Blu-Ray News #327: Rails Into Laramie (1954).

Directed by Jesse Hibbs
Starring John Payne, Mari Blanchard, Dan Duryea, Joyce Mackenzie, Barton MacLane, James Griffith, Lee Van Cleef, Myron Healey

Universal’s German “branch” has announced an upcoming nine-movie Blu-Ray set featuring a good, but somewhat random, selection of Westerns — many available on Blu-Ray for the first time.

There are two Audie Murphy pictures, Jesse Hibbs’s Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954) and Gunpoint (1966).

Jesse Hibbs’s Rails Into Laramie (1954) is a cool, sadly under-seen 50s Western with a really terrific cast. It’s been on my Want List for quite some time. 

Also in the set are Jacques Tourneur’s Canyon Passage (1946), George Sherman’s Comanche Territory (1950), Douglas Sirk’s Taza, Son Of Cochise (1954), Smoke Signal (1955), Lonely Are The Brave (1962) and The Ride To Hangman’s Tree (1967).

While packages like this tend to lead to some duplication in your DVD/Blu-Ray collection, they offer up some really good stuff. Recommended.

Thanks to (birthday boy) John Knight for the tip!

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray Want List.

A while back, I asked for Want Lists of the 50s Westerns still lost on the high-def trail. Here they are, presented in chronological order. The titles in bold are the ones that were brought up most frequently.

With the recent news about Fox/Disney’s lack of interest in their back catalogs appearing on shiny silver circles, getting this finished and posted seemed very timely. Many of these, mind you, haven’t even turned up on DVD yet.

The Virginian (1946)
Albuquerque (1948)
Coroner Creek (1948)
Whispering Smith (1948)
3 Godfathers (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949)
Hellfire (1949)
Streets Of Laredo (1949)
Ambush (1950)
Branded (1950)
Devil’s Doorway (1950)
The Nevadan (1950)
Saddle Tramp (1950)
Short Grass (1950)
Showdown (1950)

Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)
Across The Wide Missouri (1951)
Along The Great Divide (1951)
Apache Drums (1951)
Best Of The Badmen (1951)
The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
Inside Straight (1951)
Man In The Saddle (1951)
Red Mountain (1951)
The Redhead And The Cowboy (1951)
The Secret Of Convict Lake (1951)
The Texas Rangers (1951)
Westward The Women (1951)
Vengeance Valley (1951)
Warpath (1951)
The Big Sky (1952)
Bugles In The Afternoon (1952)

Hangman’s Knot (1952)
The Lawless Breed (1952)
The Lusty Men (1952)
The Naked Spur (1952)
Ride The Man Down (1952)
The Savage (1952)
The Story Of Will Rogers (1952)
Untamed Frontier (1952)
Ambush At Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Charge At Feather River (1953)
City Of Bad Men (1953)
Devil’s Canyon {1953)
Escape From Fort Bravo (1953)
The Great Sioux Uprising (1953)
Jack McCall, Desperado (1953)
Last Of The Comanches (1953)
The Last Posse (1953)
The Silver Whip (1953)
The Stranger Wore A Gun (1953)
Wings Of The Hawk (1953)

Tumbleweed (1953)
Apache (1954)
The Bounty Hunter (1954)
Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954)
The Command (1954)
Dawn At Socorro (1954)
The Law Vs. Billy The Kid (1954)
The Outcast (1954)
Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954)
Silver Lode (1954)
Wyoming Renegades (1954)
The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
At Gunpoint (1955)
Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
The Last Frontier (1955)
The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955)
Shotgun (1955)
Smoke Signal (1955)
Tennessee’s Partner (1955)
The Violent Men (1955)
Wichita (1955)
Backlash (1956)

Dakota Incident (1956)
Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
Fury At Gunsight Pass (1956)
Great Day In The Morning (1956)
The Last Wagon (1956)
The Lone Ranger (1956)
The Maverick Queen (1956)
Reprisal! (1956)
Seven Men From Now (1956)
Stagecoach To Fury (1956)
Tribute To A Bad Man (1956)
Copper Sky (1957)
Domino Kid (1957)

Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957)
From Hell To Texas (1958)
Frontier Gun (1958)
The Lone Ranger And The Lost City Of Gold (1958)
Face Of A Fugitive (1959)
Last Train From Gun Hill (1959)
No Name On The Bullet (1959)
Thunder In The Sun (1959)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
Hell Bent For Leather (1960)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Firecreek (1968)
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)

As this was being compiled, a few titles actually made their way to Blu-Ray, one of them being the exquisite new Wagon Master (1950) from Warner Archive.

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Blu-Ray News #285: Count Three And Pray (1955).

Directed by George Sherman
Starring Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward, Phil Carey, Raymond Burr, Allison Hayes, Myron Healey, Nancy Kulp, James H. Griffith

Van Heflin comes home from the Civil War an ordained minister. It doesn’t go over too well since he was known in his hometown as a real hell raiser. George Sherman directed, Burnett Guffey shot it in ‘Scope and Technicolor, and it’s got a great supporting cast: Phil Carey, Raymond Burr, Allison Hayes, Myron Healey, Nancy Kulp, James H. Griffith. But it’s known today for being Joanne Woodward’s first film. It goes without saying that Heflin is terrific.

Sony has announced its September Blu-Ray release.

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray News #271: Border River (1954).

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

There’s a company in France called ESC Editions, and they’ve started announcing some upcoming Universal Westerns on Blu-Ray. One of those is George Sherman’s Border River (1954), one of the six terrific Westerns Joel McCrea made for Universal. The comments around here have been buzzing about this thing, and for good reason — to have these coming to high-definition is a big deal.

I’ll post more information — aspect ratio, region, etc. — as it’s verified.

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Screenings: Republic At The Museum Of Modern Art.

Martin Scorsese has curated a retrospective of Republic movies, for February and August at the Museum Of Modern Art, from the restored material at Paramount.

There’s some great stuff in February’s lineup, including Trigger, Jr. (1950), Stranger At My Door (1956) and one of my all-time favorite films, Hellfire (1949). Three of my favorite directors are represented: William Witney, George Sherman and Allan Dwan.

Working with the fine folks at Kino Lorber on commentaries for some of their Republic releases, the quality of the material coming out of Paramount is incredible. (I’m in the middle of Singing Guns right now.) So glad to see these films are being treated with the respect they deserve.

Thanks to Laura for the news!

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50s Westerns DVD News #251: The Hard Man (1956).

Directed by George Sherman
Starring Guy Madison, Valerie French, Lorne Greene, Barry Atwater

Hollywood Scrapheap, which brings us hard-to-find old movies from about every genre you can think of, is now offering up The Hard Man (1957), a terrific little Columbia picture from George Sherman starring Guy Madison. And it’s widescreen! Screen caps on their web site look quite nice.

They’ve also added another Sherman/Madison gem to their roster, Reprisal! (1956). It’s full-frame instead of cropped for Henry Freulich’s original 1.85. Both of these are well worth seeking out, and until Columbia gets around to them, if they ever do, this is a great way to see ’em. Highly, highly recommended.

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Happy Birthday, Rory Calhoun.

Rory Calhoun
(August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999)

Rory Calhoun would be 95 today.

His run of 50s Westerns stands up to about anybody’s. Red Sundown (1956) really knocked me out, but others are just as good — The Silver Whip (1953), Dawn At Socorro (1954), The Hired Gun (1957) and on it goes. He worked with Ray Nazarro a lot, especially when he developed his own films, which guarantees you a pretty solid 80 minutes.

This newspaper piece plugs The Treasure Of Pancho Villa (1955) from George Sherman. Wish Warner Archive or somebody would get around to that one.

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Quote Of The Day.

Came across something I wanna share. During World War II, some directors were standing around at Republic, talking. The only one of them of draft age was William Witney (above) — who eventually joined the Marines and served in their combat photography unit.

During this conversation, George Sherman said, “Anyone who quits Republic and joins the Army is a coward.”

If Sherman’s quip isn’t terrific enough, the very idea of these guys standing around jawbonin’ really knocks me out. I shook Mr. Witney’s hand at a Western film festival many years ago, and was too young, stupid and intimidated to really say anything. What a missed opportunity that was. Of course, he was as nice as he could be.

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DVD Review: Daniel Boone – The First Season (1964-65).

Since starting this blog and allowing myself to really wallow in 50s Westerns, it’s been interesting to note how many of the 50s Western “practitioners” made the move to television in the 50s and into the 60s. For them, it probably wasn’t a real decision — they simply went where the work was.

Daniel Boone (1964-70) is one of the programs that really benefited from the Western pedigree of its cast and crew. Boone was developed to leverage Fess Parker’s incredible popularity as Disney’s Davy Crockett. Fact is, the show was to be about Crockett, but Disney wouldn’t give up the rights.

Shout Factory has released the show’s first season in a 6-disc Collector’s Edition — 29 episodes with bonus material. Making your way through the set, you’re immediately struck by the familiar names and faces. This first season, the only one not in color, supplements its regular cast — Parker, Patricia Blair, Albert Salmi, Ed Ames, etc. — with the likes of Claude Akins, Dan Duryea, James H. Griffith, Jay Silverheels, Robert J. Wilke, Michael Pate, John McIntire and Hank Worden. Directors include Joseph H. Lewis, George Sherman, Thomas Carr, Nathan Juran and George Marshall — who all some some outstanding 50s Westerns.  The first episode, “Ken-Tuck-E,” directed by Marshall, was written by Borden Chase and shot by Carl Guthrie. Quite an impressive bunch.

The set looks terrific, with print quality varying a bit from episode to episode — but solid overall. The extra stuff is well done. And as for the shows themselves, I’ve always felt this first season was stronger than what came later. But you know, Parker’s so likable, that hardly seems important. Recommended.

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George Sherman At The Old Corral.

George Sherman (above, between Gilbert Roland and Shelley Winters on location for 1955’s The Treasure Of Pancho Villa) made a number of excellent Westerns in the 50s, usually for Universal or Columbia. He was a true craftsman, with a real flair for location work — and he could knock your eyes out with Technicolor.

I’m preaching to the choir here, I know. We’ve all sung the praises of his Dawn At Socorro (1954), Reprisal! (1956) and Last Of The Fast Guns (1958) many times. But for a new article on the ClassicFlix website, Blake Lucas and I cooked up an overview of Sherman’s career and highlighted the films available on DVD here in the States. While a good sampling of his pictures are easy to get ahold of, some of his work is frustratingly hard to find. But I assure you, they’re worth the effort.

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