Happy Birthday, Beverly Garland.

Beverly Lucy Garland
(October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008)

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One of my favorite actresses was born 97 years ago today. Whether it was a B Western or a cheap monster movie, Beverly Garland always gave it 147%, making a lot of movies better than they deserved to be!

Here she is with William Elliott in Bitter Creek (1954), one of those terrific Westerns Elliott made in the early 50s. Beverly was also in Sudden Danger (1955), one of those cool detective pictures Elliott did for Allied Artists around the same time.

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RIP, Olive Films.

I really hate this. They did some really nice stuff, especially those gorgeous Republics like Flying Tigers (1942) and Johnny Guitar (1954), the Regalscope picture The Quiet Gun (1956) and South Of St.Louis (1949). What a shame.

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Blu-Ray News #355: Audie Murphy Collection II (1950-1954).

Kino Lorber’s second hi-def batch of Audie Murphy Westerns is coming in June. This set includes Sierra (1950), Kansas Raiders (1950) and Destry (1954).

Sierra (1950)
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Starring Wanda Hendrix, Audie Murphy, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger, Tony Curtis, James Arness, Jack Ingram, Houseley Stevenson, I. Stanford Jolley

Audie and his dad, Dean Jagger, have been hiding in the mountain for years. A chance meeting with Wanda Hendrix brings civilization to their doorstep, where it’s not welcome.

Wanda Hendrix and Audie Murphy were newlyweds when production began on this one. They were separated before its release. Some really nice horse stuff (some of it lifted from 1949’s Red Canyon) and a great cast of character actors.

I’m doing a commentary for this one.

Kansas Raiders (1950)
Directed by Ray Enright
Starring Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Tony Curtis, Richard Arlen, Richard Long

U-I mangles history again, but who cares? Murphy is Jesse James, Brian Donlevy is Quantrill. Yet another solid Western from Ray Enright, with typically-gorgeous cinematography from Irving Glassberg.

Destry (1954)
Directed by George Marshall
Starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger, Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Lori Nelson, Wallace Ford

For this 1954 remake, U-I puts Murphy and Mari Blanchard in the roles played by James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in 1939’s Destry Rides Again. George Marshall directed both versions. (There was a semi-remake in 1950, Frenchie, with Joel McCrea, Shelley Winters and Marie Windsor.) In this one, it’s good to see Murphy play against type a bit, and it’s always great to see Wallace Ford. Of course, Mari Blanchard looks terrific.

All three of these pictures boast the usual U-I 50s Western Technicolor sheen. (Destry should be widescreen.) They’ll look wonderful on Blu-Ray. Highly recommended.

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“Finding Friendship And Fortitude, Even In A Flop.”

At the risk of appearing political, here’s an interesting article on Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan and Allan Dwan’s Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954). It’s from American Greatness, written by Emina Melonic. She’s tougher on the movie than I’d be — I’m a sucker for mid-50s Dwan pictures — but I really enjoyed it.

Click on the chunk above to get to the article. And if you’re like me, you’re gonna want to revisit the movie.

And the marquee image up top, what movie is it from?

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Today’s Reading.

Pulled this out the other day. It had been a while. Among its many delights is a great picture of James H. Griffith from Masterson Of Kansas (1954).

What movie books are y’all flipping through these days? (There’s one on One-Eyed Jacks that I’d recommend.)

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3-D Blu-Ray News #353: Southwest Passage (1954).

Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Joanne Dru, Rod Cameron, John Ireland, John Dehner, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Morris Ankrum

The folks at The 3-D Film Archive have done it again! The missing reels have been tracked down (it Italy, of all places) and they’ll be bringing Ray Nazarro’s Southwest Passage (1954) to Blu-Ray in 3-D. It’s gonna be a while, so hang tight.

In the meantime, you can see it, flat and full-frame, on DVD from MGM’s old MOD program. It’s a cool movie. And you can get the scoop on its recovery from the Lost Archives” in this podcast.

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DVD/Blu-Ray News #352: Border River (1954).

Directed by George Sherman
Starring Joel McCrea, Yvonne De Carlo, Pedro Armendáriz

Kino Lorber has announced Border River (1954) for DVD and Blu-Ray release in March of 2023. This year’s getting off to a pretty good start already, especially for me — I get to do a commentary for it!

This is the next-to-last of Joel McCrea’s six Westerns for Universal International, released from 1950 to 1954. It’s got a great cast, featuring Yvonne De Carlo, Pedro Armendáriz and the wonderful Mexican character actors Alfonso Bedoya and Nacho Galindo. George Wallace, Commando Cody himself, is in it, too.

It’s directed by George Sherman, so you know you’re in for a good ride. Highly recommended!

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Blu-Ray News #347: Four Guns To The Border (1954).

Directed by Richard Carlson
Starring Rory Calhoun, Colleen Miller, George Nader, Walter Brennan, Nina Foch, John McIntire

Four Guns To The Border (1954) is an excellent 50s Western from Universal International. It’s been a hard one to track down, but our friends at Explosive Media are taking care of that.It’s coming to Blu-Ray in December.

This picture gave actor Richard Carlson one of his few directing credits. He does a tremendous job. Wish he’d done more. Four Guns To The Border has a great cast, gorgeous color and will be terrific on Blu-Ray. Can’t wait!

Thanks to John Knight for the tip!

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Talking Johnny Guitar With Robert Bellissimo.

It was an honor to be the guest on Robert’s podcast yesterday. He turned it around quick, and it’s ready now. Check it out.

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Name That Stock Footage.

Will Freeman brought this to my attention.

Universal International used this really cool aerial gunfight shot from George Sherman’s Dawn At Socorro (1954) was used in a montage in Jack Arnold’s Red Sundown (1956).

Thanks, Will!

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