OTHER VERSIONS


Since the silent era of film, The Virginian has been filmed many times. It even served as the premise of television show. Probably the most famous is the 1929 version starring Gary Cooper; unfortunately, this version is not widely available.

The easiest version to obtain is the 1946 film featuring Joel McRae as the Virginian. This version has the benefit of being as far from Bill Pullman's understated Virginian as it is possible to imagine. Comparing the two films will allow students to see how the same story can be told very different ways when committed to film. It will show them how the choices made by writers, directors, actors, editors and others make the meaning of the film.

The first twenty to thirty minutes of the 1946 film sets up the major dramatic tensions of the story. Ask your students to compare the two films focussing on the following issues:

1. The two depictions of Molly. Why does she come to Wyoming? How does she deal with the roughness of the surroundings in the West?
   
   
2. The characterizations of the Virginian. Is he the "strong but silent type" that we know from the westerns?
   
   
3. The interplay between Molly and the Virginian.
   
   
4. The relationship between Steve and the Virginian. In the 1946 version, how does the Virginian first react when he catches Steve branding a calf that is not his? How would Bill Pullman's Virginian have responded?
   
   
5. What effect does the 1946 version create by removing Balaam from the picture and downplaying the role of the Judge? How does this sharpen the dramatic tension between the Virginian and Trampas? What is lost in this excision?

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