Fighting Caravans (1931)

A hot blooded cowboy (Gary Cooper) escapes jail time by pretending to be married to a French girl (Lili Damita). When he accompanies her on the trek to California, his grizzly companions (Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall) do everything in their power to break up the attraction. Loosely based on the novel by Zane Grey and directed by Otto Brower and David Burton. Having just come off Josef von Sternberg's MOROCCO with Marlene Dietrich, this dreary Zane Grey programmer seems a step down for Cooper. It's awkward blend of comedy and action doesn't come together. The two cantankerous sidekicks played by Torrence and Marshall are supposed to be amusing (I assume) but I found them annoying to the extreme. The most interesting aspect is the possible gay subtext of the two woman hating sidekicks, they are seen walking arm and arm and die in each other's arms. Since this is a pre-code film, there's a madam and her girls traveling on the wagon train and a relaxed look at living together without benefit of marriage. Cooper and Damita don't have much chemistry and surprisingly, Cooper isn't even appealing here. With Eugene Pallette, Jane Darwell and Charles Winninger.