Overland Telegraph

The Overland Telegraph is changing the west and Tim Holt and Richard Martin are around for the changes. It's also interfering in lives of a lot of people both economically and romantically.

This Tim Holt B western has a bit more plot to it than most of the genre. Storekeeper George Nader is stuck with a lot of inventory earmarked for the army. But the coming of the telegraph means that posts are closing and Nader could be ruined. He enlists the help of his friend and local saloon owner Hugh Beaumont to temporarily wreck the telegraph construction camp and supplies that Cliff Clark runs along with his daughter Gail Davis. There's also an unspoken romantic triangle going with Beaumont, Nader, and saloon singer Mari Blanchard that gets into the plot in an unhealthy way.

Outsiders Tim and Chito are the ones who solve all the mysteries and entanglements. Tim thinks the telegraph is the marvel of the age. But the idea of communicating cross the continent means for Chito a way to keep tabs on his senoritas in California. Chito Rafferty always had a one track mind.

Familiar television faces like Gail Davis from Annie Oakley, George Nader from The Man And The Challenge and Ward Cleaver himself as the chief bad guy makes this film, well familiar.

Good entry in the Tim Holt series.