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Thursday, April 18, 2019

FOUR FACES WEST (1948)

The landscape is epic, the story chamber-sized in this unusually fine indie Western from a seemingly rejuvenated Alfred E. Green*, with Joel McCrea & Frances Dee, Hollywood’s handsomest, happiest couple (3 kids/ married 57 years). There’s a religious bent to the warm-hearted story, though it's far more gently handled than John Ford’s contemporary 3 GODFATHERS/’48, as an injured McCrea meets Dee on a train after he’s robbed a bank right under the nose of new sheriff Pat Garrett (Charles Bickford). These two are made for each other, but he’ll have to face the music, and return the cash, for any future together. Meanwhile, they find a guardian angel in saloon owner Joseph Calleia and a mission of mercy in a desperately ill family who waylay McCrea just as he nears the Mexican border. A lovely (and all but villain-less) fable, taken from Eugene Manlove Rhodes’ Paso Por Aqui, gets just as lovely a presentation with cinematographer Russell Harlan in spectacular form on spectacular locations. Be sure to have an extra look at a mock-up nightscape shown during a train ride a bit before the half-hour mark. Like some leftover UFA silent film model, a real visual knockout.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *A late peak for Green. Showing new confidence after having the biggest hit of his long, largely uninteresting journeyman career with THE JOLSON STORY/’46?

DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, Ford's 3 GODFATHERS, a story William Wyler, Richard Boleslawski & John Badham have all taken on. Wyler’s very early Talkie version (HELL’S HEROES/’29) quite exceptional. Ford’s is more than a little bit sticky, but with a great, largely original, third act tacked on.

LINK: Excellent print here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTNYysSa9HU

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