Blu-Ray Review: Colt .45, The Complete Series (1957-1960).

Well, here’s one I never thought we’d see, especially on Blu-Ray. Colt .45 (1957-1960) was one of Warner Bros’ Western shows of the late 50s — based (rather loosely) on their 1950 film starring Randolph Scott. It didn’t become a rerun favorite like Maverick or Cheyenne, and they haven’t been seen anywhere in years. (I saw a couple of episodes in 16mm at a Western film show ages ago.) Now all three seasons are available, and looking just heavenly, in a new Blu-Ray set from Warner Archive.

Wayde Preston plays Christopher Colt, a government agent posing as a Colt gun salesman. As he roams the West, he gets involved in all sorts of stuff, usually leading to some fancy shooting on his part. In the first season’s titles, Preston shoots toward the camera, then does some nice pistol-spinning as he puts his twin Colts back in their holsters. (Reminds me a little of the titles to The Rifleman.)

Wayde Preston and James Garner hanging around the Warner lot.

Though they run just half an hour and the budgets were obviously pretty slim, it’s a good show. All the WB Western series looked good, benefitting from excellent stock footage, using some nice WB sets and boasting terrific guest stars. Colt .45 featured Charles Bronson, Wayne Morris, Angie Dickinson, Robert Conrad, John Doucette, Ray Teal, Frank Ferguson, I. Stanford Jolley, Kathleen Crowley, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Lambert, Glenn Strange, Leonard Nimoy, Virginia Gregg, Paul Fix, Robert J. Wilke, Dorothy Provine, Lyle Talbot, Roy Barcroft, Adam West and Sandy Koufax(!).

Some solid directors worked on it, too — guys like Lee Sholum, Paul Landres, George Waggner, Lew Landers, Edward Bernds and Oliver Drake. 

The first season is excellent, but then things kinda went awry. Wayde Preston left the show (the usual pay dispute, they say), making for a short second season. For the third season, Donald May took over as Sam Colt, Jr., Christopher Colt’s cousin.

Warners evidently badmouthed Preston and he had a hard time landing parts around town. He was brought back toward the end of the third season, now supporting his cousin Sam. Colt .45 didn’t last beyond that third season and Preston eventually headed to Italy to make spaghetti Westerns and Anzio (1968).

With just two-and-a-half seasons (only 67 episodes), and a star who disappears midstream, it sorta makes sense that Colt .45 wouldn’t enjoy the perpetual syndication of other Western shows of the period. When it’s good, it’s really good, usually because of a solid story or an exemplary performance — Wayne Morris and John Doucette, for example, are excellent in their episodes.

Then there are the Blu-Rays. I’ve never seen a black & white TV show look this good — ever. There’s not a lot of old TV on Blu-Ray. I Love Lucy! and The Andy Griffith Show are, and they can’t hold a digital candle to this set. It’s stunning. From the logo in the grips of Preston’s Colts to the sewn-up holes in John Doucette’s shirt, the detail here is really incredible. (Of course, this highlights stuff like the stock footage stage driver looking nothing like the guy who speaks to Preston seconds later, but who cares?) The contrast is perfectly dialed in and the grain is just right. Whoever twiddled the knobs on this thing, I’d like to buy you lunch! Same goes for the folks in the vaults watching over this old material.

In short, the fact that Colt .45 made its way to video at all is a real surprise. That it would come out of left field looking like this, well, that seems like a miracle. Colt .45 – The Complete Series comes highly recommended. I think you’ll like the show, and I know you’ll be blown away by the care Warner Archive has given it.

Read Full Post »

Blu-Ray Review: 3 Godfathers (1949).

Directed by John Ford
Produced by John Ford & Merian C. Cooper
Screenplay by Laurence Stallings, Frank S. Nugent & Robert Nathan
Based on The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne
Director Of Photography: Winton Hoch, ASC
Film Editor: Jack Murray
Musical Score: Richard Hageman

Cast: John Wayne (Robert Marmaduke Hightower), Pedro Armendáriz (Pedro Encarnación Escalante y Rocafuerte, AKA Pete), Harry Carey Jr. (William Kearney, The Abilene Kid), Mildred Natwick (Mother), Ward Bond (Sheriff Perley “Buck” Sweet), Mae Marsh (Mrs. Sweet), Jane Darwell (Miss Florie), Guy Kibbee (Judge), Hank Worden (Curly), Dorothy Ford (Ruby Latham), Charles Halton (Oliver Latham), Jack Pennick (Luke), Fred Libby (Deputy), Ben Johnson (Posseman), Michael Dugan (Posseman), Francis Ford (Drunken Old-Timer at Bar), Richard Hageman (Piano Player In Saloon), Ruth Clifford (Woman in Bar), Jack Curtis (Bartender), Harry Tenbrook (Bartender), Gertrude Astor (Townswoman), Eva Novak (Townswoman), Amelia Yelda (Robert William Pedro Hightower)

---

I wrote about John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) a couple of Christmases ago. (Go read it, I’ll wait.) As I see it, it’s another Ford masterpiece, yet it often gets shrugged off for being too sentimental, too religious, too hokey. At the time of that previous post, many of us lamented the fact that the DVD was only adequate, given that this is surely one of the most beautiful Westerns ever made.

Well, Warner Archive has come through — and come through big. Their new Blu-Ray of 3 Godfathers is stunning. I was expecting a knockout, given the home runs they’ve hit of late (Rancho Notorious, The Naked Spur), but this really blew me away. The tribute to Harry Carey gave me goosebumps. The deep-focus shots of the desert are just incredible, significantly adding to the three bandits’ isolation in the desert. And the rich black shadows give the entire film a real sense of depth. 

A good transfer can make a great film greater. No question.

Warner Archive has gone a step further, giving us the 1936 version of Peter B. Kyne’s story as an extra. It stars Chester Morris (who looks really cool in his black cowboy hat), Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan and Sidney Toler. It’s interesting to see how Ford attacks the same material (oh, how I’d love to see Ford’s lost 1919 version, Three Marked Men). 

I can’t recommend 3 Godfathers highly enough. It might be the most moving film I’ve ever seen — or maybe it’s just the one where John Ford manipulates me the most. (Just thinking about it gets me.)

Hate telling people how to spend their money, especially nowadays when nobody has any money to spend. But you need this Blu-Ray. Buy a Blu-Ray player and a new TV if you have to. It’ll be worth every penny.

Read Full Post »

DVD Review: Lightning Guns (1950).

Directed by Fred F. Sears
Produced by Colbert Clark
Screen Play by Victor Arthur
Based on a story by Bill Milligan
Director Of Photography: Fayte M. Browne
Film Editor: Paul Borofsky
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Cast: Charles Starrett (Steve Brandon/Durango Kid), Smiley Burnette (Smiley), Gloria Henry (Susan Atkins), William Bailey (Luke Atkins), Edgar Dearing (Capt. Dan Saunders), Raymond Bond (Jud Norton), Jock O’Mahoney (Sheriff Rob Saunders)

---

Pulled out Mill Creek’s two-disc The Durango Kid Collection again the other day. This time, it was Lightning Guns (1950).

Ranchers in Piute Valley are fighting over water and the building of a dam, and Steve Brandon (Charles Starrett) and Smiley ride right in the middle of it all. A local banker, who was going to approve a loan to get the dam built, is murdered and soon sheriff Jock O’Mahoney has to arrest his own father. 

Steve and Smiley (and Durango) sort it out, revealing that the local grocer is the murderer. There’s a lot of riding and shooting, and a cool thread involving a rare .41 caliber pistol — and Smiley is a traveling bathtub salesman, logging a heavy tub from scene to scene.

Gloria Henry did Lightning Guns between a couple of key Western pictures — Strawberry Roan (1948) with Gene Autry and Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious (1952). Jock Mahoney (billed here as O’Mahoney) had been doubling for Charles Starrett on the series and was making the transition to actor. He acted in a number of the later ones.

The Durango Kid is cool, but he never really seems to fit in his own films. For one thing, it’s hard to fathom how Starrett can travel from town with two horses (Steve’s Bullet and Durango’s Raider) without getting found out. I loved these films as a kid, but always wondered how he pulled it all off.

Fred F. Sears worked as a character actor and dialogue director on the series before climbing into the director’s chair. Here, he keeps things moving at a quick pace and handles Smiley Burnette’s comedic scenes well. Smiley’s stuff seems a bit intrusive (or tacked on) in some of these pictures. 

From 1945 to 1952, Columbia, Starrett, Smiley and crew (including directors Sears and Ray Navarro) worked at a frantic pace, making a total of 64 Durango Kid pictures. Lightning Guns is one of the 10 movies in Mill Creek’s budget-friendly set, The Durango Kid Collection. The transfer looks wonderful. It’s a nice little set, and it comes highly recommended. (Wish they’d get around to a volume two!)

Mill Creek has come through with some terrific multi-picture sets over the last few years. They’re often made up of Columbia pictures — with sets dedicated to William Castle, The Whistler, Jungle Jim, Randolph Scott, Hammer Films and more. (Some are released through Critic’s Choice.) Many of the titles have been available singly or as MOD releases, but the prices can’t be beat, and they’ll save you space as we watch our collections gobble up our real estate. 

Read Full Post »

DVD Review: Texas City (1952).

Directed by Lewis D. Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Written by Joseph F. Poland
Director Of Photography: Ernest Miller
Film Editor: Sam Fields
Music by Raoul Kraushaar

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown (Marshal Johnny Mack Brown), James Ellison (Jim Kirby), Lois Hall (Lois Upton), Terry Frost (Trag), Lane Bradford (Hank), Lyle Talbot (Captain Hamilton), Marshall Reed (Yarnell), Pierce Lyden (Marshal George Markham), Lorna Thayer (Aunt Harriet), Bud Osborne, Bill Coontz, John Hart

---

Seemed like a Lyle Talbot kind of day, so I pulled out Monogram’s Texas City (1952) starring Johnny Mack Brown — a solid little Western produced toward the end of Brown’s run at Monogram.

After a series of Army gold shipments are held up, Marshall Johnny Mack Brown is brought in to investigate. He suspects that the crooks are using the ghost town of Dawson City as their base. There he meets Lois Upton (Lois Hall), a young lady who’s just come West after inheriting the town’s dilapidated hotel and Jim Kirby (James Ellison), a young man who arouses Johnny Mack’s suspicions. 

This one’s got everything: gold shipment robberies, a ghost town, a cave hideout (with a secret entrance behind a grandfather clock), a pretty girl from back East, Bud Osbourne driving the stage and, of course, Lyle Talbot as a crooked cavalry officer.

One of my favorite things about the Johnny Mack Brown Monograms is his hat. (Never underestimate the power of a good hat in a Western.) Conversely, Lyle Talbot’s hat is just terrible. He must’ve made somebody mad in the Monogram wardrobe department.

Lois Hall was in three Johnny Mack pictures, a couple Whip Wilson things, two Durango Kids, some Sam Katzman serials at Columbia and Republic’s Daughter Of The Jungle (1949). She’s usually terrific, but she doesn’t have a lot to do in this one. James Ellison had been in the early Hopalong Cassidy pictures, I Walked With A Zombie (1941) and a series of Lippert Westerns co-starring Russell Hayden. Not long after Texas City, Ellison would leave the picture business for real estate.

John Hart appears as a cavalryman in the opening shootout — about a year before he (temporarily) replaced Clayton Moore on The Lone Ranger. Lorna Thayer, who plays Lois Hall’s aunt, later played the waitress who winds up on Jack Nicholson’s bad side in Five Easy Pieces (1970).

Texas City is one of nine Monogram Westerns included in Volume 4 of Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection. It has all three pictures Lois Hall did with Johnny Mack Brown.

Texas City was beautifully shot by Ernest Miller, making good use of locations we’ve all seen a hundred times. So it’s nice to see Miller’s work well-presented here. Though it obviously wasn’t given what we’d call a full restoration today, the transfer is excellent. These Monogram Western sets are wonderful, one of my favorite things Warner Archive has done. If you don’t have ’em, you’re really missing out. Highly, highly recommended.

Read Full Post »

DVD Review: Colorado Ambush (1951).

Directed by Lewis Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Screenplay by Myron Healey
Director Of Photography: Gilbert Warrenton
Film Editor: Fred Maguire
Music by Edward J. Kay

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown (Johnny Mack Brown), Myron Healey (Chet Murdock), Lois Hall (Janet Williams), Tommy Farrell (Terry Williams), Christine McIntyre (Mae Star), Lee Roberts (Gus), Marshall Bradford (Ben Williams), Lyle Talbot (Sheriff Ed Lowery)

---

Lois Hall came up recently when Imprint Films announced their upcoming Blu-Ray set Tales Of Adventure, Collection Two — which has her starring in Republic’s Daughter Of The Jungle (1949). And since I’ve been meaning to revisit the Warner Archive Monogram Cowboy Collection sets, why not take a look at one of Miss Hall’s Johnny Mack Brown pictures? Conveniently, all three are on Volume 4 of that terrific series.

In Colorado Ambush (1951), somebody’s picking off Wells Fargo riders to get ahold of the payroll. It looks like an inside job, and Johnny Mack Brown is sent to investigate. He soon meets the Williams family — father Marshall Bradford, daughter Lois Hall and son Tommy Farrell — who care for Wells Fargo’s horses and are in charge of transporting the payroll. Only they know when a rider is carrying the money.

Turns out Farrell’s in cahoots with the ruthless Myron Healey and Christine McIntyre to ambush the riders toting the dough. And when Brown and sheriff Lyle Talbot start to sort out the scheme and things go south for the crooks, the bullets fly and the bodies start piling up. There’s not a lot of the cast left breathing at the end of the picture’s 51 minutes.

Monogram’s B Westerns of the late 40s and early 50s were obviously done on the skinny, both time-wise and financially. But there’s usually plenty of shootin’ and ridin’, some great character actors — and of course terrific leads like Wild Bill Elliott and Johnny Mack Brown. What’s more, they tend to be more adult than what you expect from pictures like this. And in the case of the Johnny Mack Brown films, there’s the added benefit of the wonderful hats he wears.

In an interview with Boyd Magers, Lois Hall said of Johnny Mack Brown: “I feel the same thing everybody else says about him…a true gentleman. And a little distant. He wasn’t one to sit around the set. He went back to his dressing room between things. But a very pleasant person.” Brown was evidently as likable on the set as he is on the screen. 

Myron Healey is not only the villain in Colorado Ambush, he was also the screenwriter. His script is pretty clever — how the bad guys know when the riders are carrying the cash is rather ingenious. Healey scripted another Johnny Mack picture, Texas Lawmen (1951).

Lyle Talbot plays the sheriff, an old friend of Brown’s. This was about a year after Talbot appeared as Lex Luther in the serial Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950). It’s always a treat when Talbot shows up in something, and since he made a point of never turning down work, he turns up quite a bit.

Lewis Collins directed dozens of Westerns like this, including some of the William Elliott and Whip Wilson Monograms (oh, and 1950’s Hot Rod) that were being done around the same time Colorado Ambush was released. Collins died of a heart attack in 1956. He’s a bit like Lesley Selander — you can count on him to make a decent, fast-moving Western under about any circumstances.

As I mentioned earlier, Colorado Ambush is included in Volume 4 of Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection, a nine-picture set that also includes some Jimmy Wakely films. It gives you all three Brown Westerns co-starring Lois Hall, the other two being Blazing Bullets (1951) and Texas City (1952). The films look great — even though they don’t get an actual restoration, the transfers are very nicely done. Personally, I kinda like some dust or scratches here and there, and there are a few incidents of each in Colorado Ambush. The sound’s excellent. I wish Warner Archive had kept digging around in the Monogram vaults. The stuff they put out are some of the real joys of my collection. 

Colorado Ambush, this set, the Monogram Cowboy Collection and anything else Warner Archive gave us from Monogram is highly recommended. You’re not gonna come across a masterpiece, but you’re certainly gonna be entertained.

Read Full Post »

Blu-Ray Review: Rancho Notorious (1952).

Directed by Fritz Lang
Screenplay by Daniel Taradash
Story by Silvia Richards
Produced by Howard Welsch
Director Of Photography: Hal Mohr
Film Editor: Otto Ludwig
Music by Emil Newman

Cast: Marlene Dietrich (Altar Keane), Arthur Kennedy (Vern Haskell), Mel Ferrer (Frenchy Fairmont), Gloria Henry (Beth Forbes), William Frawley (Baldy Gunder), Lisa Ferraday (Maxine), John Raven (Chuck-a-luck dealer), Jack Elam (Mort Geary), George Reeves (Wilson), Frank Ferguson (Preacher), Francis McDonald (Harbin), Lloyd Gough (Kinch), John Doucette (Whitey), Russell Johnson, Fuzzy Knight, Emory Parnell, Kermit Maynard, Tom London, I. Stanford Jolley

---

I love Fritz Lang’s Hollywood movies, Rancho Notorious (1952) in particular. I’ve written about it on this blog before, and it’s got a chapter in my long-promised book.

With the new Blu-Ray from Warner Archive, well, here it is again.

First, the movie. It’s very, very Fritz Lang. You have Chuck-A-Luck, a retreat for outlaws run by Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich) — sort of an Old West variation on Dr. Mabuse and his criminal network. Then you have Vern Haskall (Arthur Kennedy), whose fiancé (Gloria Henry) is raped and murdered in a holdup eight days before their wedding. Vern is absolutely consumed with revenge, another Lang favorite, and his journey for justice leads to Keane, gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer) and Chuck-A-Luck.

As the ballad that runs throughout tells use, it’s a story of “hate, murder and revenge” — themes that served Lang well in all those terrific noirs.

All this is placed in a low-budget, studio-bound (though there’s a little Iverson Ranch and Republic Western street in there), Technicolor setting that comes off rather dreamy and operatic. Somehow it seems more dated that Lang’s Western Union from 1941. But let me be perfectly clear — all of these are good things.

Rancho Notorious is often compared to Nick Ray’s Johnny Guitar (1954). Some folks hate it, some find it corny and laughable (especially that song). For me, however, it’s just wonderful, one of the few films I’ve watched back to back on the same evening (had to make sure I actually saw what I thought I saw).

Now, on to the new Blu-Ray. Warner Archive often shows us just how good an older film can look in high definition. Their exquisite restoration of Anthony Mann’s The Naked Spur (1953) is a shining example. Rancho Notorious has been given a new 4K transfer from the original nitrate Technicolor negative, and it’s just incredible. From the B&W RKO logo to the final fade, it’s as sharp as anything I’ve ever seen on a TV, highlighting the detail (thanks to the nitrate, grain’s almost nonexistent) and depth of Hal Mohr’s cinematography. The artifice of the whole endeavor is more noticeable than ever, and I stopped it a number of times to study the costumes, sets and backdrops.

The audio has been given plenty of attention, too, and it’s as clear as a bell. (The old DVD’s audio level was a bit low.) If Fritz Lang’s weird Western is ever gonna get the reappraisal it so richly deserves, this is the way to make it happen.

Warner Archive keeps raising the bar. This is a stunning, as-close-to-perfect-as-you-can-get presentation. Highly, highly recommended.

Read Full Post »

DVD Review: Conquest Of Cochise (1953).

Directed by William Castle
Produced by Sam Katzman
Associate Producer: Herbert Leonard
Screen Play by Arthur Lewis & DeVallon Scott
Story by DeVallon Scott
Director Of Photography: Henry Freulich, ASC
Film Editor: Al Clark, ACE
Art Director: Paul Palmentola
Musical Director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Cast: John Hodiak (Cochise), Robert Stack (Major Tom Burke), Joy Page (Consuelo de Cordova), Rico Alaniz (Felipe), Fortunio Bonanova (Mexican Minister), Edward Colmans (Don Francisco de Cordova), Alex Montoya (Jose Garcia), Steven Ritch (Tukiwah), Carol Thurston (Terua), Rodd Redwing (Red Knife) Robert E. Griffin (Sam Maddock), Poppy del Vando (Señora de Cordova)

---

Been on a big Sam Katzman kick of late, to the point I feel like a one-man Sam Katzman Blogathon — there are a number of Katzman posts in the works (here and on The Hannibal 8). This time around, it’s Conquest Of Cochise (1953), one of William Castle’s first films for Katzman’s unit at Columbia.

Coming a few years after Jeff Chandler played Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), this time the Apache chief is played by John Hodiak. In Tucson, after the Gadsden Purchase, ranchers are being raided by the Apache and Comanche. Major Tom Burke (Robert Stack) is sent to stop the violence and establish peace with Cochise. While he’s there, Burke takes a shine to Consuelo de Cordova (Joy Page).

Cochise also wants peace, but the Comanche do not, which leads to trouble — and more trouble. Eventually, Page is captured by the Apache and held hostage, with Stack working to free her as she and Kodiak fall in love.

It’s a short picture, running just 70 minutes, with more talk than action — and Castle’s direction seems uncharacteristically stiff. The picture’s greatest asset is certainly its cast. John Hodiak is quite good as Cochise, making the usual stilted Indian-speaking-white-man’s-tongue dialogue work. It’s his movie. Robert Stack is a stoic hero here, a bit like his Elliott Ness on The Untouchables. Joy Page is lovely. She and Robert Stack had been paired in Budd Boetticher’s Bullfighter And The Lady (1951). 

The cast and crew spent a lot of time at Vasquez Rocks, about an hour from the Columbia lot — where a fairly crude painting of those same rocks awaited on a soundstage (see the above still). They also shot some stuff at Corriganville. Director Of Photography Henry Freulich captures it all in gorgeous Technicolor. As cheap as these Katzman pictures were, I’m surprised he sprung for Technicolor. The stuff wasn’t cheap.

Katzman’s cost-cutting is painfully obvious, the history is questionable, the ending is too abrupt and Castle doesn’t seem to have found much inspiration in the script he was handed. But I love it anyway.

Conquest Of Cochise was part of Sony’s MOD program, and the transfer was near-perfect. That’s what was used for Mill Creek’s terrific set The Fastest Guns Of The West: The William Castle Western Collection. It’s one of my favorite sets in my collection. Go get one!

Read Full Post »

DVD Review: The Hawk Of Wild River (1952).

Directed by Fred F. Sears
Produced by Colbert Clark
Written by Howard J. Green
Director Of Photography: Fayte M. Browne
Film Editor: Paul Borofsky

Cast: Charles Starrett (Steve Martin/The Durango Kid), Smiley Burnette (Smiley), Jack Mahoney (Jack Mahoney), Clayton Moore (The Hawk), Eddie Parker (Skeeter), Jim Diehl (Al Travis), Lane Chandler (George), Syd Saylor (Yank-Em-Out Kennedy), John Cason (Duke), LeRoy Johnson (Smoky), Jack Carry (Pete), Sam Flint (Clark Mahoney)

---

Have been concentrating on the book, which has kept me kinda absent on here. My recent research has been on the unsung director Fred F. Sears.

Charles Starrett starred in The Durango Kid, in 1940. Columbia didn’t get around to The Return Of The Durango Kid till 1945. By the time the series was shut down in 1952, Columbia had cranked out 65 Durango Kid movies — at which point Starrett retired from movies.

One of the last of the series, The Hawk Of Wild River (1952) has a terrific cast, adding Jock Mahoney and Clayton Moore to the usual Durango roster. Of course, Mahoney had been part of the series for quite a while, doubling for Charles Starrett.

After being replaced by John Hart for the third season of The Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore went back to work as one of the best, and busiest, bad guys in Hollywood. First up was the Republic serial Radar Men From The Moon (1952). In The Hawk Of Wild River, he’s The Hawk, a half-breed bandit who’s as proficient with a bow and arrow as he is with a six-gun.

This time around, US Marshal Steve Martin (Charles Starrett) is sent to the town of Wild River to stop a run of stagecoach robberies by The Hawk and his gang. The Hawk has been killing off Wild River’s sheriffs as fast as they can pin a badge on ’em. When Steve hits town, the acting sheriff is Jack Mahoney (Jock Mahoney). The Durango Kid captures The Hawk and once he’s in jail, Martin gets himself arrested and thrown into The Hawk’s cell, never revealing that he’s a Federal man. They escape and Martin joins The Hawk’s gang — and with the help of his alter ego, The Durango Kid, eventually bring the outlaws to justice.

Along the way, Smiley Burnette is hypnotized and convinced he’s a “heap big” Indian chief. And as always happens with these things, he comes close to screwing up Martin’s plans.

Running just 53 minutes, The Hawk Of Wild River is a pretty typical Durango Kid movie, clearly aimed at kids. The usual things are in place: Smiley doing his silly stuff, Starrett donning his Durango outfit (and riding Raider) and lots of riding and fighting and shooting. Director Fred F. Sears keeps it moving at a quick pace, and director of photography Fayte Browne makes it all look like a million bucks. The Iverson Ranch is really used well in this one.

Fred F. Sears started out working as a character actor and dialogue director on the Durango Kid pictures and eventually climbed into the director’s chair. From there, he became a fixture in Sam Katzman’s unit at Columbia until he died in his office on the lot in 1957 (with eight films still awaiting release). It’s a real shame he never got a bigger budget or longer schedule.

Stuntman and actor Eddie Parker plays Skeeter. The next year, he’d play Mr. Hyde in Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1953) and the Mummy in Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy (1955). The guy’s in about anything you can think of.

The Hawk Of Wild River is one of the 10 movies in Mill Creek’s budget-friendly two-disc set, The Durango Kid Collection. The transfer looks wonderful — with this one and the other nine films. It’s a nice little set, and it comes highly recommended. (Wish they’d get around to a volume two!)

Read Full Post »

Blu-Ray Review: The Naked Spur (1953).

Directed by Anthony Mann
Written by Sam Rolfe & Harold Jack Bloom
Director Of Photography: William Mellor
Film Editor: George White
Music by Bronisław Kaper

Cast: James Stewart (Howard Kemp, Janet Leigh (Lina Patch), Robert Ryan (Ben Vandergroat), Ralph Meeker (Roy Anderson), Millard Mitchell (Jesse Tate)

---

As great as The Naked Spur (1953) is, and even with Warner Archive’s incredible track record, I didn’t have high hopes for this Blu-Ray. Boy, was I wrong.

Anthony Mann’s The Naked Spur is certainly one of the finest Westerns ever made, but it’s been one of the most consistently terrible-looking great movies on home video. From VHS to laserdisc to DVD, the Technicolor palette was muted and the picture itself way too soft. What was supposed to be sharp and vibrant looked like a pastel — in other words, it never stopped looking like VHS. Pair all that with the sad economics of home video these days — that the demand for older films hardly justifies the expense of a major restoration, and you can see why I wasn’t expecting the gorgeous presentation we can thank Warner Archive for today. 

But enough on that (for now).

The Naked Spur was the third of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart Westerns, coming after Winchester ’73 (1950) and Bend Of The River (1952). The Far Country (1954) and Man From Laramie (1955) would follow. This was a cinematic hot streak that will probably never be equaled.

The entire cast of The Naked Spur: (L-R) Millard Mitchell, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker, James Stewart.

Howard Kemp (Stewart) is bringing in Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) to stand trial for murder. Vandergroat is accompanied by his girl, Lina Patch (Janet Leigh). Along for the ride are a prospector (Millard Mitchell) and a dishonorably discharged Cavalryman (Ralph Meeker). At first, folks think Stewart’s a lawman — with the knowledge that he’s a bounty hunter and there’s $5,000 at the end of the trail, things change. Mitchell and Meeker want a share of the reward — and they know how to make that piece of the pie a bit bigger. Vandergroat sees all this, and he starts working at everyone to create a chance to get away.

I’m not going any further than that. Don’t want to spoil anything.

Anthony Mann and Janet Leigh on location.

Stewart’s his usual torn, tormented, edgy Mann-picture cowboy in this one — he needs the reward to buy back his ranch. Ryan is at his best as the manipulative, slimy-but-somehow-charming Vandergroat. Ralph Meeker has maybe the best scumbag role of his career — he plays almost the entire picture with a sneer. Millard Mitchell would only make one more movie; he died of lung cancer not too long after this. And Janet Leigh is just perfect. She’s totally believable as an easy target for Ryan who slowly sees him for the murderous sociopath he really is. Much of the picture’s considerable tension comes from these characters.

The Naked Spur seems like a prototype for the Scott-Boetticher Westerns that would come a few years later: the small cast, the tightness, the tone, the incredible use of the landscape, the male lead who’s trying to right a wrong or live something down, the charismatic or even likable villain, etc. I’m not suggesting, not for a second, that Burt Kennedy and Budd Boetticher were ripping Mann off. It’s just a particular type of Western that really worked well in the 50s. Some of my all-time favorite movies fit this pattern.

Now back to the Blu-Ray. Many of y’all out there had an understandable wait-and-see approach to this one. I’m happy to report you can proceed with complete confidence — this is one of the most significant upgrades I’ve seen from DVD to Blu-Ray. The care that went into this is obvious in every frame.

It’s a near perfect transfer of three-strip Technicolor — the color and sharpness are impeccable. It’s clean without signs of noise reduction. The sound has a nice range to it and the extras from the old DVD  — a Pete Smith Specialty, Tex Avery’s Little Johnny Jet (1953) and the trailer — have been brought over.

The Naked Spur is certainly one of the best classic films to hit Blu-Ray this year. It’s so nice to see it get the attention it so richly deserves — especially William Mellor’s incredible outdoor Technicolor work. Absolutely essential.

Read Full Post »

Blu-Ray Review: Escape From Fort Bravo (1953).

Directed by John Sturges
Written by Michael Pate
Phillip Rock
Frank Fenton
Music by Jeff Alexander
Cinematography: Robert L. Surtees
Film Editor: George Boemler

Cast: William Holden (Captain Roper), Eleanor Parker (Carla Forester), John Forsythe (Captain John Marsh), William Demarest (Campbell), William Campbell (Cabot Young), Polly Bergen (Alice Owens), Richard Anderson (Lieutenant Beecher), Carl Benton Reid (Colonel Owens), John Lupton (Bailey), Forrest Lewis, Howard McNear, Glenn Strange

---

Director John Sturges made lots of really good movies, but he had a real thing for Westerns. One of his earliest was Escape From Fort Bravo (1953). It’s now available on Blu-Ray from Warner Archive.

It’s the Civil War. William Holden is a captain at Fort Bravo, a Union prison camp filled with Confederate soldiers (John Forsythe, William Demarest, William Campbell). There are Mescalero Apaches outside the walls of the fort and Confederate spies (Eleanor Parker, Howard McNear) inside. The spies help Forsythe mount an escape, and Holden heads out after them.

It all comes to a head when Holden, Parker and the recaptured prisoners are pinned down in a dry creek bed by who-knows-how-many Apaches.

To tell you much more might get in the way of Sturges’ finely-crafted suspense. The last reel of this thing is as good as anything Sturges ever did. It’s terrific.

Quite a few 50s Westerns made good use of the climactic pinned-down-by-Indians thing. A few that come to mind are Apache Drums (1951), Dakota Incident (1956) and Dragoon Wells Massacre (1958).

Holden is really good as the hard-nosed captain. He was an avid outdoorsman, and it looks like he’s in his element here. Eleanor Parker makes a good spy, and she’s beautiful in both an evening gown and leather jacket. William Demarest and William Campbell have some good, well-written scenes together. And it’s great to see Howard McNear, Floyd from The Andy Griffith Show, as a Confederate spy. Where things get a little wonky is in the middle — the romantic scenes between Holden and Parker seem like a studio-dictated addition. They slow the movie down as it makes its way to its tight conclusion. (Sturges was never all that adept with the mushy stuff.) Of course, the thrilling final attack makes up for it.

Escape From Fort Bravo was one of the first pictures shot in the Ansco Color process. It’s no Technicolor, or even Eastmancolor, but it gets the job done. It was John Sturges’ first color film, period. It was shot in Death Valley, Gallop, New Mexico, Corriganville and the MGM backlot in April and May of 1953. The great Robert Surtees was the cinematographer. There was talk at one time of the picture being shot in 3-D. It was not, with MGM making it an early widescreen release instead. In some places, it played in three-track stereophonic sound.

Warner Archive’s Blu-Ray is a marked improvement over the DVD. Here, we get the original widescreen (1.75) and a surprisingly vivid look at Ansco Color’s pastel shades. Like so many stereo movies from the early 50s, the original directional tracks are probably long gone. The mono sound, however, is clean and clear.

Escape From Fort Bravo has everything going for it. A great cast. Meticulous direction. Incredible location photography, in color. And now it has a Blu-Ray that really does all that justice. Highly, highly recommended.

Of course, John Sturges would make another POW escape film, The Great Escape, in 1963. By the way, he was trying to get that one off the ground while Escape From Fort Bravo was being put together. It took him 10 years to get The Great Escape to the screen.

Read Full Post »