What else happened this year? From memory: The Teapot Dome Scandal. Something I know nothing about but the name. In reality - I was right! It ended that year, this was also the year of German hyperinflation.
What is the plot - in one sentence? It's a Western where two men compete for the affections of a lady as they lead a party of wagons across to the West coast of America.
I don't have time, just spoil it for me? One of them is a villain, one an earnest fella. The villain does his best to undermine the hero, while hiding his own misdeeds; but in the end he's killed by one of the hero's mates, and the door is open for the hero bloke to go from California to Oregon to settle down with her. Bet he can't wait for that.
What is the meaning of the title? They're on a wagon train, but there's no specific covered wagon of note, how mysterious?
The main hero, his mate, the one woman in the movie, and a misunderstanding that shouldn't have happened.
Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? For a love-triangle, silent western movie it's not that bad: the Native Americans all seem genuine and are largely friendly, there's no violence to women, though the villain does have some killed through his assholery; oh, yeah, there's a few scenes of animals obviously dying - a horse falling off a cliff, for one - but he, this movie's 98 years old, that horse would be long dead by now anyway. There's also quicksand, which isn't a concern today, largely due to it not being real.
Any thoughts? The main hero of the movie is as earnest and noble as the main villain is an asshole. He's almost comically 'good' - the two even wear white and black. What I found interesting was that the girl seems to like the hero, but her dad tells her not to talk to him because, and she just obeys it unquestioningly. Her father doesn't trust the hero because the villain had been spreading lies about him. Her father trusted the villain despite his continued evil deeds and comically evil facial hair. It was a simpler time back then. There's a lengthy scene where the hero makes a very creepy-looking doll for a child; there's a very lengthy and hypnotic scene where horses and then cattle swim across a large river (which is a cool thing); and there's an even lengthier scene where a man in need of knowledge that is important to the plot has to get drunk enough to remember it. It's moderately amusing, but jeez does it go on a while. There's also a banjo playing urchin who is part of the wagon trail, who pops up from time to time, and I kept thinking must be dead by now. Possibly the most interesting is the fashion. The dame is pretty by modern standards, which isn't a given for movies from the 1920s, but she's dressed like a sister-wife. Meanwhile the hero cowboy (there's no need to have the names for a silent movie, is there?) is a strange looking guy anyway, but he isn't helped by having ghastly make-up and high-waisted pants which make him look utterly bizarre.
Would you recommend this? The final battle scene is suitably epic, there's a grand sweep to the whole movie, and it moves along at a brisk and deliberate pace. The villain tells that the hero was kicked out of the army, but we later find out that he was kicked out over a misunderstanding, and was actually saving lives - other than his whiter than white attitude, and the inevitability that he'd finally get his way, this was fun.
Final thoughts? This movie might have the world record for handshakes on-screen. If you did a drink every ten times someone shook hands with another person, you'd be hammered in about 10 minutes. At the end of ho-downs, fights, river crossings, conversations, it was relentless. Though this is a love triangle, like many westerns, it's really a love story about two men: the hero, and his mate, a large, goofy-lookin' fella who shoots the villain at the end, and has a huge appetite. I hope they got it together.
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