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After their water bore dries up – sabotaged by the neighbouring villain – Dick, Marion and Reggie take the cattle to the last water left on the Hastings property. Reggie (Robert Coote) gets himself in a tangle with horse and whip.
Curator’s notes
A classic cattle drive, as loved by American westerns since the beginning of cinema. The sequence makes good use of the spectacular landscape, and Robert Coote, as Reggie, steals another scene with his rich comedy. Note the use of high and low camera angles, to elevate the sense of a cattle drive as something epic and noble. Such scenes are almost invariably a metaphor for conquest of the land, and that is usually mirrored by a romantic story in which a woman is also conquered, as Marion is here.
