Been reading quite a bit of the stuff that has grown out of For The Love Of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon. It’s quite impressive, and they’ve proven their case time and again that there’s a real need to preserve American films.
I don’t have the chops to tackle such a thing officially, so I’ll cheer them on from the sidelines — and encourage everyone to donate.
Many 50s Westerns (and lots of other genre pictures) were produced by small independent outfits, and regardless of their legal status, many of these films have had their negatives lost or damaged over time. You’ve probably heard the horror stories — the camera negative’s been in a basement in Encino since the picture quit playing drive-ins back in ’59, then the producer dies and his kids toss the whole thing out along with a musty old stack of Variety. That kinda thing.
I’m not sure what the actual story is on Stranger On Horseback (1955), but it might not be too far from that. Joel McCrea and producer Leonard Goldstein cooked up a deal where McCrea did it for 25% of the profits. It took a while, but McCrea made a bit of money off the 66-minute, Ansco Color gem — directed by the mighty Jacques Tourneur.
Flash forward 40 years or so. McCrea, who passed away in 1990, is a Western icon. Jacques Tourneur has gained quite a cult following, thanks largely to Cat People (1942) and Out Of The Past (1947). But Stranger On Horseback hasn’t been seen in years. Not on television. Not on video. Nowhere. (I’ve heard crummy-looking black and white videotapes were floating around.) Finally, a 35mm print turns up at the British Film Institute and the good folks at VCI convince the BFI to loan it to them — and Stranger On Horseback is now sitting in the DVD collection of discerning Western fans everywhere. How’s that for a happy ending?
To be frank, it could look better — a film in Ansco Color could always look better. But it’s available. We can enjoy it any time we want — something you can’t say for far too many films.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
Joel McCrea is one of my favorite actors, so thanks so much for this lovely post, and for promoting the blogathon.
I’ve spent hours going through the blogathon. Thanks for punching a big fat hole in my weekend!
It’s nice to have a happy story at the end of the blogathon! Thanks………
Film preservation or not, a Joel McCrea Western I’ve never seen is certainly a happy ending!
Thank you for the interesting post. You can rarely go wrong with Joel McCrea. And there was another post today about Jacques Tourneur’s father Maurice. Both great directors.
It was great that VCI was finally able to release “Stranger on Horseback” I notice from the BFI print that the film was
granted a U certificate in England which indicates that the film was heavilly censored. 66 minutes seems incredibly short for a McCrea film especially when his entire 50s output clocks in at least 80 minutes. What a pity he did not
continue working with Tourneur all three of their films are excellent. I would have thought Tourneur would have been the ideal director for “Trooper Hook”. The alienated woman outcast from her own race is subject matter Tourneur would have had a field day with. Charles Marquis Warrens flat direction takes away much of the films potential. A scene where McCrea confronts the local rednecks lead by Sheb Wooley is as flat as a pancake. The only upside is if Tourneur had continued working with McCrea we might not have got the splendid “Night of the Demon”
I haven’t seen anything to indicate Stranger On Horseback ever ran longer than 66 minutes — and I’ve looked, since that does seem weirdly short. Not that it’s any real proof, but a number of Tourneur’s films run short. Plus, it seems like it was destined for second-feature status from the start, so keeping it brief may have been part of the plan all along. In the end, I’m happy to have it period.
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen Trooper Hook, which I’m dying to revisit.
The idea of McCrea in Night Of The Demon is gonna keep me up nights! (I was never a big Dana Andrews fan anyway.) It’s hard to imagine how you could improve that movie, but that might do it.
There is nothing wrong with the script for Trooper Hook and
the supporting cast is first rate . Apart from Warrens direction there is some truly dreadful process work at the
end of the picture.I always thought it rather sad that McCrea who worked with the likes of Hawks,Wellman
Hitchcock and Preston Sturges was reduced to working for
hacks like Warren and Francis D Lyon in the fifties.
While we are on the subject of running times my 1960 copy
of the Motion Picture Alamanac states that Boettichers
Westbound clocked in at 96 minutes. The TV prints around
for the last 30 years or so and the Warner Archive edition
run just 72 minutes. When I saw the film (in England) in
1959 it was in an all action double bill with Up Periscope
and I seem to remember Virginia Mayo had a much larger
role than the shortened version.
As a writer, Warren usually came through, but his direction is pretty uninspired (and uninspiring). Trooper Hook is one of those movies I WANT to like more than I do.
I find it hard to believe that WESTBOUND was ever 96 minutes long. Of course, stranger things have happened. Boetticher’s stuff is usually so brief, and Westbound at 72 minutes already seems too long. This is a film I like solely because of the people working on it — it’s a huge step down from the other Boetticher Scotts.
Wow, Westbound and Up Periscope. That’s an afternoon well spent!
“Never a big Dana Andrews fan”? Quick, how do I delete this blog from my shortcuts…?
Guess I should qualify that —
Andrews is in some great movies, and he’s certainly dependable. But he’s not one of those actors I seek out.
But when it comes to TV, he really did some great stuff. No wonder you like him.
I kid you not “Westbound” did originally clock in at 96 minutes.Randy had to do the film to complete a contract that he had with Warners.Boetticher directed the film because he did not want his “star” directed by a Warners contract director.Boetticher had little time for the movie though I think its not without its merits and should have made Michael Dante a star.Warners could do a super Boetticher set with the full length Westbound,The Rise and
Fall of Legs Diamond and the episopes of Maverick that he
directed.One of Randys best Warner Westerns is due out in
Spain this month Andre de Toths excellent “The Bounty Hunter” originally shot but never released in 3D.
How can I find official-like documentation of the longer time for Westbound?
I’d love to see a set of the Boetticher Universal-International stuff — Seminole, Wings Of The Hawk, etc. Legs Diamond remains one of the prizes of my laserdisc collection.
Thanks for the tip on Bounty Hunter. Time to go shopping!
The Westbound debate continues. I have always found my
1960 copy of the Motion Picture Almanac to be most reliable
wherin Westbound is listed as running 96 minutes.
I believe this running time is also stated in The Motion Picture Herald and Shoot em Ups and Phil Hardys book
The Western. However Maltin,IMDB and The Films of Warner
Brothers book state the running time as 69 minutes.
A friend checked the British Film Classification Running Times and again it comes in at 69 minutes!It looks at any rate that I owe you an apology as it looks as if the running time figures have been transposed at some point!
This is something I’m seeing more and more of as I go through my research. Someone makes a mistake, like this transposing thing here, and it gets picked up and passed along as others use that source for what they’re working on.
Glad we’ve got it sorted out. And I’m glad there’s not another 20 minutes or so of Westbound laying around. It NEEDS to be that short.
I saw WESTBOUND in 1959 (can’t remember what the other feature was), and I distinctly remember the 69-minute running time because it surprised me even then. There don’t seem to be any major plot holes that would indicate substantial cutting. Whatever else you can or can’t say about it (I’ve always been fond of it), it certainly is tight.
This ongoing discussion of the length of Westbound always points out (to me, at least) how LONG films are today.
I remember reading about some market research that showed that with today’s high ticket prices, audiences don’t feel like they get their money’s worth if the film runs short. Odd.
Alas, the BFI print of STRANGER ON HORSEBACK used by VCI was indeed cut by the British censor at the time – you can actually see the missing footage in the trailer included on the disc.