Posted in 1954, Ben Cooper, Royal Dano, Scott Brady on February 26, 2020| 15 Comments »
Ben Cooper
(September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020)
Got word this morning that Ben Cooper has passed away at 86.
He did a lot of pictures for Republic, from Woman They Almost Lynched (1953) to Johnny Guitar (1954, above, on the right) to A Strange Adventure (1956) — and he kept at it in movies and TV (mostly Westerns) into the 1990s.
Posted in Buck Jones, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Universal (International), VCI Entetainment on February 19, 2020| 24 Comments »
VCI Entertainment has announced the upcoming Blu-Ray release of two terrific Buck Jones serials from Universal — Gordon Of Ghost City (1933) and The Phantom Rider (1936). Gordon was the first of six serials Buck Jones would do for Universal.
Both come from director Ray Taylor, who did a number of serials, including The Green Hornet and Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (both 1940). Early in his long, prolific career, he was an assistant director for John Ford.
Both are sourced from original 35mm fine grain material — and both will feature liner notes from yours truly.
Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray News, John Ford, Kino Lorber on February 18, 2020| 11 Comments »
Directed by John Ford
Starring Harry Carey, Molly Malone, Duke R. Lee, Hoot Gibson
Kino Lorber has announced a Blu-Ray release of the recent 4K restoration of John Ford’s Straight Shooting (1917) starring Harry Carey. Carey plays Cheyenne Harry, caught up in a fight between farmers and ranchers.
I’m really anxious to see how this restoration looks. It’s certainly a cool movie.
Posted in 1954, George Montgomery, James H. Griffith, William Castle on February 13, 2020| 11 Comments »
James H. Griffith
(February 13, 1916 – September 17, 1993)
Here’s to one of my favorite character actors on his birthday. James Griffith is seen here with George Montgomery in William Castle’s Masterson Of Kansas (1954). Griffith is Doc Holliday.
Griffith is in a ton of stuff, and he’s always terrific. One of my favorites of his many parts is his yellow witness in the Dragnet feature (1954).
Thanks for the reminder, Paula!
Posted in 1953, 1959, Budd Boetticher, Columbia, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford, Hugh O'Brien, Julie Adams, Mill Creek Entertainment, Neville Brand, Universal (International), Van Heflin on February 13, 2020| 17 Comments »
Mill Creek has announced a twin-bill Blu-Ray of The Man From The Alamo (1953) and They Came To Cordura (1959).
The Man From The Alamo (1953)
Directed by Budd Boetticher
Starring Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Victor Jory, Hugh O’Brien, Neville Brand
Glenn Ford leaves The Alamo before the siege to notify families of what’s to come, and he’s branded a coward for it.This is a beautiful Technicolor Universal-International Western. Ford’s good, Julie Adams is gorgeous and Victor Jory is despicable. Just what you want in a 50s Western.
They Came To Cordura (1959)
Directed by Robert Rossen
Starring Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Dick York
This one’s in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, with Gary Cooper and his men after Pancho Villa. Dick York was injured making this, and it plagued him for years. It’s why he had to leave the role of Darrin Stephens on Bewitched.
Let’s hope this is the beginning of a trend with Mill Creek. Their two-fer Blu-Rays of Hammer and William Castle horror films are terrific.
Posted in Ben Johnson, Festivals, screenings, Harry Carey Jr., Joanne Dru, John Agar, John Ford, John Wayne on February 11, 2020| 3 Comments »
Directed by John Ford
Starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, George O’Brien, Arthur Shields, Michael Dugan, Tom Tyler, Francis Ford
The Graham Cinema is running John Ford’s She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) next week. Seeing John Wayne and Winton Hoch’s Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography on the big screen is something not to be missed.
Monday & Tuesday, February 24 & 25
7:00 & 9:00 pm.
The Graham Cinema
119 N Main Street, Graham, NC
The Graham Cinema is a great old movie house. If you’re anywhere nearby, be sure to check it out.
Posted in Kirk Douglas on February 6, 2020| 13 Comments »
Kirk Douglas
(born Issur Danielovitch Demsky)
December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020
50 Westerns From The 50s, and the chump who runs it, owe a tremendous debt to Mr. Kirk Douglas — who has passed away at the age of 103.
His Last Train From Gun Hill (1959) was one of the 50s westerns that got me seriously hooked on these things, eventually leading to this blog. Doing commentaries for his pictures The Indian Fighter and Man Without A Star (both 1955) were huge opportunities, and it freaked me out to think he could actually end up hearing one of them. And as I researched those movies, Kirk’s ambition, determination, energy and dedication to his craft became a real inspiration.
He was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York. He grew up poor, but was a fine student and gifted athlete — he wrestled at St. Lawrence University. An acting scholarship got him into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and he appeared in a few minor Broadway roles before joining the Navy in 1941.
After the war, he worked in the theater and on radio. Lauren Bacall, a classmate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, who was now a star thanks to To Have And Have Not, convinced producer Hal Wallis to give Douglas a screen test. This got him a lead role in the 1946 picture The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers. His reviews were excellent and he was off and running. Jacques Tourneur’s Out Of The Past, a terrific film noir with Douglas, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, came in 1947.
1948’s I Walk Alone paired Douglas with Burt Lancaster — they’d become friends and make a total of seven films together. The Champion from 1949 earned Douglas his first Oscar nomination. There’d be others for The Bad And The Beautiful in 1952 and for his portrayal of painter Vincent van Gogh in 1956’s Lust For Life. I’m skipping as many great movies as I’m listing. Douglas’ body of work is really something else.
In the 1950s, as television took hold of popular culture and the curtain began to close on the Hollywood studio system, movie stars began developing their own films, which would be backed by the studios. With the formation of Bryna Productions, Kirk Douglas was one of the first to set up shop. (Bryna was his mother’s first name.)
Backed by United Artists, Douglas opened a small Bryna office in Beverly Hills in 1955, with The Indian Fighter the company’s first release.
Over the course of his career, Kirk Douglas made some fine Westerns. Howard Hawks’ The Big Sky in 1952. Man Without A Star in 1955. John Sturges’ Gunfight At The O.K. Corral from 1957, with Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Douglas as Doc Holliday — and its sister film, Last Train From Gun Hill. He appeared with Rock Hudson in The Last Sunset, directed by Robert Aldrich, in 1962. Lonely Are The Brave, a modern-day Western from 1962, is always named as Kirk’s favorite of his own movies. They kept coming, with 1967’s The War Wagon with John Wayne and 1982’s The Man From Snowy River being highlights. Good God, he left us with some great movies. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954). The Vikings (1957). Spartacus (1960). Seven Days In May (1964).
Over the 10 years of this blog, Kirk Douglas has always seemed like its unofficial godfather. Now, I guess he’s more like a guardian angel. One thing’s for sure: it’s a pretty safe bet we won’t see another Kirk Douglas any time soon.
Posted in Tim Holt on February 5, 2020| 5 Comments »
Tim Holt
(February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973)
Happy birthday to one of my favorite cowboy stars, Mr. Tim Holt. His series of Westerns for RKO, some of the last B Westerns made, are a complete joy.
Posted in 1956, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Jacques Tourneur, Leo Gordon, RKO, Ruth Roman, Virginia Mayo, Warner Archive on February 5, 2020| 15 Comments »
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Produced by Edmund Grainer
Screenplay by Lesser Samuels
Based on the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews
Music by Leith Stevens
Cinematography: William E. Snyder
Film Editor: Harry Marker
Cast: Virginia Mayo (Ann Merry Alaine), Robert Stack (Owen Pentecost), Ruth Roman (Boston Grant), Alex Nicol (Captain Stephen Kirby), Raymond Burr (Jumbo Means), Leo Gordon (Zeff Masterson), Regis Toomey (Father Murphy), Carleton Young (Colonel Gibson)
__________
Director Jacques Tourneur is well known for his horror (Cat People) and noir (Out Of The Past) pictures, and he should be. It’s a shame his Westerns — a handful of very good, and very unique, pictures from the 40s and 50s — don’t get the same recognition. Great Day In The Morning (1956) was Tourneur’s last Western feature (he did some cowboy stuff for TV), and it’s often overlooked or shrugged off. It’s well worth seeking out, especially now that we can see it in all its Technicolor and Superscope glory on Blu-Ray from Warner Archive.
Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) arrives in Denver from his home in North Carolina, right before the start of the Civil War. He finds the place divided between those sympathetic to the North or the South. He’s a self-centered opportunist (about the nicest thing you could say about him), hoping to profit from the gold being discovered there and the unrest created by the impending war. Owen quickly establishes himself, drawing the ire of the town boss (Raymond Burr), getting caught up in all the pre-war bickering and fighting, and catching the eye of both a businesswoman (Virginia Mayo) and saloon girl (Ruth Roman). He’s always willing to play one side against the other for his own benefit.
And that’s where the trouble comes in. The male lead isn’t very likable, and it’d be easy to transfer that opinion to the film itself. But you’d be overlooking a lot of good stuff. First, there’s the incredible look Tourneur gives all his films. Pools of light in deep shadows are used well to direct our eye and highlight certain characters or bits of action. Cinematographer William E. Snyder does some great work here.
The cast of Great Day In The Morning is terrific, from the villains like Raymond Burr and Leo G. Gordon to the ladies, Virginia Mayo and Ruth Roman. Roman is especially good. Robert Stack is fine as Pentecost, and he’s to be commended for playing the character as the creep that he is. Westerns, especially the ones from the 1950s, get a lot of mileage out of the theme of redemption. It’s the backbone of many of the genre’s finest films. Here, we fully expect Pentecost to see the error of his ways, have a change of heart and make amends before the final fade. But with almost every genre convention Tourneur faces, his pictures seem to zig where other films zag — it’s very evident in his first Western, Canyon Passage (1946). Being that Tourneur is at the wheel on Great Day In The Morning, we shouldn’t be surprised when Pentecost’s redemption doesn’t happen the way it usually does.
Warner Archive has been bringing out 50s SuperScope movies on Blu-Ray lately, such as John Sturges’ Underwater! from 1955, and they’re doing a tremendous job with them. You hear a lot about how the process was grainy and soft, but you’d never think that after look at these Blu-Rays. They’re beautiful. It’s great to see them looking like this, and I’d certainly welcome some more.
A lot of people simply don’t like Great Day In The Morning. But it’s a Jacques Tourneur movie that’s often overlooked, and for that reason, along with its superb presentation on Blu-Ray, I recommend it highly.
Posted in Andy Devine, Claire Trevor, Festivals, screenings, John Carradine, John Ford, John Wayne, Tim Holt, Yakima Canutt on February 4, 2020| 5 Comments »
Directed by John Ford
Starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Andy Devine, John Carradine, George Bancroft, Louise Platt, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tom Tyler, Tim Holt
The Graham Cinema in Graham, North Carolina, is running John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) next week. I don’t have to tell you what a terrific, landmark movie it is.
John Wayne and Andy Devine on location. John Ford’s back there with the pipe.
Monday & Tuesday, February 10 & 11
7:00 & 9:00 pm.
The Graham Cinema
119 N Main Street
Graham, NC
And if that wasn’t cool enough, on February 24th and 25th, they’ll be running She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949). The Graham Cinema is a great old movie house. If you’re anywhere nearby, be sure to check it out.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 