ROMANCE IN THE WILD WEST

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 154, 27 March 1937, Page VII (Supplement)

ROMANCE IN THE WILD WEST

Brought To Life In “The Plainsman” 'J'HE tender love which exists between two of the hardest characters of the old Western States of America, "Wild Bill” Hickok, two-fisted, hardshooting exponent of law-and-order as the newly opened territory knew it, and “Calamity Jane,” a beauty who packed a pair of .six-guns and drove n sixhorse stage-coach over what then passed as roads, is the basis of Cecil B. DeMille’s latest screen masterpiece produced for Paramount, “The Plainsman.”

History relates how Hickok, played by Gary Cooper, was retained by the Government to investigate gun-running in the West because he was among the most feared of the bold and toughened characters of a region known for its hard and brave men, when that region was first opened for immigration, around 1870. It also relates that Hickok never wounded an adversary. It was always a sure hit, aud with this reputation as his letter of introduction, the handsome soldier of fortune went in to the Far West to find out who was selling rifles to the Indians in express violation of the Government order.

On the way he meets the beautiful “Calamity Jane,” so named by a troop of soldiers who found’ her as a child in the wilderness beside the bodies of her dead parents—killed by Indians. They never knew her real name, and she was. indeed, a child of calamity. The handsome Hickok loves the beautiful “Calamity Jane.” but never lets her know it, mostly because he resents her familiarity with other men. But she loves him and never has any compunction about showing it. Hickok discovers who is responsible for the gun-running after General George A. Custer and his whole cavalry regiment are wiped out by the Indians at Little Big Horn. But the discovery costs him dear. One of his prisoners, the notorious Jack McCall, portrayed in the picture by Porter Hall, whom he herds into the Deadwood Saloon, operated by “Calamity Jane,” brings tragedy in a breathless climax.