As we all know, and whether we really like it or not, the manufacture-on-demand DVD business is how we’ll feed our 50s Westerns habit in the future. So I’m pretty stoked that Fox has hopped on board with The Fox Cinema Archives.
In the first batch of titles is Van Heflin in Hugo Fregonese’s The Raid (1954). It costars Anne Bancroft, Lee Marvin and Richard Boone. Also appearing are Peter Graves, John Dierkes, Kermit Maynard and William Schallert. I’d watch Van Heflin brush his teeth, so take my opinion with a block of salt. It’s a good picture.
Also coming is Frontier Marshal (1939), Allan Dwan’s take on the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, starring Randolph Scott and Cesar Romero. Very highly recommended.
So now let’s load the comments section with all the Fox pictures we want.
Thanks, as always, to Paula for the tip.
Yep, this would be good news (especially given the general success the likes of Warner Archive has achieved). Thanks for the heads up.
My question is, when is Columbia (do they still do MOD?) going to release the official good looking version of “7th Cavalry”? Columbia doesn’t have a site to order their MOD’s from that I know of and there seems to be no way of knowing what they are releasing or have released. I got their “The Nevadan” a while ago when that came out, but I haven’t heard a peep from them since.
Warner Archives handles their distribution nowadays, so that’s where you’ll hear about new stuff.
A nice 7th Cavalry would be great.
Since I just saw ANNE OF THE INDIES on Fox channel a few weeks ago, I’ll vote instead for Jacques Tourneur’s other Fox movie of 1951/1952 WAY OF A GAUCHO. More appropriate to this site anyway as it is, if not exactly a Western, as it’s set in Argentina, a film that resembles one and is attuned to where the genre is going in the 50s. On a list of major “marginal” Westerns perhaps. This stars one of my favorite actors of the period, Rory Calhoun, just becoming a lead with this, along with Gene Tierney. As with THE RAID, the great Richard Boone is outstanding in a principal supporting role–he was always interesting, bringing extra shadings to his characters, and the end of this movie featuring these three is very unusual–it’s impressively quiet though the action balances through most of the movie. This was the first Tourneur I saw in my life, and that extra subtlety somehow made an impression on me even at a tender age. A criminally underrated movie.
Of course, Fox should put out ANNE OF THE INDIES as well.
FYI Frontier Marshall is already available, in a good transfer, with the following DVD edition of My Darling Clementine (both versions of the OK Corral story, of course): http://www.amazon.com/Darling-Clementine-The-Ford-Collection/dp/B000WMA6FK
It’s not in the Ford at Fox set, however.
That transfer is quite nice, and I assume it’ll be the same one dusted off here.
Fox stated that solo versions of things from sets would be part of this MOD effort.
Very good news for those in the US long starved of Fox product. I can’t see myself getting into these though – there’s a huge number of Fox titles available in other regions, and I probably have most that I want now anyway.
“The Raid” (1954), which also stars Tommy Rettig wearing one of those hats that Hollywood insisted that young boys wore in 19th century set Westerns, is already available on a Fox Region 2 DVD in Spain. It’s the original American version with English dialogue. Only the DVD cover and menu are in Spanish. I hope the news about Fox going into the MOD market will mean at long last an English language version of “The Deerslayer” (1957) and the release of some Regalscope Westerns that I haven’t seen since the 1950s, such as “Blood Arrow” and “Frontier Gun”. There was also a 1956 black and white Western starring Robert Wagner entitled “Gun in his Hand”, which I haven’t seen since 1957 (it was the support to “D-Day The Sixth of June”).
As for those juvenile Western hats, an ordinary cowboy’s hat with the centre crown pushed up to make a dome shape, they can be seen being worn by boy actors in numerous Westerns at that time.
As Colin has noted a lot of great Fox titles have been released in Europe.
The Spanish Impulso versions of WAY OF A GAUCHO,PONY SOLDIER,
POWDER RIVER,CITY OF BAD MEN and so on are very good.
WAY OF A GAUCHO is interesting in that Richard Boone underplays
his role of Rory Calhouns superior officer/manhunter. I love the way in the
film,although sworn enemies they both have this mutual respect for
each other.
Sadly the Impulso version of SIERRA BARON is horrific so a decent
scope version of that would be most welcome.
Other Fox Fifties Westerrns on the missing list are THE SILVER WHIP
and the borderline Western INFERNO.Like David Rayner I would love a
nice scope copy of THE DEERSLAYER.If they still hold the rights to
them; other Regalscope Films like STAGECOACH TO FURY,
APACHE WARRTIOR and THE STORM RIDER.
By the way David “Gun In His Hand” was a 45minute TV movie released
to theatres in the UK. Fox remade many of their classic films as TV movies
in the Fifties.
As the MGM Limited MOD series have released a lot of obscure B films
I hope the Fox MOD series will carry on that tradition.I and; I know, Toby
would love to see some of the Maury Dexter titles like THE YOUNG
GUNS OF TEXAS,THE PURPLE HILLS and WALK TALL.
By the way the Sidonis version of SEVENTH CAVALRY is one of their
finest transfers;a beauty in scope 1.1 85.If only someone could invent
a DVD player that dis-ables the goldarned “forced” subtitles. Its REALLY
bad news that Sony/Columbias MOD series have only released one
Western this year.
Did some checking — actually, I checked with Kit Parker who is wise about such things — and Republic/Paramount does indeed have all the Regalscopes.
The list of stuff Olive had access to included a couple of them. Lets hope everyone and their grandmother buys those so they’ll go back for more!
Another 20th Century-Fox CinemaScope / colour Western that deserves a proper DVD release is “From Hell to Texas” (UK title “Man Hunt”) (1958) starring Don Murray and Diane Varsi. At present, as far as I know, it’s only been given a DVD release in Italy. I’m not sure if there’s an English dialogue track on it.
David, From Hell to Texas is out in Germany via Koch Media in an English friendly edition (original soundtrack, no susbtitle issues) and it boasts an excellent transfer. The German title for searching is: Schiess Zuruck, Cowboy.
Thanks for the info, Colin. I’ll go over to amazon Germany and take a look see.
I love it when y’all swap DVD info like this.
As far as 50s Westerns go, in the second half of the decade, most cowboy pictures coming from Fox were Regalscope pictures. Those have been my #1 DVD want for quite a while. Not sure where the rights reside with those things — a couple seem to be part of the Republic stash that Olive has access to.
I’d love to see nice Fox put out Powder River and Way Of A Gaucho. I’ve become a real Rory Calhoun fan through working on this book. Speaking of Rory — Universal, you need to get Red Sundown out in the States!
It’s not easy to track down where and when the foreign DVDs are released, because review sites such as DVD Beaver and DVD Savant mainly focus on the American and British releases. MGM’s CinemaScope / black and white Rory Calhoun Western from 1957, “The Hired Gun”, deserves a proper DVD release, but may never get one. I have a pan and scan DVD-R of it bought off an eBay seller and probably recorded by someone off American TV, but it needs a proper release in wide screen.
The Hired Gun would be terrific. There was a guy selling a letterboxed copy about a year ago, but his site vanished before I could order one.
We get a lot of these on TV at the moment, last Saturday was “Hell Bent For Leather”, “Tall Man Riding” then “Man From God’s Country” followed by “The Unforgiven” one after the other.
Like many of you I am a big fan of Rory Calhoun and “Red Sundown” should be out on DVD also my personal favourites “Dawn At Socorro” , “Domino Kid” & “Utah Blaine”. One other that does get overlooked is “Tension At table Rock” – Richard Egan is superb in it – pity he didn’t do more Westerns – and DeForrest Kelly although his part is small almost steals the Movie
Tension At Table Rock is very good — and had a really cool poster.
Red Sundown is just terrific, probably my favorite of Rory’s Westerns. It’s such a shame that Jack Arnold didn’t make more cowboy pictures when he was at Universal.
I recorded Hired Gun a year or 2 ago from TCM, I think this is the one, when I watched it, that I was suprised at how short the movie was. 20 years ago I recorded from TBS a Charles Bronson “Regalscope” picture “Showdown At Boot Hill” it was full screen though. As for foreign sources to buy DVDs, my big problem is I don’t speak or understand German, French, and very limited on Spanish. So even if I go to the French Amazon, I have no idea what I’m reading or what buttons I’m pushing to try to order. Try doing that with the Japanese Amazon. I wish there would be English translations on these foreign Amazon sites. I can handle Amazon.uk though.
It can be difficult to find your way through the non-English amazon sites, but all the icons such as the order button and deliver to this address button and confirm order button are in the same place on all the sites and I’ve been able to order DVD’s off amazon Germany and France with little trouble. Translating the item descriptions or customers comments are a bit difficult, even using an Internet translator such as Alta Vista Babel Fish. Sometimes, translating German into English with that has hilarious results, but I’m generally able to get the gist of what they’re saying.
Johnny Guitar,
I order from the French, German, and Spanish Amazons. They have a currency conversion which shows you the cost in US dollars. The page layouts are basically the same as the UK and US Amazons. I use Google Translate to translate any of the words I can’t make out. Just cut and paste.
From one of my favorite websites, the Widescreen Museum, a paragraph about Regalscope:
Until 1959, Fox reserved the CinemaScope name only for “A” budget films, which were substantially all in Color by DeLuxe. Starting in 1957, what might be classed as “A-” films would sometimes be photographed in black & white. They might be “B” quality but Fox didn’t treat them that way. Genuine low budget, or “B” films, did not carry a Fox banner. Instead they were produced for Fox by Regal Films and while the lenses were still the same Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope optics, the process was labeled Regalscope. Ultimately the company released a number of prestige films in CinemaScope and black & white, including The Diary of Anne Frank, The Longest Day, and Sink the Bismark!.
Maury Dexter was at Lippert for the Regal years and is a wealth of info on these things.
I was able to interview him — maybe I should go ahead and post some of that since we’re all so Regal-y these days!
Love all this info! I am hoping that some way, somehow, I’m going to be able to buy a DVD of the RegalScope movie COPPER SKY (1957), distributed by Fox, in the next year or two…
Best wishes,
Laura
I saw Copper Sky years ago. That’s one of the Regals at the top of my list.
About all I remember about it is that it plays like a Western African Queen — and that Strother Martin is in it.
It’s true, COPPER SKY is kind of an AFRICAN QUEEN in the desert. I thought Coleen Gray was excellent, really made the movie for me. Liked it so much I watched it a second time shortly after the first, the better to take everything in.
Best wishes,
Laura
First things first;I would like to point out that I am looking at things from
a UK perspective;I do not know how rare the films I am going to mention
are elsewhere.
Thinking about Fox films I was amazed to find the huge number of titles
in their back catalog not released on DVD.
The Americana cycle of films is generally overlooked but did produce
some real gems like STARS IN MY CROWN,THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT
and COME NEXT SPRING. A piece of Fox Americana on the missing
list is Henry Kings I D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN with a knockout
cast including Susan Hayward,William Lundigan and Rory Calhoun.
Lundigan really should have made Westerns;did this guy look like Joel
McCrea or what!.Another big budget Henry King film MIA is UNTAMED
a South African Western.(it has wagon trains and gunfights)
Another South African Western is George Shermans THE FIERCEST
HEART which I loved when I was 14,probably because Juliet Prowse was
in the cast.Not Westerns but there are plenty of big budget Foxflix
still unavailable like SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD,WAY TO THE GOLD,
and two from Henry Hathaway BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE and
WOMAN POSSESED.Also there are obscure films from major directors
like Don Siegels HOUND DOG MAN,Raoul Walshes MARINES LETS GO
and Michael Powells THE QUEENS GUARDS. The Siegel film is reputedly
excellent the other two are not.
The post Regalscope Fox B Westerns are interesting because they were
all filmed in Cinemascope. VALLEY OF THE REDWOODS was directed by
William Witney.13 FIGHTING MEN was Grant Williams only lead role
in a Western.YOUNG JESSE JAMES was directed by the normally
reliable Bill Claxton.THE BROKEN LAND was also in color and had
the somewhat bizzare star trio of Kent Taylor,Jody McCrea and Jack
Nicholson! All of these films are probably not very good but I would like
to see em.
There are also a couple of obscure titles from directors closely associated
with the Western Andrew McLaglens THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF
KINGDOM COME and Burt Kennedys first directing job THE
CANADIANS starring Robert Ryan and John Dehner.
I would also like to see George Shermans sole Britflick THE SON OF
ROBIN HOOD (the son turns out to be a girl!) just for the opportunity of
seeing Sherman work away from his home turf.At least the Brit supporting
cast is stellar.
Now with Fox aboard the MOD express the only major studio not signed
up is Paramount. There are a few Paramount A Westerns still missing
but the A.C.Lyles Westerns are what MOD was created for. Also from
Paramount we need the Regalscope films and the Republic titles.
Again the Regalscopes were made for MOD.Also the later (last days
of) Republic titles which were filmed in Widescreen Naturama.
Furthermore films like THE LAWLESS EIGHTIES,HELLS CROSSROADS
and MAN OR GUN are pretty good to boot!
I was thrilled to see in the TV Times back around February, 1990, that “The Fiercest Heart” was going to be shown on ATV Midlands (or was it Central TV by then?) as I hadn’t seen the film since I, too, was 14 in 1961. Alas, ir was not to be. It was cancelled because that Saturday, Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa and the television channels were full of the subject. The continuity announcer announced that the film would now be shown at a later date. Well, I waited and waited and still no sign of it. After three years, I contacted Central to ask were they going to show it or not and they wrote back to say that their licence with 20th Century-Fox to show the film had now expired and they had no plans to show it now.
Other Fox CinemaScope / colour films from that period that deserve and American or British DVD release are “The Inspector” (also known as “Lisa”), starring Stephen Boyd and Dolores Hart and “The Lion”, filmed entirely on sun drenched location in Kenya and starring William Holden and Pamela Franklin (this one is available on a Spanish Impulso DVD in 4×3 letterbox format). Both films are enhanced by wonderful Malcolm Arnold scores.
The last time 20th Century-Fox’s “The Canadians” was shown on British television was around 1990 in pan and scan. Other Republic Naturama Westerns worthy of a DVD release are “Duel at Apache Wells” (black and white) and “Thunder Over Arizona” (Trucolor).
Originally released by Allied Artists in 1958, “Naked in the Sun”, in Eastman Color, starring James Craig and Lita Milan, is a thrilling, action packed film about the wars involving the U.S. Army and the Seminole Indians in the Florida Everglades of 1835. Republic video picked up the rights to it in 1985 and released a very poor quality NTSC VHS video of it. It cries out for a DVD restoration.
Other Fox titles that I do not think they now own are the three Randolph
Scott Nat Holt Westerns and the Edward Alperson productions.
These are now owned by Ignite Films in Holland.
Recently watched the Alperson Lesley Selander Western BELLE STARRS
DAUGHTER and it was excellent.I liked the contrast between George
Montgomerys stern,none to likable lawman and Rod Camerons charming
but ruthless outlaw.Montgomery and Selander should have worked together
far more than they did.
This got me to thinking (what again!) what a great period the late Forties
were for Westerns.A whole host of outstanding Westerns in just a few years.
I am of course thinking about titles like PURSUED,COLORADO TERRITORY
SOUTH OF SOUTH LOUIS,CORONER CREEK,THE WALKING HILLS,
RELENTLESS,FOUR FACES WEST,RAMROD to name a few.
“Yellow Sky” was, in my opinion, the best Fox Western of the late 1940s, but that’s been available on DVD for some years now. A close second was “Fury at Furnace Creek”, also available on DVD. Another Fox Western from the early 1950s that deserves a DVD release is “The Outcasts of Poker Flat.”
I’ve never seen Fury At Furnace Creek. Been wanting to for years.
Yellow Sky is a great, great film.
The Region 1 DVD of “Fury at Furnace Creek” is still available direct from amazon.com and for only $9.99. I bought mine a couple of years ago and it’s an excellent transfer.
I just got FURY AT FURNACE CREEK in the mail a couple weeks ago. Haven’t had time to watch it yet. It was very inexpensive, bought new from an Amazon vendor.
*Love* YELLOW SKY. Good comment above about the late ’40s being a good time for Westerns. I could add BLOOD ON THE MOON and RACHEL AND THE STRANGER to that list. Also a little RKO gem called ROUGHSHOD with Robert Sterling. And ANGEL AND THE BADMAN.
Best wishes,
Laura
David, I knew there was at least one key film missing from my list
of course I SHOULD have included YELLOW SKY.
NAKED IN THE SUN sounds most interesting,this is the sort of obscure
stuff I love tracking down.
Just been on to Amazon Germany to order my copies of MAN FROM
BITTER RIDGE and UNTAMED FRONTIER and was most suprised to
see that in Germany they are about to release 13 episodes of the
Keith Larsen TV series BRAVE EAGLE. on 3 DVDs. I loved this series
as a child. The bad news its German language……..DRAT!
UNTAMED stars Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward, and you’d think with that cast (and Henry King directing — King and Power made something like 11 films together; King basically discovered Power back in 1936) it would be a great film, but based on my pan and scan “unofficial” DVD — it’s a dog. One of my least favorite Tyrone Power-20th Century Fox films. Maybe if I saw a decent widescreen transfer I’d like it better. There is still a significant chunk of Power’s films with Fox unreleased DVD. Also of interest to everyone here is Power’s last film for Fox, PONY SOLDIER (1952), a Canadian Mounted Police yarn — well, the last until he returned on a two-film contract not too long thereafter. One of those two films was UNTAMED. The other was KING OF THE KYBER RIFLES, based on the Talbot Mundy book. (He returned to Fox one last time for THE SUN ALSO RISES.)
Paula,
I have not seen UNTAMED since the mid-sixties but seeing it in
Scope in a large cinema;at the time I thought it was rather magnificient.
I would love to see it again;I seem to recall some rather impressive
gunplay between Power and Richard Egan.
PONY SOLDIER is great fun a lovely “sweet natured” Western;it you
cannot wait for the USA Fox version the Spanish Impulso DVD is
highly recommended.
KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES has a sort of “Western” feel as
it was filmed in Lone Pine of all places.Between all the impressive
action there is a most interesting subtext of British Colonial racisim;
Power plays an officer of mixed race in the film.
Laura, its kinda odd because someone only last night said I must see
ROUGHSHOD,he is going to send me a copy.
Another late Forties gem that I missed out was THE DOOLINS OF
OKLAHOMA.
David Rayner,if you are still out there, we sort of drifted into “South African
Westerns” a while back. Another one,though not a Fox film was
THE HELLIONS a sort of South African version of HIGH NOON.
As you seem to have had the same sort of mis-spent youth as me,I
wonder if you ever saw this one.As a 14 year old I loved it and it was
filmed in high definition Super-Technirama to boot. It starred Richard
Todd and the lovely Anne Aubrey;but the real attraction for me was
Lionel Jeffries,James Booth and Brit rocker Marty Wilde having the time
of their lives playing members of a murderous clan.I would LOVE to see
that one released on DVD.
John, hope you enjoy ROUGHSHOD, would love to hear your opinion.
Best wishes,
Laura
I never went to see “The Hellions”, John, although the title song, recorded by Marty Wilde, was released on a Philips single and got into the hit parade. I only ever saw the film panned and scanned on television, but not for at least 44 years. In fact, I don’t think it’s been on television again since 1968.
David,there were so many great films around in those days it was just
impossible to see everything. I understand the film is on a lot of peoples
wants list.
There has been mention on this thread about COPPER SKY which I
do not have fond memories of.Charles Marquis Warren is one of my least
favourite directors and I recall his Regalscopes as being the least interesting
of the bunch. (BLOOD ARROW,RIDE A VIOLENT MILE and so on.)
Having said that I ADORE Coleen Gray.I loved the way she could play
good or bad characters equally well.Like many other Fifties stars one
minute they were in class A pictures the next in low budget junk. I guess
their agents just wanted to keep them in as much work as possible.
I think another B movie icon (Gloria Talbott) summed it up when she said
she did THE LEECH WOMAN (Coleen played the title role) because her
daughter wanted a horse for her birthday! I guess thats the way things were
in those days.Saw a very interesting very low budget Western starring
Coleen the other day,FRONTIER GAMBLER. As someone on the imdb
noted this is a B Western version of LAURA. Coleen is VERY good
in the picture,at any rate we do not expect the theme of obsessive love to
creep into our B Westerns!
In spite of the B movie stuff which many of us still love, Coleen, had some
brilliant credits working with such diverse directors as Kubrick,Allan Dwan
Phil Karlson and Lesley Selander.
I’m very glad to have the tip about FRONTIER GAMBLER, just bumped it up higher in my Netflix queue. Thanks for the interesting info!
Best wishes,
Laura
I had a big crush on Colleen Gray when I was a youngster…for some reason, in those days, I could fancy girls of my own age as well as certain older actresses. I haven’t seen “Frontier Gambler” since May, 1958, when I went to see it as the supporting film to “Up The Creek”. I really will have to get a photo of her off eBay and upload it to my flickr photostream. I’m lucky to have an original Front-of-House set of eight black and white stills from “Copper Sky”, with some nice scenes of Colleen in them. I saw her recently on a television interview as one of the extras about Tyrone Power’s leading ladies on the “Captain From Castile” DVD and she is now completely unrecognisable from the actress I fancied in the 1950s. Another Hollywood actress I fancied at the time was Erin O’Brien. She will appear on my flickr photostream next week, when I reach February, 1959, and “Girl on the Run”.
Well David thanks for saying you saw FRONTIER GAMBLER on with
“Up The Creek” because this is what I must have seen the film
on with in my youth.I knew I had seen the film at the cinema but did
not know on with what.
Other actresses who made lots of B films that I really like are
Peggie Castle and Mala Powers.Someone will soon be sending me
one of my “holy grail” titles SON OF BELLE STARR which I have been
after for ages.Not only is Peggie Castle in the film but it is the only
lead role in a Western for the lovely Dona Drake. I sure wish that
she had appeared in more films than she did!
Well, it depends where you saw it and when, John. But if you saw “Frontier Gambler” at an ABC cinema on its original 1958 release, then it would have been on with “Up The Creek”. I would like to have included “Frontier Gambler” on my flickr photostream, when I uploaded a Front-of-House still from “Up The Creek”, but in all my years of collecting, I’ve not come across even one still from “Frontier Gambler”, let alone a DVD of it.
I went to see Peggie Castle in “Tall Man Riding” and she was certainly lovely. So much, in fact, that I wondered why Randolph Scott preferred the sad faced Dorothy Malone to Peggie Castle in the film.
I have a DVD of Frontier Gambler, but I wanted it because John Bromfield from the show Sherrif of Cochise was star. Not really a Tyrone Power fan, but he sure made a lot of adventure type movies, though most mentioned here aren’t westerns. I do like Phyllis Coates and will just about watch anything she was in, Blood Arrow being mentioned here, I just got done watching the Serial “Panther Girl of the Kongo” she was great in this. She also played in a lot of Saturday matinee type short westerns with Tim Holt & Whip Wilson. She was good in anything. I have Son of Belle Starr but haven’t seen it yet, it’s a color western from the ’50’s and that’s all I needed to know. I don’t have Copper Sky, this one sounds good, I found it available though.
I went to see “Blood Arrow” in May, 1958, at my local ABC, as the support to “The Duke Wore Jeans”. This was unusual, as “Blood Arrow” was a 20th Century-Fox release in Regalscope and it was the only occasion I know of that a 20th Century-Fox release was shown on the ABC circuit. Fox films were usually booked into the Essoldo cinemas and Rank’s Odeon’s and Gaumont’s ect.
Like many second features from that period, I never saw “Blood Arrow” again.
Another Western seen at that time and not seen since was Dale Robertson in “The Tall Trouble” (U.S. title: “Hell Canyon Outlaws”). That was the support to “Happy is the Bride” on the ABC circuit and as far as I can remember, it was a Republic picture released through British Lion.
I liked “The Tall Trouble” because at that time, I was used to seeing Dale Robertson on the television in the weekly film series “Tales of Wells Fargo”.
John — I have a very nice widescreen version of KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES from a Fox Movie Channel broadcast. It’s one of my favorite unreleased Power films and I’m really hoping that the Fox Cinema Archives gets around to releasing it, though personally I think it deserves the full Blu-ray treatment. The movie IMHO is an improvement over the book though I wouldn’t call the critique of British colonial attitudes subtextual — it’s pretty much on the surface and one of the major elements of the film just by virtue of Power playing a half-Anglo, half-Indian character. Not only that, but he’s a British officer. His very presence is an irritant to quite a few of the characters — though not pretty Terry Moore. 🙂 I don’t recall any of this in the original Talbot Mundy novel, although apparently Mundy was a critic of British imperialism.
Perhaps I would also have different opinion about UNTAMED if I had the opportunity to see it in the theater — I am jealous! 😉
Paula- i have the Australian Bounty release of KING OF THE KHYBER
RIFLES its generally good quality but the image seems to distort
on a couple of scenes.I agree the film is a MUST for Blu-Ray.
In the Sixties in London a lot of the huge capacity Granada cinemas
started showing loads of Fox films in magnetic stereo;quite an jaw
dropping experience. I was able to catch up with the two Tyrone Power
films already mentioned as well as HELL & HIGH WATER and WHITE
FEATHER.
David,I know that I saw THE TALL TROUBLE (Hell Canyon Outlaws)
on with Happy Is The Bride. Its one of the films from the last gasp days
of Republic,and its a tough little Western too boot.Paul Landres made
some impressive B pictures.
I have an OK “unofficial” DVD of HELL CANYON OUTLAWS and a mint
copy of FRONTIER GAMBLER.
Johhny G I loved Sheriff Of Cochise as a kid I was very impressed by
the way Bromfields Cowboy boot emerged from the car.
Bromfield was pretty good in FRONTIER GAMBLER,I love the somewhat
bizzare moment when he and Kent Taylor name drop Frankenstein.
Jim Davis plays a loutish gunslinger/womaniser who has not one but
three women lusting after him.
FRONTIER GAMBLER was part of about six Westerns made by
Associated Releasing that sort of filled the gap between Lippert
and Regalscope.Another good one was TWO GUN LADY which
Blake Lucas turned me on to.Equally cheap this one has far more
creative direction than FRONTIER GAMBLER.
Another Associated releasing epic I have yet to track down is
LAST OF THE DESPERADOES which is reputedly rather good and concerns
what happened to Pat Garrett after he shot Billy The Kid. Anyone seen
this one?
I am really looking forward to SON OF BELL STARR,I think it was one
of the few films shot in Supercinecolor.
To return to Fox and Henry King has anyone seen I D CLIMB THE
HIGHEST MOUNTAIN,this one sounds really good. King is generally
ignored by the “Auteur” ” crowd possibly because most of his films
were smash hits.
I must say this has been my favorite thread so far,great fun!
I thought I would check on the imdb to see if there are any great
Foxflix that I might have missed……..heres one!
SAND from 1949 with not one but three of my favorite actors;
Mark Stevens,Coleen Gray and Rory Calhoun.
This makes this one an absolute must for me;also its directed by Louis
King who was doing some knockout genre films around about that time.
(FRENCHIE,POWDER RIVER and DANGEROUS MISSION)
SAND is a horsie picture he seemed to like doing those!
Well,Im off to hibernate for a few days to avoid all this “Jubilee”
nonsense taking over England;time to watch a few great Westerns
I say!
I’ve seen I’D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN several times and like it, but the unmentioned Henry King film in American vein I think is really great is the all but unknown WAIT TILL THE SUN SHINES, NELLIE from a year later (1952). I saw this recently in just OK transfer and hope Fox will include it in MOD program–it’s as deserving as his MARGIE.
The later Tyrone Power films made for Fox after his original contract ended and he was free-lancing were all directed by Henry King. If there was a contract for the first two (KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES and UNTAMED) I’m sure it was out of his personal loyalty to King–for THE SUN ALSO RISES I’m sure he’d have wanted that role in any event and like many Kings it’s so much better than its reputation, not an exact equivalent of Hemingway’s novel (how could it be?)but valid as an individual work by King. I like KHYBER RIFLES and have a good impression of UNTAMED back from when I was willing to watch pan and scan–I regret never seeing that one in a theatre and am reserving judgement until I at least see it in the right ratio but seemed fine to me.
Still, the late Tyrone Power film I’d most like to see on DVD is not one of those Fox movies–it’s his first free-lance movie THE MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER, U-I, 1953, and for me in its art direction and Technicolor photography, as well as romantic melodrama, a definitive 1950s Universal-International movie. Hey, both Julie Adams and Piper Laurie (who has the better female role) are in it. This one I’m grateful I did see on first release.
A final thought on Henry King. To me he’s the most underrated of all great American directors. He has a kind of slow, deliberative style but highly artistic and worked over a range of subjects that his sensibility unites. It’s worth taking up for him on this blog because of his four Westerns the two best were made during the 50s and are both major works, THE GUNFIGHTER (1950) being justly celebrated while THE BRAVADOS (1958) is less so but it should be, because it’s one of the most profound and beautifully realized of all revenge Westerns.
First line of the previous should have read “…in Americana vein…” but I assume (at least hope) it was clear given the films mentioned.
Blake, Loved your comments on Henry King, especially as I’m a longtime fan of I’D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN. King certainly had an amazing record of making really good movies, in a variety of genres.
Another Fox Western I’d love to see out on DVD: THE SECRET OF CONVICT LAKE (1951). It’s a little too short, but otherwise a very enjoyable film thanks to an effective setting (despite being soundstage bound) and a great cast: Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Zachary Scott, Ann Dvorak, and Ethel Barrymore.
Best wishes,
Laura
Tyrone Power’s last film under his regular contract with Fox was PONY SOLDIER. Unfortunately his attempts to go independent (he had started his own production company) weren’t entirely successful, so he went back to Fox and also other studios. Blake, I totally agree with you re Henry King and I recommend everyone watch his 1921 silent TOL’ABLE DAVID, which stars Richard Barthelmess, entirely believable as a teenager despite being in his mid-20s. The story took place and was filmed in the Virginia countryside, where King himself grew up, and his knowledge of the people and land give the film a lovely warmth and texture. TOL’ABLE DAVID was a huge success and First National was so happy with it, they “adopted” Richard Barthelmess and held a big dinner where company execs and Barthelmess signed the adoption papers!
Over on the Classicflix website a complete list of the first wave in this
MOD series (35 titles)
Additional films that would interest Western fans are WAY OF A GAUCHO
and OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT.
I just received my DVD of “From Hell To Texas” / “Man Hunt” from amazon in Germany today and just finished playing it. It has excellent stereo sound; is 16 x 9 anamorphically enhanced and the aspect ratio is 2.35:1 CinemaScope. The colour is ravishing, although the bit rate could do with being slightly higher than it is, as the image isn’t as pin sharp as it should be, especially in medium shots. But overall, it’s quite acceptable. There are also extras on the disc that are comprised of a gallery of British Front-of-House stills (with the credits cropped off); American and German Lobby Cards; posters and a German film programme with plenty of stills. And then there’s Diane Varsi. What a stunner! If I’d had a girl like that to love me, I would have thought I’d struck gold! It’s a puzzle why this classic 1958 Western can be released on DVD in Germany, but not in the U.S. or U.K. What on earth are 20th Century-Fox playing at?
One gripe that applies to all these German or Spanish releases: Having to try to figure out what the foreign words mean on the DVD menus. The answer is to keep clicking on the icons until you press the right ones for “Play”; “Language”, or “Extras”, ect.
Great comment about Diane Varsi, David (“If I’d had a girl like that to love me, I would have thought I’d struck gold!”). That’s how I felt watching it a couple of years ago at Cinecon when Fox struck a new print because Don Murray wanted it shown on tribute day.
That is one superb Western! Looked that way in 1958 and still does. Maybe it will at least get Fox MOD–sure would like others to see this one. In the U.S. it was pretty much unseen for years.
I’ve only seen From Hell To Texas flat on TV, and it really suffered for it.
Nowadays, it’s pretty high up on my want list.
Yes, it’s a marvelous Western, Blake, which I went to see over fifty years ago as “Man Hunt”, on a double bill with “The Queen’s Guards”. I forgot to mention that the version on the DVD is the original American version with English dialogue and there is also a German dialogue track. Yes, Diane Varsi, God rest her soul, is fascinating to watch in this. It’s such a shame that she fell ill and passed away at only 53.
David mentioned Peggie Castle in TALL MAN RIDING. I agree she played her part so well, I wished she had been the main female lead ( though Dorothy Malone is always good). Peggie underplayed so well, very sympathetic.
John K, my grandmother took me to see ‘The Doolins of Oklahoma’ at the Essendon Circle in 1950 and it was the first western I remember seeing.
The grim ending stayed with me and I was only able to see it again recently
and it is a fine Scott vehicle. ‘Relentless’ is a comparatively unsung gem with it’s superb photography and atmospheric settings. It really deserves a blu-ray edition.
How about these Fox titles: THE FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST, THE SILVER WHIP, SIEGE AT RED RIVER, STAGECOACH TO FURY, SMOKY..?? Not sure they are all 50s…just saying, since we are on Fox. Thanks for feedback on any of these. I have not seen them.
I’ve only seen FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST once at a wednesday ‘Ranch night’ in 1959 at the Empress theatre just around the corner from where we lived in Prahran. I loved it and really enjoyed Robert Evan’s over the top performance. I always like the black and white scope format. Another one from Fox around this time THE WAY TO THE GOLD with Jeffrey Hunter is also a favourite as is 13 FIGHTING MEN.
The only one I don’t have of the ones named by Moe is “Fiend…”. I haven’t yet seen the other 3 westerns but I have seen “Smoky” a very good Fred MacMurray film I was crazy about the first time I saw it about 5 years ago or so. Burl Ives has, what I believe is, his first film appearance in “Smoky” too he plays a traveling troubador which is how Burl used to refer to himself in his early days. It’s a horse movie, basically, but with a great story and even great actors. I think I’ve seen Silver Whip, sounds familiar, but I’m not sure, I’ll have to watch “Siege At Red River” & “Stagecoach To Fury” and talk about them one of these days.
Watching ‘FLAT’ versions of the 20th Century Fox CinemaScope pictures especially- is a very optically-unsettling experience, especially for the fanatics like myself who would always prefer watching the film in it’s ORIGINAL FILMED-FORMAT (‘Scope) ; the ONLY thing positive about a said DVD ‘FLAT’ release is the often heard “well, at least it’s FINALLY out there!”. WELL, ok, that’s swell I reckon. You know, In the old days of 16mm film rentals, there would sometimes be available to RENT a ‘REGULAR VERSION (flat) of say, “THE COMANCHEROS”. These were made and professionally formatted–and were NOT the pan & scan versions made for the OLD TV RATIO. These RENTALS were called THEATRICAL versions, and those FLATS of SCOPES were surprisingly satisfying . Does anyone recall the DEBUT of ‘SCOPE ON TV? I believe AMC with host Bob Dorian brought this facto by choice for the audience, who could watch it FLAT at another time on the SAME DAY, or WATCH the new ( ALAS ok; it was ‘LETTERBOXED’ !!) “WIDE-SCREEN PRESENTATION OF….”. was THAT an EXCITING (and an “It’s about-time!”) TV-EVENT of the LAST CENTURY-(besides COLOR)!? STILL WAITING FOR U.S.A. release/-MOD- “SCOPE VERSIONS OF “FROM HELL TO TEXAS”, ” HOUND DOG MAN”, and “SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD”, “SEVEN WOMEN FROM HELL”,”ESCAPE FROM RED ROCK”, to name a few, that probably never will be graced with a proper rescue from oblivion, where it seems current trends are putting them on the list of last-century’s movies, in general.. But let’s face the facts, folks. MOST OF THESE OLD PICTURES WOULD BE JUST THAT: forgotten and sent to oblivion!—IF– THE OLD GEEZERS LIKE ME would just shut up about the fact that the older movies were BETTER MOVIES, along with the talent concerned; and Jill and Jake Public might enjoy them too!. (and I think they have). I guess the ONLY way we’ll be able to see a beautifully-filmed little “B” PICTURE LIKE “SIERRA BARON” –which is now available (2017) on MOD-DVD,– , is– by an old FOX-FLAT- TV VERSION !. GO FIGURE .Those of us who are even lucky enough to REMEMBER that film want a FLAT VERSION DVD for viewing ?–as well as to-want to add it to a DVD collection???!! Come on, folks!!—Talk about a MAJOR STEP BACKWARDS in EVERY DIRECTION!! Another title mentioned here earlier; here I believe that the ‘SCOPE VERSION OF “UNTAMED” really does HELP this(1955) pre-“ZULU”-(1964) story along, which contains the usual INVISIBLE performance of Tyrone Power in viewing this otherwise disturbing epic ; ALSO bringing on another tortured experience —– enduring the presence of SUSAN HAYWARD , playing the ONLY CHARACTER she seemed to reflect: a vicious man-hating female without one redeeming virtue; and acted out in the same awful and predictable bitchy behavior path of hers, which has spoiled most every picture that I’ve ever seen her in! Especially evident in ”GARDEN OF EVIL” (1954), where she virtually chews up all of it’s male counterparts and spits them out in this otherwise BEAUTIFULLY-filmed EARLY CinemaScope effort,– AND one of the FEW FILMED in TECHNICOLOR; ALSO starring was BERNARD HERRMANN’S fabulous music score! And now let’s get with it FOX guys and gals!!,…. Let’s get it going!! Let’s release the FABULOUS FABIAN in his movie-debut , and acting much better than he could sing in a REAL CURIO ITEM with a fabulous CO-STAR CAST of old timers’ (check it out!) of the time (1959). A VERY ENTERTAINING WONDERFUL little gem of a film-if you can find it. The barn dance/-hoedown sequence is a refreshing, corn-a-plenty scene BY ITSELF; and who could resist the urge to see and hear pop-song one-hit wonder artist DODIE STEVENS? ( who??) yes!–I mean no, I couldn’t!!! She makes Fab Fabe jealous cause while he’s-a- singin’- her- a-song, she’s-a-dancin-with somebody else…!! AND AS THEY USE TO SAY WITH A TV TRAILER ENDING WITH THE NARRATION-: “NOW PLAYING- CITY WIDE AT A THEATER NEAR YOU”. Now, distant voice in space. For those of us then, who DO remember..we try to pass on all of the good cheer memories involved to those who don’t remember, or couldn’t have been there during that fabulous era at the drive-In -theatre , WHERE and WHEN the FABULOUS FABIAN handed out free autographed pictures from “HOUND DOG MAN”.in 1959; AND What a GREAT YEAR for the movies THAT was! WOW ! S.W.-(2017).