More verbally than visually oriented, writer/director Delmer Daves had recently shown some unexpected filmmaking flair, and a particular talent for slow-fuse suspense, in 3:10 TO YUMA/’57. (A gift hinted at as early as THE RED HOUSE/’47.) So, no surprise that the best thing in this mid-sized Western comes in a deliberately-paced suspense sequence for Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine & Nehemiah Persoff (playing Mexican of all things) secretly working a ‘retired’ mine shaft under the noses of a working shift at an active gold mine. If only the rest of the film worked half as well. Ladd & Borgnine are a couple of framed cons, fresh out of prison and forced to partner up, along with explosion expert Persoff, on a time-sensitive gold ore grab. Katy Jurado shows up as a local tart Borgnine falls for, she corrals Mexican locals in a Cinco de Mayo battle royale finale, but this flourish is as underdeveloped as the rest of the film. As if the budget got clipped halfway in with various plot tangents left unexplored. (Not even enough cash for a fresh film score.) Not bad, but easily could have been better.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Cinematographer John Seitz, who shot for Rex Ingram (FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE/’21; SCARAMOUCHE/’23) and redefined film technique for Preston Sturges & Billy Wilder in the ‘40s, made his last six studio pics carefully lighting a rapidly aging Alan Ladd. The DVD’s darkened film source does him few favors, but Ladd was presumably happy with the results.
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