least the director didn't have him screaming for an Eternity the way modern hacks do it today, as though viewers don't know that it's Hell to burn alive. But it's still grandstand play for the Beavis and Butthead viewers, annoying to anyone else.

William Reynolds alone is worth a "10"

[tforbes-2 · 10/10 · 7 April 2011]

I had a chance to see this episode from early 1959 last night on the Encore Westerns channel, and soon recognized William Reynolds in the cast. This second season entry to the long-running "Wagon Train" series is a superb episode in and of itself, a tale of a woman (Angie Dickinson) looking for her lover, the painter son of an Italian immigrant (who is along for the ride as well).

But it is William Reynolds who makes this one a "10," because because he has such a star presence. For someone whose acting is definitely low- key, he has that special quality that elevates a television show or movie. I'm surprised he did not make more guest appearances on the show, but so it goes.

Both Angie Dickinson and Eduardo Ciannelli also give good performances here. I remember Mr. Ciannelli from "Johnny Staccato," and of course, we know Ms. Dickinson!

Note the increasing use of Frank McGrath as comic relief. He was one regular cast member who remained on the series for its entire run.

Truly a fine episode!

The telltale painting

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 2 February 2018]

This episode of Wagon Train has Eduardo Ciannelli and Angie Dickinson traveling west to find Ciannelli's son and Dickinson's fiance Robert Clarke. Both Clarke and Ciannelli are respected artists though Clarke out west hasn't heard about some of the acclaim he's received back east.

For one particular painting in fact called The Lynching. Clarke secretly viewed one and from memory painted the scene. The acclaim it has received has caused others to search for him as well. Also on the trail is newspaper reporter William Reynolds who smells a good story.

Dickinson did this particular Wagon Train right after her appearance in Rio Bravo where in this episode she is joined by Ward Bond of course and Myron Healey who plays one of the lynchers.

It's a nice story although looking at the painting I sure couldn't have recognized anyone.