THE WESTERN TALKS!, 1928-1937

"It would seem that the western, telling its story in terms of action rather than dialogue, should have been relatively unconcerned about the mechanical problems of sound .... [But] because of many actual and alleged problems, including most specifically the recording of the camera's own operational noise, the camera became rooted to the ground and housed in small 'sweat boxes.'

"In the first year or two of sound, the western didn't seem important enough to justify the necessary effort.  Like the big elaborate swashbuckler, it was considered a dead relic of the silents and of no major commercial value." -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

The humble B-western dominated western filmmaking in the silent era, just as it did during the first two decades following the advent of sound.

There were some silent westerns produced to appeal to adult audiences, those starring William S. Hart, for example, or directed by a young John Ford, but the biggest star of the era was Tom Mix, whose fast-moving, action-filled films were geared to a younger audience.

Hart

Mix and Tony

But since westerns were by their nature outdoor films, the coming of sound, and its crude sound equipment, meant that most productions would be filmed indoors and consequently the western would be at a disadvantage.

This was true even after IN OLD ARIZONA (Fox, 1928) proved that sound movies could be filmed outdoors.  However, even this film was unavoidably stilted and static because of the problems presented by the sound equipment which dictated that the camera had to remain stationary much of the time.

Warner Baxter is the Cisco Kid in IN OLD ARIZONA

Despite the success of the film, the major studios tended to shy away from outdoor pictures. Under the best of conditions, it was still a cumbersome process when compared to filming on a sound stage.  As it turned out, it would be the Poverty Row studios that rushed in where the majors feared to tread.

Many of them didn't even own a sound stage and didn't possess the necessary financial wherewithal to rent one. For that reason, among others, B-westerns flooded the market.  Many of them were so crudely done and amateurishly acted and unintentionally laughable that they are extremely painful for even lovers of western films to watch today.

But the equipment improved and the films began to slowly but surely improve as studios such as Republic and Monogram began to produce superior B's and some of the majors also got back into the business of making quality B-westerns.

And as equipment improved and logistical problems were worked out the majors also began to film A-westerns geared to adult audiences.  It was still a slow process, however, and did not build up a head of steam until the landmark year of 1939.

As Les Adams and Buck Rainey noted in their detailed study of western movies, Shoot-em-Ups, the years from 1933 to 1937 were boom years for the B-western programmer, but not so much for the A-western.  In fact, almost 500 of the 530 western features shot during the period were B-westerns.

What follows are some of the significant sound A-westerns made prior to 1939, beginning with, naturally:

IN OLD ARIZONA (Fox, 1928)

DIRECTOR: Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh;  WRITERS: adaptation by Tom Barry based on O. Henry's short story, The Caballero's Way; CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Arthur Edeson

CAST:  Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, Dorothy Burgess, Henry Armetta, Frank Campeau, Tom London, J. Farrell MacDonald 


Warner Baxter is the Cisco Kid, a Robin Hood type who robs the rich and gives to the poor.  In O. Henry's short story the Kid was actually an Anglo, but Baxter plays him as a Mexican, unconvincing accent and all, and in the many Cisco Kid films (and TV series) that followed, he would never return to his original Anglo status. 

In the second year of the Academy Awards the film was nominated for five Oscars out of a possible seven.  However, Baxter's award for Best Actor was the film's only winner.  Despite the award it is difficult today to watch his attempt to portray a Latin outlaw without cringing at its stereotypical nature.  Neither his performance nor the film has stood the test of time.


"[It] was of its time -- a romantic triangle melodrama with a gloomy ending." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

"[It] was hardly a super-western but was certainly one of style and importance.  Microphones hidden under prairie scrub and foliage enabled naturalistic sound effects to be picked up, and even more than the gunshots and the galloping hooves, the sound of frying bacon impressed itself on viewers and showed that the realistic quality of sound was perhaps just what the western needed. -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

"Novelty of first major sound western and first talkie to take microphones outdoors has long worn off, leaving only a stilted performance led by Baxter's dubious Oscar winner as the Cisco Kid." -- Leonard Maltin

THE VIRGINIAN (Paramount, 1929)


DIRECTOR: Victor Fleming;  PRODUCER:
B.P. Schulberg;  WRITERS:  screenplay by Howard Estabrook based on novel by Owen Wister;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: J. Roy Hunt;  Assistant Director: Henry Hathaway;  Dialogue Coach: Randolph Scott

CAST:  Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, Chester Conklin, Eugene Palette, Victor Potel, Ernie Adams, George Chandler, Bob Kortman, Ethan Laidlaw, Lee Meehan, Jack Pennick, Randolph Scott, Charles Stevens


TRAMPAS (Walter Huston):  "Well, who's talkin' to you?"

THE VIRGINIAN (Gary Cooper):  "I'm talkin' to you, Trampas!"

TRAMPAS: "When I want to know anything from you, I'll tell ya, you long-legged son-of-a-...."

THE VIRGINIAN:  [Trampas stops talking abruptly as the Virginian's pistol is pressed against his abdomen.]  "If you want to call me that, smile!"

TRAMPAS:  "With a gun against my belly, I -- I always smile!"
[He grins broadly.]
  

Owen Wister's seminal western novel is perhaps the most famous ever written. It was so popular that it was twice produced as a play and has been the basis for six films, including two during the silent era.  And then there was the popular TV series that ran for nine seasons from 1962 to 1971.

The 1929 film is known primarily for the above scene and the exciting shoot-out conclusion.  An early talkie, it is generally considered to be a classic film and easily the best production of the story.  It also made Gary Cooper a leading man though real stardom would have to wait a few more years. 

"[It] remains a classic: the essential western, still vital, still funny and moving by turns .... Cooper's performance ... still impresses, but Huston and Arlen aren't far behind ... THE VIRGINIAN is fun, and very good; possibly we may never come nearer to the ultimate western." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

".... stiff but interesting western, salvaged in good climactic shoot-out." -- Leonard Maltin

".... verbose, slow and unlikely .... The film's slowness is a direct result of the new slower pace sound brought to the cinema." -- Phil Hardy, The Western



BILLY THE KID (MGM, 1930)

DIRECTOR: King Vidor;  PRODUCER: King Vidor; WRITERS: dialogue by Laurence Stallings, et al. based on book by Walter Noble Burns, The Saga of Billy the Kid; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gordon Avil;  TECHNICAL ADVISER: William S. Hart

CAST: Johnny Mack Brown (as John Mack Brown), Wallace Beery, Kay Johnson, Wyndham Standing, James Marcus, Russell Simpson, Roscoe Ates, Warner Richmond, Hank Bell, Chris-Pin Martin

The story of Billy the Kid had been filmed a couple of times during the silent era, but by the dawn of the sound era he had become an almost forgotten historical character.  That all changed in 1926, however, with the publication of Walter Noble Burns' pseudo-biography, The Saga of Billy the Kid, which was not as much a biography of historical Billy as it was of the legendary Billy.  The bestselling book effectively resurrected Billy from the dustbin of history -- or at least the legendary version, the tragic hero, the misunderstood one who was a victim of circumstances.

Johnny Mack Brown ... brought athletic ability and a pleasing personality to the role of Billy, although it was Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett who gave the best performance, a surprisingly underplayed piece of acting for such an extrovert player and an equally surprising underwritten role. -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

William S. Hart served as technical adviser to the film and this no doubt added an air of authenticity to the production.  And so did the fact that the film was shot on the actual locations of the Lincoln County, New Mexico conflict.

However, the old cowboy actor had to be displeased with the happy ending that was added to the film, one that allowed Billy to ride across the border to enjoy a peaceful life with the woman he loved.  At least that is what happened in the version released in the U.S.; the film distributed in Europe included the historical ending in which Garrett shot and killed Billy.  One supposes that the producers didn't think U.S. audiences would be willing to accept such a tragic conclusion.

It was hoped by all concerned that the film would make a star of Brown and it did, but not the kind that he or the studio envisioned.  

What he did eventually become, after being demoted to Poverty Row for a time, was one of the most pleasing and most durable of all the B-western stars, spending most of his career at Universal and later Monogram.


"The slow film is rather talky but it recaptures the legend of Billy the Kid very nicely .... The movie conveys an overpowering flavor and sense of history, in terms of time and place, rather than the facts ... and the movie was shot on actual locations at a time when they hadn't changed perceptibly." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

" ... the photography is good, but always naturalistic, the characters drab in dress, the buildings ramshackle, the streets dusty .... its script is frankly untidy, yet the film is quite certainly the best and most convincing of all the Billy the Kid sagas." -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

"[It] is undeniably faithful to the look of the old West, despite its big budget and romantic plot." -- Phil Hardy, The Western

"Realistic early talkie western ...; some performances seem highly dated today." -- Leonard Maltin 



THE BIG TRAIL (Fox, 1930)


DIRECTOR: Raoul Walsh;  PRODUCER: Winfield R. Sheehan;  WRITERS: screenplay by Marie Boyle, Jack Peabody, and Florence Postal based on story by Hal G. Evarts;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lucien N. Andriot and Arthur Edeson

CAST: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power, Sr., Charles Stevens, Chief Big Tree, Ward Bond, Iron Eyes Cody

"The most important picture ever produced" was apparently not a unanimous opinion.

Great pains were taken to give this wagon train tale an authentic look, but the film is severely hampered by a B-western script and Wayne's lack of experience as an actor.  "The most important picture ever produced" was a failure at the box office where it really counted.

Much has been written about this film due to the fact that it provided John Wayne with his first important role. THE VIRGINIAN made Gary Cooper a leading man, but BILLY THE KID failed to do the same for Johnny Mack Brown. And Wayne, like Johnny Mack, would be relegated to B-westerns, but finally, unlike Johnny Mack, he would finally escape in 1939 when John Ford chose him to star in STAGECOACH (UA, 1939)  
  

But even then, like Cooper before him, the film made him a leading man but true stardom would have to wait several years, in his case, almost a decade, until Howard Hawks cast him in RED RIVER (UA, 1948).  The actor's long and fruitful association with John Ford began after that and eventually he became the biggest star of them all, especially in, but not restricted to, western films.


In a perverse way the failure of THE BIG TRAIL may have worked in the actor's favor. Those years at Monogram and Republic starring in B-westerns are where he finally learned his craft.

"THE BIG TRAIL was a surprising box office failure .... Wayne ... is more than adequate in the lead .... The sequences of the wagons fording rivers and being manhandled up mountains and the action scenes are both realistic and visually breathtaking." -- Phil Hardy, The Western

".... an outstanding early sound epic .... But ... the authenticity of detail and the sweep of history was somewhat let down by a standardized 'B' plot ...." -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

"The script is poor, but so is Wayne's acting; he is wooden at best, and embarrassingly inept at worst." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

"Epic western may seem creaky to some viewers, but remains one of the most impressive early talkies, with its grand sweep and naturalistic use of sound." -- Leonard Maltin

CIMARRON (RKO, 1931)


DIRECTOR: Wesley Ruggles;  PRODUCERS: William LeBaron and Wesley Ruggles;  WRITERS: dialogue by Howard Estabrook based on novel by Edna Ferber;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Cronjager;  SECOND UNIT DIRECTOR: B. Reeves Eason

CAST: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, William Collier, Jr., Nance O'Neil, Roscoe Ates, George F. Stone, Stanley Fields, Edna May Oliver, Bob Kortman, Frank Lackteen, Ethan Laidlaw


CIMARRON is primarily noted for two things: 1) it was the first western to win an Oscar for Best Picture (the second to win the award was DANCES WITH WOLVES [1990], fifty-nine years later) and 2) the Oklahoma land rush scene staged by the incomparable action director B. Reeves Eason.

It was reported that the land rush scene took a week to film, utilizing 5,000 extras, 28 cameramen, 6 still photographers, and 27 camera assistants.

Unfortunately, as critics have noted the land rush is the most exciting thing about the film and it occurs at the beginning.  After that, it is unsurprising that the film had a tendency to lose its momentum.

However, it was nominated for seven Oscars and won three (Best Picture, Art Direction, and Best Writing Adaptation).  Both of its stars, Richard Dix and Irene Dunne (her film debut), were nominated for their performances but neither won.

Dix would go on to star in 18 other westerns, but except for one comedic contemporary western, this would be the only one for Dunne.

It was also the year's biggest money maker at the box office, but because of its expensive production costs it still lost money.  


"The opening spectacle -- the Oklahoma land rush -- is tremendous and it's a solid empire-building movie about the conversion of Indian Territory into the state of Oklahoma and the subsequent building of oil fiefdoms ..., it's soap more than horse opera ... it leaves quite a lot to be desired for modern audiences, and with the climactic land rush at the beginning rather than the end, it has nowhere to go but downhill." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

"... it tended to be bogged down in character studies and had the structural flaw of presenting its highlight -- the massive Cherokee Strip land rush sequence at the beginning of the picture .... the film was well-served by Richard Dix and Irene Dunne in the leads [and] many good supporting performers .... " -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of Western Film

"Though Ruggles' spirited direction seems dated now, the outdoor scenes still remain impressive." -- Phil Hardy, The Western

" ... it dates badly, particularly Dix's overripe performance -- but it's still worth seeing." -- Leonard Maltin



LAW AND ORDER (Universal 1932)

Based on W.R. Burnett's novel, Saint Johnson, the film is a thinly disguised fictional treatment of the events leading to and including the shoot-out at Tombstone's O.K. Corral.  It stars Walter Huston as a Wyatt Earp-like character with Harry Carey filling the role of the Doc Holliday-like character.

I earlier reviewed the film and if you wish you can read it here.



THE TEXAS RANGERS (Paramount, 1936) 

DIRECTOR: King Vidor; PRODUCER: King Vidor: WRITERS: screenplay by Louis Stevens from a story by King Vidor and Elizabeth Hill based upon data from Walter Prescott Webb's book, The Texas Rangers; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Cronjager 

CAST: Fred McMurray, Jack Oakie, Jean Parker, Lloyd Nolan, Edward Ellis, Benny Bartlett, Fred Kohler, George "Gabby" Hayes, Stanley Andrews, Irving Bacon, Hank Bell, Neal Hart, Charles Middleton

Three desperadoes (L-R): Fred McMurray, Jack Oakie, Lloyd Nolan; two will eventually go straight.

What a pleasant surprise!  It is a much better film than the attention it has received would indicate.  I had read about it, but had never viewed it until recently.  It wasn't because I didn't want to, it was because I couldn't locate it. But what I had read in works dealing with the history of the western, with one exception, had never given the film much more than a  brief mention.

The exception is A Pictorial History of the Western by William K. Everson.  Everson writes:

"By far the best of Paramount's quartet of mid-thirties epics was THE TEXAS RANGERS and indeed, despite its weaknesses, it is still one of the most enjoyable Paramount super-westerns from any period.  It was directed by King Vidor in 1936, his first western since BILLY THE KID [1930], and a much more polished if gripping work .... [T]he script ... was not ambitious enough ... ostensibly based on Texas Rangers records, but actually it seems to consist of well-known Ranger incidents ... fused with a very standard "B" picture plot which constantly threatens to reduce its epic stature.

"[B]ut Vidor fills his film with enough incident, action, and well-developed characters for these flaws to matter too much.

"Even though not a classic, [it] is an exhilarating western with a refreshing schoolboy vigor."

By the way, the other three Paramount super-westerns that Everson alludes to and ranks below THE TEXAS RANGERS are: THE PLAINSMAN (1936), WELLS FARGO (1937), and THE TEXANS (1938).  Two of them are coming up next and I plan a complete review of THE TEXAS RANGERS in the near future.

Fred McMurray: outlaw?

McMurray and Oakie: Rangers or outlaws?

Gabby: crooked judge?

THE PLAINSMAN (Paramount, 1936)

DIRECTOR: Cecil B. DeMille;  PRODUCERS: Cecil B. DeMille and William H. Pine; WRITERS: screenplay by Waldemar Young, Harold Lamb, and Lynn Riggs; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Victor Milner;  SECOND UNIT DIRECTOR: Arthur Rosson

CAST:  Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess, Porter Hall, Paul Harvey, John Miljan, Fred Kohler, Harry Woods, Anthony Quinn, Francis McDonald, George "Gabby" Hayes, Fuzzy Knight, Stanley Andrews, Francis Ford, Irving Bacon, Hank Bell, Monte Blue, Lane Chandler, Bud Osborne, Charles Stevens, Chief Thundercloud, Hank Worden

Gary Cooper is Wild Bill Hickok, Jean Arthur is Calamity Jane, James Ellison is Buffalo Bill Cody, and Cecil B. DeMille is in charge of what was his first western epic.  The film should have benefited from its big budget, but it didn't always. The director always preferred shooting his epics indoors and never liked spending much time on location, to the detriment of this film and others he helmed.  Consequently, the film is marred by phony studio "exteriors," back projection shots, and actors riding mock-up horses. In fact, most of the outdoor scenes, and not just the action scenes, were shot by second unit directors, in this case, Arthur Rosson.

Wild Bill gets the drop on crooked gambler

But the audiences of the '30's didn't seem to mind and it was a popular, if not critical, success.  And the good cast is able to overcome its shortcomings to some degree and the end result is entertaining.

Jean Arthur is Calamity Jane

James Ellison is Buffalo Bill Cody

And, by the way, Porter Hall is Jack McCall, the dastardly coward who dispatches Wild Bill in a Deadwood saloon, shooting him from behind, of course. Oh, and another thing, if you are interested in the true history of the three principal characters it would be best to look elsewhere.

"... for all its attention to petty historical detail ... it plays fast and loose with history .... Slow moving and overly romantic by modern standards in its depiction of westward expansion, [it] remains an entertaining spectacle." -- Phil Hardy, The Western

"[W]hile a big popular success, it was hardly a good picture.  Its script was heavy-handed and obvious, and far too much of the film was spoiled by DeMille's over-fondness for shooting as much of his pictures as possible within the confines of the studio.  Nevertheless ... the production as a whole was big and certainly entertaining." -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

" ... performances by most of the players are spirited.  But its juvenile, an overblown programmer.  [It] isn't much of a movie but it did establish Cooper as the archetypal western hero." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

"Typical DeMille hokum, a big, outlandish western .... About as authentic as BLAZING SADDLES [WB, 1974], but who cares -- it's still good fun." -- Leonard Maltin



WELLS FARGO (Paramount, 1937)

DIRECTOR: Frank Lloyd;  PRODUCERS: Howard Estabrook and Frank Lloyd; WRITERS: screenplay by Paul Schofield, Gerald Geraghty, and Frederick J. Jackson based on story by Stuart N. Lake;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Theodor Sparkuhl

CAST: Joel McCrea, Bob Burns, Frances Dee, Lloyd Nolan, Ralph Morgan, Johnny Mack Brown, Porter Hall, Robert Cummings, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Peggy Stewart, Ernie Adams, Hank Bell, Lane Chandler, Richard Denning, Jack Perrin, Hal Taliaferro, Harry Woods

Joel McCrea and Frances Dee were Mr. and Mrs. McCrea in real life.  

There's a lot of soap in this hoss opera, a nation-building epic about the formation of Wells & Fargo, Co. McCrea portrays a troubleshooter who is instrumental in the company's efforts to establish an overland freight and mail service. The film covers the years represented by the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, and the Civil War. This requires the stars to age several decades and suffer through many trials and tribulations, including strains on family life, during those eventful times.

Before all is said and done the story evolves, make that devolves, into more of a costume drama than western adventure.  My advice is to skip this one and to watch Four Faces West, a much more satisfying western starring McCrea and Dee. 

However, WELLS FARGO was McCrea's first starring role in a western and there would come a time when he would devote his entire career to starring in the genre.  And those of us who love westerns (and that should be everyone) can grateful for that.


"[Joel McCrea] proved at home in the saddle here, and hence his selection as the star of UNION PACIFIC [Paramount] two years later ... but the film can be a bore unless you are in a tolerant mood." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

" ... a long, carefully made, but stiff, dull and practically actionless movie, long on historical data, romance, and interior scenes, short on excitement and exteriors." -- William K. Everson, A Pictorial History of the Western Film

"Paramount's production values are solid enough, though Lloyd wisely eschews any crowd scenes, but the material doesn't stretch to the 115 minutes' running time." -- Phil Hardy, The Western

HIGH NOON: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel

This is a review of a book written about the making of the classic western film, HIGH NOON (UA, 1952).  If you wish, and I hope you do, you can read my review of the film here.


HIGH NOON is one of the most famous and popular western movies ever made.  Despite the fact that westerns had never been held in high esteem by the Motion Picture Academy, it was nominated for seven Oscars, and won four.

Practically everybody, even non-western movie fans (surely a small number), is familiar with the plot of a retiring marshal, Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who is deserted by his town in his hour of need.  Even his Quaker bride (Grace Kelly), who is of course a pacifist and therefore abhors violence, threatens to leave him on their wedding day if he refuses to leave town with her.

But because he is a man of courage and integrity, he single-handedly, not by choice, takes on a gang of four murderous gunmen who plan to kill him.

The Author

Glenn Frankel combines his love of classic films and American history in a fascinating study of HIGH NOON and its rocky backstory, one that almost prevented the film from even getting off the ground.  

It didn't start out that way.  In fact, the project appeared in its early stages to be one that would have been characterized by little, if any, controversy. Screenwriter Carl Foreman's initial vision was that the film would be an allegory about the necessity of peaceful nations acting multilaterally through the infant United Nations organization to combat the aggressive actions of rogue nations.

Instead of Marshal Kane finding himself in isolated circumstances when the four gunmen come after him, he would be able to count on the people of the town to come to his aid -- just as the UN ideally would come to the aid of a peaceful nation threatened by an aggressor. As it turned out, Foreman's screenplay did become an allegory, but not the one that was originally intended.

During the film's early stages of production, and while the screenplay was still being developed, Foreman was summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which was investigating communist influence in the film industry.

Foreman and his wife, like many other Americans, had joined the Communist Party during the '30's.  The Great Depression had thrown the nation -- and the world -- into a state of economic chaos and capitalism, in its perceived inability to solve the twin problems of unemployment and poverty, was viewed by activists on the right and the left as being part of the problem rather than the solution.

While some Americans flirted with fascism, some on the left joined the Communist Party because they saw it as a solution to not only getting a handle on poverty, but also as the best defense against the spread of fascism at home and abroad.

Like many Americans who joined the party, Foreman became disillusioned after World War II with the onset of the Cold War and also when the brutal excesses of the Stalin regime became publicly known.  It was then that the party's membership began to evaporate in the United States.  Among those dropping their membership were Mr. and Mrs. Foreman.  

A happier Carl Foreman, 1961

In his appearance before the committee he testified that he was not then a member of the Communist Party, but took the Fifth when he was asked if he had been a member before 1950 and refused to "name names" as some others had done. Consequently, he was branded an "unfriendly witness," which was not only tantamount to admitting guilt as far as the committee was concerned, but it resulted in the individual's name being placed on a blacklist, which in turn meant that person's career was seriously damaged or even totally destroyed.

At least five hundred people were blacklisted for a decade or more.  There were even several suicides as a result of the blacklist.

It also meant that because of the fear of association that few people, if any, were going to come to the "accused" person's defense.  In fact, producer Stanley Kramer wanted Foreman to be more forthcoming with the committee and when he wasn't, Kramer feared Foreman's association with the film would doom it at the box office. Although Foreman did receive credit for the screenplay, Kramer stripped him of his associate producer credit.

This is why Foreman began to visualize the film as an allegory for the evils of the witch hunt and the blacklist and why he began to reshape the screenplay to reflect his vision.  His life had become exhibit no. 1.  As far as he was concerned, he was Will Kane trying to do what was right, but having to do it alone, because the fears of guilt by association that others felt had the effect of isolating him, just as it did Will Kane.

Ironically, Foreman received an Oscar nomination, his third, for best screenplay, but it is no surprise that he did not win.  By the time the awards were announced he had left the country.  He had gone into self-exile in England where he continued his career with notable success.  As for Stanley Kramer, his treatment of Foreman would forever be a blot on the record of a producer who was noted for movies with a "social message."

By the end of the '50's, the blacklist activity had faded.  HUAC was re-named the House Committee on Internal Security, but was eventually abandoned by 1975.

Frankel's High Noon book is his second in which he skillfully interweaves film-making and American history.

The first was The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend.  That classic Western, starring John Wayne in his greatest performance, was inspired by the real-life kidnapping of young Cynthia Ann Parker from her Texas frontier home by Comanche raiders.

As he does in High Noon, Frankel provides the readers with insights into both the making of the film and the history upon which it is based.  Both books are well-written and thoroughly researched, but then that is what one would expect from a Pulitzer winning journalist.

******
"The real strength of Frankel's account lies in its illustration, in many shades of gray, of the Hollywood blacklist and what it did, in political terms, as it ruined or derailed many, many careers." -- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"Though Frankel began this sumptuous history long before the latest election, he ends up reminding us that 2016 was far from the first time politicians trafficked in lies and fear, and showing us how, nonetheless, people came together to do exemplary work." -- John Domini, The Washington Post

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- HIGH NOON

# 10

HIGH NOON (Kramer/UA, 1952)

Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
On this, our wedding day.
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
Wait; wait alone.
I do not know what fate awaits me.
I only know I must be brave.
For I must face a man who hates me,
Or lie a coward, a craven coward;
Or lie a coward in my grave.
Oh, to be torn 'twixt love an' duty.
S'posin' I lose my fair-haired beauty.
Look at that big hand move along,
Nearing high noon. 

DIRECTOR: Fred Zinnemann;  PRODUCER: Stanley Kramer;  ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Carl Foreman (uncredited); WRITER: Carl Foreman from story by John W. Cunningham;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Floyd Crosby;  FILM EDITOR: Elmo Williams

CAST: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney, Jr., Harry Morgan, Ian McDonald, Eve McVeagh, Harry Shannon, Lee Van Cleef (film debut), Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley, John Doucette, Chuck Hayward, James Millican, Tom London, Harry Harvey, Bud Geary, Lee Aaker


HIGH NOON is one of the most famous and best-liked Westerns ever made.  Practically everybody is familiar with the plot of the town marshal (Cooper), deserted by the rest of the town and his new bride (Kelly), but because he is a man of courage and integrity, "he does what a man's gotta do" and single-handedly takes on a gang of four murderous gunmen (McDonald, Van Cleef, Wilke, Wooley).

Gary Cooper as Will Kane: "I've got to, that's the whole thing."

It has been written that the film is a virtual Rorschach Test -- and so it is. 

During the film's production, scriptwriter Carl Foreman was summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which was investigating communist influence in the film industry.

In his appearance before the committee he took the Fifth and refused to name names as others had done.  Consequently, he was branded an "unfriendly witness," which was tantamount to admitting guilt as far as the committee was concerned.  

His name was placed on a blacklist which badly damaged or destroyed the careers of others who had been the victims of similar circumstances.

It also meant that because of the fear of guilt by association that few people were going to come to the "accused" person's defense.  

In fact, producer Stanley Kramer wanted Foreman to be more forthcoming with the committee and when he wasn't, the producer feared Foreman's association with the film would doom it at the box office.  As a result, Foreman does receive credit for the screenplay, but Kramer had his name removed from the associate producer's credit. 

So it is no wonder that Foreman began to see the film as an allegory for the evils of the witch hunt.  His life had become exhibit no. 1.  

As far as he was concerned, he was Will Kane trying to do what was right, and having to do it all alone, because the fears of guilt by association that others felt had the effect of isolating him, just as it did Will Kane.  And that development exerted an impact on the evolution of the screenplay that he was still developing.

And that's why liberals praise the film.  However ---

"You risk your skin catching killers and the juries turn them loose so they can come back and shoot at you again.  If you're honest you're poor your whole life and in the end you wind up dying all alone on some dirty street.  For what?  For nothing.  For a tin star." -- ex-marshal Martin Howe 

Lon Chaney, ex-marshal

The above quote is what ex-marshal Howe (Chaney) tells Will Kane when he comes asking for help.  Howe explains that he would be no help because his hands are severely crippled by arthritis (and they are) and that he would just be a hindrance.   But what he tells Kane certainly isn't coming from a liberal mindset.

What he says is what we constantly hear conservatives say right up to the present day.  Crime is a problem, you see, because even murderers like Frank Miller (McDonald) are not executed or locked up for good, but are let out of prison after only five years.  

And now he is due to arrive on the noon train, where three of his gang (Van Cleef, Wilke, Wooley) await his arrival.  Frank Miller desires revenge and only the death of Will Kane will satisfy that desire.

And that is why conservatives should like the film.  However --

John Wayne and Howard Hawks detested the film.  Wayne was quoted as saying that it was "the most un-American thing I have seen in my whole life!"  

He objected to the fact that the marshal showed fear and he stated that it was unbelievable that real pioneer settlers would have failed to come to the aid of their marshal.  But his greatest complaint concerned the final scene when Marshal Kane removes his badge and drops it to the ground.  

No lawman portrayed by John Wayne would ever show fear and he wouldn't need the help of the town's citizens, though they would be willing to help if he asked.  And he sure would not have thrown his badge into the dirt.

Hawks and Wayne made RIO BRAVO (WB, 1959) as an answer to HIGH NOON.  Hawks was quoted as saying "I made RIO BRAVO because I didn't like HIGH NOON...I didn't think a good town marshal was going to run around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking everyone to help.  And who saves him?  His Quaker wife.  That isn't my idea of a good Western."

Well, evidently RIO BRAVO isn't Brian Garfield's idea of a good Western.  Here's what he says about it in his book, Western Films: A Complete Guide:  "It's overrated, overripe, and overlong....Hawks and Wayne insisted it was their 'answer' to HIGH NOON...but that is like answering a serious poem with a nursery-rhyme verse." Ouch!

Two Republican presidents, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, and one Democrat, Bill Clinton, named HIGH NOON as their favorite movie.  That shouldn't be surprising.  

Will Kane was a leader who had been deserted by his followers.  Nevertheless, he attempted to rally them in order to deal with the evil that his town faced.  When that failed, he did not cut and run, for he knew that the gunmen could and would track him down no matter where he fled.  So he took a stand. Presidents can't cut and run either (or shouldn't anyway).

Fred Zinnemann and Gary Cooper

So is HIGH NOON a liberal or a conservative film?  

Director Zinnemann said it was neither.  He didn't even see it as a Western.  To him it was simply the story of a man faced with overwhelming odds and who, despite his fear, overcomes those odds and prevails.  In other words, its theme was much like those found in many of the director's other films.

And Professor Manfred Weidhorn also thinks that the film is neither liberal nor conservative.  He wrote in the February 2005 issue of Bright Lights Film Journal:  "The truth is that HIGH NOON is neither liberal nor conservative because such ideologies are oversimplifications of reality.  Those who put the movie in one camp or the other are merely ignoring details that do not fit in with their smug generalizations."

It has been reported that Zinnemann first offered the role of Will Kane to Gregory Peck, who declined.  Peck said he thought the role was too similar to his role as Jimmy Ringo in THE GUNFIGHTER (Fox,1950).

Later Peck would say that not accepting the role was a big mistake, but on the other hand, he graciously admitted that Cooper was a perfect choice.

Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'

But it didn't stop with Peck.  Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas, and Montgomery Clift also turned down the director's offer.  If Zinnemann could have forced a restrained performance out of Heston or Douglas (not an easy task), they could have been good in the role, but Brando and Clift would have been absurdly miscast.

For the most part, beginning with Cooper, the film is ideally cast.  But in my mind there is one big exception and that is the choice of Grace Kelly to play the marshal's bride.  

This was only her second film and her first prominent role and even at this stage in her career she was a competent actress.  After all, she had appeared in nearly sixty live TV programs.  But she just wasn't right for the part.  Only 22-years-old at the time, it was hard to accept her as the wife of the 50-year-old Cooper.  But it was good beginning for her career.

In her very next film, John Ford's MOGAMBO (MGM, 1953), she would be nominated for an Academy Award and would later win one for her performance in THE COUNTRY GIRL (Paramount, 1954).  She also starred in  three successful Hitchcock films before she married Prince Rainer of Monaco and retired from the screen at age twenty-six.

Katy Jurado began her film career in 1943 acting in Mexican films.  In 1951, Budd Boetticher cast her in his BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY (Republic, 1951).  HIGH NOON was only her third U.S. film and she is very good in the role of the other woman.  In 1954, she would replace Dolores Del Rio in BROKEN LANCE (Fox, 1954) and would be nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.

Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado) to Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges): "You're a good-looking boy.  You've got big, broad shoulders.  But he's a man.  And it takes more than big, broad shoulders to make a man."

The marshal's name in John Cunningham's short story, The Tin Star, which is credited as being the original story that Foreman based his screenplay on, was Will Doane.  Apparently the name was changed to Kane because Jurado, who was in the early stages of tackling the English language, could not say Doane.

Lloyd Bridges, who portrays Harvey Pell, Kane's young and ambitious deputy, who deserts the marshal in his time of need, is topnotch in the role.  He had also been the subject of HUAC suspicion, but he was cleared to the degree that it allowed him to be cast in the film.  

However, the suspicion still seemed to halt the momentum of his movie career.  He nevertheless continued to star in low-budget features and take supporting roles in films with bigger budgets.  Throughout the 50's he was a busy actor on the small screen during the heyday of live TV dramas.

It was TV that finally made him rich and famous.  From 1958 to 1961, he starred in the hugely popular syndicated series SEA HUNT, with reruns being shown many years thereafter.  Bridges always had a reputation for being a versatile performer in several genres, but late in life it was discovered that he had a knack for comedy.  Who knew?

John Wayne and Howard Hawks criticized HIGH NOON because it portrayed the marshal as being scared.  Well, who wouldn't be?  Here are the four gunmen who are coming after him and he is going to have to face them alone.  Only a fool -- or John Wayne -- wouldn't be scared. (L-R) Sheb Wooley, Ian McDonald, Lee Van Cleef (it is his film debut and he doesn't speak a single word of dialogue), Robert J. Wilke

Much is made of the fact that the film's story is told in almost real time.  Dramatizing that fact are all the shots of clocks around town that emphasize that the train carrying Frank Miller is due to arrive at noon.  Elmo Williams won an Oscar for his tight film editing in which the clocks played an important role.

And then there is the music.  The theme song, Don't Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin', composed by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, and sung by former B-Western singing cowboy and current C&W singing star, Tex Ritter, was awarded the Academy Award for best song.  It was the first song from a non-musical to be so honored.

Tiomkin also won the Oscar for best music.

Fred Zinnemann received an oscar nomination for best director, but lost to John Ford, who won for THE QUIET MAN (Argosy/Republic, 1953).  However, Zinnemann, who was nominated a total of six times during his career, would win the following year for FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (Columbia, 1953) and again in 1966 for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (Columbia, 1966).

Gary Cooper won two Academy Awards for best actor out of a total of five nominations.  His first win was for SERGEANT YORK (WB, 1941).  His second -- and last -- was as Will Kane.  It is probably his best performance -- and one of the best by any actor.

Westerns, like comedies, have never received much respect when it comes to Oscar nominations.  HIGH NOON was certainly accorded more respect than perhaps any other Western in history, but it too was slighted in a big way.  

The film was nominated in the best picture category, but did not win.  It was a travesty.  It was beaten out in a weak field by Cecil DeMille's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (Paramount, 1952).  

Stanly Kramer always maintained that it was the controversial nature of the film's message and the intrigue surrounding Carl Foreman's role in the film's production that caused HIGH NOON to lose to DeMille's second-rate film.

Surprisingly, Carl Foreman was nominated for best screenplay, but it is no surprise that he did not win.  By the time the awards were announced he had left the country.  Unlike Will Kane, he did cut and run.  

Of course there was one big difference: nobody was going to track him down.  He went into exile in England where he continued his career with notable success.  As for Kramer, his treatment of Foreman would forever be a blot on the record of a producer noted for movies with a "liberal message."

The New York Film Critics did name HIGH NOON as the best film of the year while the Screen Directors Guild voted Zinnemann the director of the year.

After moving to Europe Carl Foreman (right) continued a successful career as a screenwriter and producer.  He tried his hand as a director only one time.  The result was the very good WWII drama, THE VICTORS (Columbia, 1963).  This photo was taken on location for that film.  That's George Hamilton, one of its stars, on the left.

  

 

Stanley Kramer, producer of many notable films

******
REVIEWS

"HIGH NOON is a scorching and sour portrait of American complacence and capacity for collaborationism.  A depressed witness to the nation's self-obsessed relativism, Cooper's lawman isn't heroic but resigned and bitter." -- Michael Atkinson in The Village Voice

"Miss Kelly fits the mental picture of Quaker girl nicely, but the femme assignment that has color and s.a. [sex appeal] is carried by Katy Jurado, as an ex-girl friend of the marshal." -- Variety

"....directing and performances are all superb and Cooper's is heart-stoppingly splendid, possibly one of the most intense performances by any actor ever to have been filmed." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide

"This is no storybook Western; this seems a replica of actuality.  It is a picture that does honor to the Western and elevates the medium of films." -- Bosley Crowther in the New York Times

"Fred Zinnemann's well-made Western has been overpraised...[but] Gary Cooper is splendid...and Katy Jurado is memorable....The conventional but sold filmmaking style is perfectly suited to the inevitable but suspenseful conclusion...." -- Steven H. Scheuer

And now for a couple of opposing viewpoints:

"Some will consider it heresy, but HIGH NOON  is a somewhat overrated Western...in retrospect, some of the pretentiousness of the story line and the conventions used in the character relationships do not hold up." -- James Robert Parrish and Michael R. Pitts in The Great Western Pictures

"In retrospect the film has a certain obviousness about it...that defuses the power of any 'message' Foreman might have intended." -- Phil Hardy in The Western