The Light of Western Stars (1940 film)

The Light of Western Stars
Directed byLesley Selander
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRussell Harlan
Edited bySherman A. Rose
Music byVictor Young
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • 1940 (1940)
Running time
64 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$606,810
Box office$1,190,622

The Light of Western Stars is a 1940 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander, starring Victor Jory as Gene Stewart, and based upon a 1914 novel by Zane Grey. The film is also known as Border Renegade (American alternative title). The supporting cast features Jo Ann Sayers, Russell Hayden, Morris Ankrum, Noah Beery Jr., Tom Tyler, and Alan Ladd.

That same year, another Zane Grey novel titled Knights of the Range was produced at the same studio with the same screenwriter, director, and much the same cast.

Plot

One evening, in an 1848 bordertown saloon, Gene Stewart, an alcoholic ranch foreman, makes a drunken promise to everyone that he'll marry the next available girl who comes into town. As if on cue, Gene's friend Poco enters, announcing the stopover of a strange lady at the train's depot. As it happens, she has dozed off. But she is awakened suddenly by the arrival of Poco and Gene, who have rushed to the trainstop with a minister who speaks Spanish only. Thus, the woman has no idea what's going on. Before she realizes it, she is almost hitched to a rummy cowboy she's never met. Fortunately, Gene realizes just in time that the woman, who calls herself Madeline Hammond, is the sister of his best friend and workmate, Al Hammond. The ceremony is thus cancelled.

The next morning, Madeline awakens in a strange bed, wearing the night clothes of a strange female, who introduces herself as Flo, her brother Al's fiancee. After raising a ruckus over her lost luggage, Madeline finally settles down when she is introduced to Gene, who by now has sobered up. Madeline finds herself vaguely attracted to the foreman. She also observes how happy her brother Al is whenever he is with Flo. Like Madeline, Al benefits from the enormous Hammond fortune. However, he has taken to ranching. Before long, Madeline quickly adapts to life in the Old West, a far cry from a previous life spent travelling throughout Europe's most attractive haunts.

These incidents provide the backdrop for this tale, weaving historical events from the nation's war with Mexico (occurring just across the border) with Gene's abandoning the ranch, his later drunken ventures south of the border, and Madeline's rescue of Gene from self-destruction. In time, she rehabilitates him, convincing him to return to life on the ranch—a life he has always loved the most.

Cast


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