Margia Dean and Stagecoach To Fury (1956) came up on my other blog today, which reminded me of the Regalscope picture’s coverage in the August 1956 issue of American Cinematographer.
It’s one of my favorite of the Regalscope Westerns, with a great cast — Forrest Tucker, Marie Blanchard, Paul Fix, Wallace Ford, Margia Dead, Ellen Corby — and solid direction from William Claxton.
Here are Marie Blanchard and DP Walter Strenge, who shot the picture (and wrote the American Cinematographer article). This was the first CinemaScope movie shot using Eastman Plus-X negative film.
A good look at the relay station set. The location stuff was shot around Kanab, Utah, with more done closer to home at the Gene Autry ranch.
Wish this one would make its way to DVD and/or Blu-Ray in its proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It deserves to be seen the way Strenge shot it.
Here’s the article as a PDF: Stagecoach To Fury Amer Cin Aug 1956. Enjoy.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
This is one that has always eluded me sadly but if it is half as good as that other Tucker/Claxton/Regalsope “THE QUIET GUN” then I should love it.
Some very nice shots of the movie being made, Toby!
See if you can access the attached article, Jerry. It’s very interesting and sheds some light on how quickly these things came together.
Toby,interesting article from American Cinematographer .Do you have an original copy of this magazine.Maybe Olive films can release this one .I spoke to them the other day and asked if any more classic westerns are on the way and they said not in the immediate future but they are always open to suggestions.
I would like to know if WB Archives are still going to release BITTER CREEK .Last I heard it was being restored to be released at a later date .That was a couple of years ago.
Toby, thank you for the link to the Walter Strenge written article in the AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER(August, 1956). I really enjoyed reading it. Mr. Strenge was nominated for an Academy Award for STAGECOACH TO FURY. He received an Emmy Award for the episode “Hello, Goodbye, Hello” of MARCUS WELBY M.D. airing on September 23, 1969. He was a good one.
Always liked Mari Blanchard, who died way too young. This one isn’t nearly as good as THE QUIET GUN IMO, pacing is rather flat, but beautifully shot, and pretty much every western Tucker made during the 1950’s is worth a look.
Hal, THE QUIET GUN(1956) is Forrest Tucker and Jim Davis at their best in 1950’s Western Movies. I also think that Forrest Tucker is worth watching in Westerns or any other venue.
Enjoyed reading the AC article. I saw it mentioned Parry’s Lodge in Kanab, which is still around, and a place every western buff should probably visit at least once. Haven’t seen “Stagecoach to Fury” since the mid-80s. I used to always get this title mixed up with “Last Stagecoach West” (1957) with Jim Davis. I like Forrest Tucker and I really wish he’d actually ‘headlined’ more 1950s westerns than he did. He fits so comfortably in the genre. A non-western of his, “Night Freight” (1955) is an old favorite of mine, even though I know it’s not all that special. It’s just one of those fun little oddities that used to click with me in a quirkily nostalgic way.
I’ve been tempted to revisit some of these scope efforts like “Stagecoach to Fury” via bootlegs, but I keep holding out in hopes that we’ll get some of these things officially in their correct aspect ratios on disc. Like we did with titles like “The Quiet Gun” (1957) and “Showdown at Boot Hill” (1958), courtesy of Olive. Really enjoyed those two. I think every last one of these titles used to be common staples on the old CBN network in the 1980s.
Bert, Back in the 1980’s I remember watching CBN Movie of the Week, Sunday Morning Westerns, Sunday at the Westerns, Roy Rogers in Western Theater, Western Classics Sunday at the Movies, Overnight Movie and the CBN Double Feature Theater. Pat Robertson, owner of CBN, really liked old movies and TV shows, especially Westerns. In the 1990’s Robertson sold CBN, which had been renamed THE FAMILY CHANNEL. Needles to say, the programming changed.
Talk about obscure train movies, NIGHT FREIGHT(1955) is one. I haven’t seen it since the 1980’s. I liked it and if you like train and truck movies, this is a good entertaining one. Forrest is a troubleshooter for the railroad and his rival is Thomas Gomez a truck company owner.
STAGECOACH TO FURY was originally released in the UK on the Essoldo circuit in January, 1957, as the support to Fox”s black and white CinemaScope picture TEENAGE REBEL, although STAGECOACH TO FURY was billed as a RegalScope picture at the time.
Thanks for the link Toby..fascinating.
Totally agree STAGECOACH TO FURY is one of the top RegalScopes.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone could put these pictures out as double
bills in high definition.
Another “lost” Allied Artists (NIGHT FREIGHT) Tucker flick is the unheralded
Noir FINGER MAN;Forrest is the engaging,charming but totally nasty
bad guy in this one. His henchman Timothy Carey is a absolute hoot.
With FWOTF fave Peggie Castle also on board; another little gem from
Harold Schuster (JACK SLADE,DRAGOON WELLS MASSACRE).
Two Forrest flicks soon to make their Worldwide High-Def debuts in Germany,
PONY EXPRESS and the much sought after THE DEERSLAYER.
Could not agree more regarding Marie Blanchard-SHE DEVIL is an excellent
RegalScope and is out on disc in it’s correct ratio-if only more of these
little gems got this sort of care and attention.
Many RegalScope pictures played as support features in the UK but at major
circuits Rank;Odeon/Gaumont. SHE DEVIL paired with the equally excellent
KRONOS were double billed as a “floating” release i.e. mainly flea pits.
“Stoked” (hey, Toby,Chris Hemsworth used that term only the other day!)
that The Hannibal 8 is finally getting the sort of traffic it’s always deserved,
and super that now Bert is joining in the fun-Bert’s Lawrence Tierney
tales are jaw-dropping,to say the least.
According to amazon Germany’s page on the DVD of THE DEERSLAYER, the listing has now been altered to say that there will only be a German dialogue soundtrack on it and no English one, which is a shame, but very typical of German releases.
Thanks for the tip-off David,
To confuse things even further Amazon de state “English soundtrack only
on the shortened theatrical version.”
Does this mean that there are TWO versions on the disc-also will the
English language version be in H.D. and the correct ratio.
I must admit that the video clips on Amazon de look very impressive even
when played at full screen.
One minor quibble,David,do those soldiers uniforms look accurate to the
period,unless of course they have updated the original,somewhat.
The uniforms look more like 1820’s/30’s similar to those featured in SEMINOLE.
There are no soldiers in THE DEERSLAYER, john k, so if you’ve seen a video clip with soldiers on it, it must be from some other film, such as one of those Winnatou the Warrior films. A German DVD was released a few years ago inexplicably mixing scenes from THE DEERSLAYER and some Winnatou films, all in German, of course. What was that release all about? I haven’t the foggiest. The DVD itself was only of use if you wanted to capture some frames from THE DEERSLAYER.
I don’t know what they’re on about on there. There is no shortened theatrical version of THE DEERSLAYER. It always ran for 76 minutes.
Would love to see high quality prints of Stagecoach to Fury and Finger Man. Tucker is greater everything except petticoat junction. Great movie pick Toby. With winter coming I should find time to watch some new westerns.
Great in everything. iPad typo