Olive Films have announced a few titles they’ll have to us in 2014. There are three 50s Westerns in there, and they’re good ones.
Woman They Almost Lynched (1953)
Directed by Allan Dwan
Cast: John Lund, Brian Donlevy, Joan Leslie
Dwan directs a sort-of spoof for Repubic. Good stuff.
Stranger At My Door (1956)
Directed by William Witney
Cast: Macdonald Carey, Patricia Medina, Skip Homeier, Slim Pickins
This film should be much better known than it is. The scene with the horse (if you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean) is Witney at his best.
The Quiet Gun (1957)
Directed by William F. Claxton
Cast: Forrest Tucker, Lee Van Cleef, Mara Corday, Jim Davis, Hank Worden
Maybe the best Regalscope Western. I’m dying for this one!
Very nice. I’ll have to get all of these I think.
That is great news, about all three. Regal Films finally returning in their proper Regalscope aspect ratio makes me feel there really is a Santa Claus. I haven’t seen all the Regals–of those I have seen, for the best I myself would put it between The Quiet Gun and the also superior Showdown at Boot Hill. Am I recalling that one is already available from Olive?
Stranger at My Door is the best Witney I’ve seen, especially that stunning scene with the horse, just as you say.
Wow! Christmas really has come early this year!
WOMAN THEY ALMOST LYNCHED I only have as an “off air” copy from
some Euro TV station with burned in subs!
THE QUIET GUN I only have as a horrid pan & scan,as you say Toby
this is possibly the best of the Regalscopes!
STRANGER AT MY DOOR I’m really stoked about;a Witney A picture that
I have never seen.
Would love to know what other Regalscopes are owned by Paramount/
Republic.
Some non-Westerns that may appeal to readers of this blog that are on
Olive’s 2014 list:
HELL’S FIVE HOURS
A little known Allied Artists thriller with the potent star combo of
Stephen McNally,Coleen Gray and Vic Morrow.
TRACK THE MAN DOWN
A Republic British B with an American director (R.G.Springsteen)
Bizzare teaming of B veteran Kent Taylor and Brit songstress Petula Clark!
Plus not one but three films starring the great Steve Cochran.
Two Albert Zugsmith productions with casts that alone make them more or
less essential;at least for trash addicts like yours truly!
THE BIG OPERATOR
Has Mickey Rooney going full blast as a ruthless crime boss
THE BEAT GENERATION
Has Cochran up against psycho Ray Danton-subtle it ain’t
THE WEAPON
A great unheralded “Brit Noir” and pretty near the top of my wants list.
Cochran shows his sensitive side in this “missing kid” drama.
Socko supporting cast includes Lizabeth Scott,Herbert Marshall,George Cole,
Nicole Maurey.Taut direction by underrated Val Guest.
This film is a must for Londoners as it shows a now vanished view of the city
mostly round Blackfriars and Docklands.
This is one of the hardest of all films to source from anywhere,especially
complete and in Superscope.
.
Sorry to have to do this in stages;but my computer is playing up and I
am sort of working blind which may explain why the typos are even worse
than usual.
It’s great that Olive are delving into the Republic stuff (which include
several Allied-Artists and Regalscope titles) and hopefully we may even
see JACK SLADE released someday………Dear Olive Pretty,Pretty Please!
Had a look at some Euro releases and here are my comments:
RAW EDGE from Sidonis in lovely widescreen. This is one of the best
transfers that I have seen of a mid-Fifties Universal Western,.
Well worth it if you are able to disable the subs. Hopefully this title will
surface elsewhere in time,perhaps from those cats in Italy that Colin
mentioned recently.
WAR ARROW on Blu Ray from Koch Germany….very nice in widescreen
to boot which gives the film more of an epic feel.
THE BOUNTY KILLER from Odeon in the UK a 4 x 3 version of a
Techniscope film. A most interesting veteran cast and the film is not
without interest but the 4 x 3 thing more or less ruins it.
BTW Blake, SHOWDOWN AT BOOTHILL is already out from Olive and
its a beauty of a transfer.
Now I guess I will have to get a multi-region Blu Ray player……….
THE QUIET GUN on Blu,whoever would have thought it!
It’s interesting that this batch from Olive are all Paramount/Republic
titles. Does this mean that the actual Paramount stuff is now going to be
released by the Warner Archive especially considering their recent “deal”
with Paramount.
I am thinking about titles like RED MOUNTAIN,HELL’S ISLAND,THUNDER
IN THE SUN,THE BLAZING FOREST,HURRICANE SMITH and FLAMING
FEATHER to name but a few.Then there are all those A.C.Lyles things
which I know many of us want,especially the cats who contribute to the
Home Theatre Forum.
There is just so much great stuff in the Republic vaults and at least Olive
cannot blame flaky Trucolor elements with Dwan’s wonderful WOMAN THEY
ALMOST LYNCHED.
A lot of interesting stuff there, John K! Those are 3 really interesting new releases – thanks for the tip, Toby. I have a copy of “The Quiet Gun” (cannot remember the source) and for a cheaply-made movie it is powerful stuff. A fine western and a solid lead from Forrest Tucker with the ever-reliable Jim Davis in a key role.
As for “Woman….” and “Stranger….”, these are that increasing rarity these days – a 50s western I have never seen. With Dwan and Witney respectively directing they must be worth getting.
Very interested also in the non-westerns coming in 2014 that John K points us to, particularly “The Weapon”. As a Londoner of a certain age (!), the location shooting from that era (1956) is a must for me.
John K, have you also seen “Escape Route” (1952) with George Raft and a cast of English actors? Shot all round the London docks and City. I worked in the City and much of the location was familiar to me.
Hi Jerry…………….Hey the Limeys have taken over this thread!
No, I have not seen ESCAPE ROUTE but would really like to,especially
as you say there is a lot of London location work in this film!
Its kinda confusing because ESCAPE ROUTE is also known as I’LL GET
YOU and to confuse matters even worse another Raft epic LUCKY NICK
CAIN is also known as I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS.
THE WEAPON is very good on several levels,the outstanding London
location work being its strongest selling point.
Lizabeth Scott’s lone parent,cafe waitress role is refreshingly downbeat
for the era.The normally sweet natured George Cole is the really nasty
villian of the piece.Cole in his recent autobiography seemed to be somewhat
disturbed by certain aspects of his role,while he admitted that the film was
very well made,it is not one that he would like to be remembered for.
Some more Olive news on the Home Theatre Forum front and the good
news is that Olive and sometimes FWOTF contributor Bob Furmanek
have ironed things out between them.
The good news is that Olive will be releasing Lesley Selander’s
DRAGONFLY SQUADRON in 3D and 1:85 widescreen.
Really cool trailer up on the HFT site under the Olive thread.
While many of us love the Regalscope pictures,I must admit that I would love
see some of those later Naturama Republic titles get released.
Laura has already championed the excellent and offbeat MAN OR GUN
and I would love to see that one in widescreen. There are other goodies
out there too like Joe Kane’s THE LAWLESS EIGHTIES which is a cut way
above Buster Crabbe’s other Fifties Westerns.
The one I want most is HELL’S CROSSROADS with Stephen McNally
and Peggie Castle. This is a most offbeat take on the Jesse James legend
with some inspired casting: Robert Vaughn as Bob Ford,Henry Brandon
(excellent) as Jesse and Douglas Kennedy as Frank James. Myron
Healey plays Cole Younger in this one so what’s not to like!
I am on a real Jesse James kick at the moment having just indulged myself
with Blu-Rays of THE GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID and THE
LONG RIDERS. Also on the way is the Blu of JESSE JAMES with Power,
Fonda and Scott. Its always interesting comparing the various versions
of these takes on Western legends.HELL’S CROSSROADS would be most
welcome in any format,although low budget the film is good enough to
stand on it’s own merit.
Yes, we are having a lot to say here, John K. I have not seen too many of those Naturama films to which you refer but I would love to. You’ve really whetted my appetite! Somebody else has referred somewhere to “Man Or Gun”. I have not seen that either. Here we have Macdonald Carey starring in both that and “Stranger At My Door”. He was a fine actor though not one I usually associate with the western. I must seek out these two, based on the recommendations of other bloggers whose opinions I am coming to highly respect (I’m the new boy!).
Always liked Macdonald Carey in Westerns;and I know that some folks
do not.There are “off air” copies of the Naturama titles that I mentioned,
floating around but sadly as pan & scans,would love to see some of these
things in widescreen.
It’s great that Olive are giving a new lease of life to these Regalscope
films in lovely widescreen. One of the best Regalscopes that I recall is
APACHE WARRIOR with good work from Keith Larsen and Jim Davis.
This one was directed by Elmo Williams and was mainly shot entirely on
location as I recall.
Watched the “extras” on the UK Second Sight version of THE LONG
RIDERS last night some really great stuff there,mainly based on interviews
with Walter Hill,James Keach and Robert Carradine.
Very interesting that they show the main actors contrasted with archive
photos of the characters that they were playing.
Speaking of the brothers Carradine has anyone seen the 1979 TV Movie
Mr HORN starring David Carradine and Richard Widmark. I have been
hearing some great things about this film and would really like to see it-
I wonder who holds the rights?
Carey was good as the villain in STREETS OF LAREDO (1949).
He was, wasn’t he though.
Carey was also very charismatic as the villain IN COPPER CANYON with Ray Milland and Hedy Lamarr. He made me sit up and reevaluate him when I saw that one.
JohnK, thanks as always for all the great tips above as well as for mentioning Carey’s MAN OR GUN which I would be thrilled to own on a DVD. We’ll cross our fingers for that…
Best wishes,
Laura
Thanks for reminding me of that one, Laura. Ray Milland is another actor one would not really associate with westerns (he was Reginald Truscott-Jones after all) but then he was very good in “Copper Canyon” and of course the excellent “A Man Alone”, which showed him as a good director too.
Hope you have a very good Christmas, Laura. Always enjoy your comments and additions to these blogs.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Jerry, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours!
A MAN ALONE has long been one of my favorite Westerns. I was disappointed when Olive pulled it off the list of their planned releases and hope they’ll change their mind eventually.
Best wishes,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I do hope that you are still with this thread,which has sort of morphed
into “The Macdonald Carey Appreciation Society”
Like my fellow Brit Jerry, I too would like to wish you and your family a
great Christmas and the best of everything for 2014.
I look forward to discovering more great B movies on your blog next year
too!
Merry Christmas, John, and thank you so much!
It’s been a great viewing year for me, especially for B’s and Westerns, and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store! Picked up Mark Stevens in CRY VENGEANCE in a pre-Christmas sale and looking forward to checking it out in the coming weeks — I’m intrigued by the Alaska locations.
And while I’m here, a big Merry Christmas to our host, Toby, and all the other great folks who regularly comment here at 50 Westerns!
Best wishes,
Laura
For anyone still with this thread-well it is a DVD/Blu-Ray news thread;
Koch Media in Germany have just announced a couple of Universal
Classics from both ends of the spectrum to make their Worldwide
Blu-Ray debut February next year.
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
COOGAN’S BLUFF
Just proves how Europeans seem to love these great Universal films.
COOGAN’S though not an out and out Western will be remastered in
Widescreen.
Further info:
http://www.kochmedia-film.de
When will QUIET GUN be released by Olive Films? I’ve been watching their website but the Coming Soon category is almost bare and has been for a couple months. Have they stopped working for the holidays?
I am still waiting for release the bast Republic western ever : Ride The Man Down ‘
MJM