MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: SILVER RIVER (1948)

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Sunday, April 1, 2018

SILVER RIVER (1948)

Unfairly court-martialed out of The Union Army after an act of bravery and initiative at Gettysburg, Errol Flynn wises up, turning hardhearted, bitter & avaricious. Seizing an opportunity, he jumps into the gambling biz and heads West to find fortune, expanding into banks, silver mines & territory. Soon, he’s rolling over everything in his path, including Bruce Bennett, mild mannered mine-owning husband of Ann Sheridan, one of the few things Flynn wants but hasn’t conquered. In this last of seven collaborations for Flynn & director Raoul Walsh, the tone has darkened, intriguingly so. But the ambitious story (David & Bathsheba out West as Flynn’s bibulous lawyer Thomas Mitchell tells us) doesn’t play into anyone’s filmmaking strengths. Flynn looking unhappy/uncomfortable; Sheridan browbeaten & dour in her last Warners pic; Walsh losing interest after a fine Civil War action prologue. And a last act turnaround/redemption that feels rushed, unmotivated and out of character. Disappointing.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Try UNCERTAIN GLORY/’44 or GENTLEMAN JIM/’42 (really, any of their other films together) to see Flynn & Walsh working hand-in-hand. OR: Flynn, unexpectedly fine under William Keighley in a better handled downbeat Western with a similar Civil War period setting, ROCKY MOUNTAIN/’50.

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Sunday, April 1, 2018

SILVER RIVER (1948)

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