Gefährliche Mission

Set in 1869 Wyoming , the railway mail service is being continuously assaulted by nasty thieves . Then , Steve Davis : Stephen MacNally , is assigned a dangerous mission : to chase and detain the band as well as protect the Territorial Mail Service . Steve poses an an inmate in territorial prison run by a corrupt warden : Ed Begley . There stands Steve with purport to get some clues , as he befriends a key member , Whit Bissell , of the criminal organization formed by illustrous secondaries as Howard Da Silva, James Arness , Gene Evans , Richard Jaeckel . After that , and helped by his colleague Indian Joe : Armando Silvestre , he breaks out of prison and joins the gang . Meanwhile , he falls in love for a beautiful saloon singer: Alexis Smith . The train robbery that shook the West ¡ The West's most daring train robbery ¡

A run-of-the-mill Western with thrills , go riding , shootouts , twists and turns . There is action enough , but it is paced in fits and starts , however , being entertaining thanks to its continuos surprises and plot twists . Here stands out the colorful cinematography by Russell Metty in brilliant Technicolor , shot on location in Sierra Railway , Jamestown , California and Universal Studios .The plot is plain and simple , an undercover government agent is hired in order to destroy a criminal group , as he infiltrates from inside , sustaining interest for quite a while with intrigue , tension and suspenseful, adding some songs and beautiful girls dancing at saloon. Well starred by Stephen MacNally and the attractive Alexis Smith as a dance hall singer who proves to have dark secrets . It displays a great and astonishing support cast plenty of familiar faces to play subsequently a number of Westerns as the usually nasty Howard Da Silva, the splendid character actor Ed Begley, Gene Evans who was Samuel Fuller's regular , the Mexican Armando Silvestre , Roy Roberts , Richard Jaeckel who had a long career , a curly-haired James Arness of Gunsmoke , the prolífic secondary Whit Bissell , Frank Fenton , Woodrow Parfrey, , and a brief appearance by Richard Egan who a bit later on to become himself a big star , among others .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Reginald Le Borg. He was an artisan who made several films in B style with not much success , such as The eyes of Annie Jones , The Black Sleep, Sins of Jezabel ,The Flanagan Boy , GI Jane , The Dalton Girls , War Drums , Troublemakers , Joe Palooka , Philo Vance , San Diego I love you, Destiny , Jungle woman, Port Said , being his biggest hit : Diary of a Madman , starred by Vincent Price . He went on directing TV episodes of known series as Bronco , Maverick, The Alaskans , Sugarfoot , Bourbon Street , Wire Service, among others. Rating 6/10 acceptable and passable oater western.

It was amusing to discover that the Director of this pleasant little diversion directed it apparently between two Joe Palooka movies. Now they are tough films to watch. However, although this story line is a bit weak,the film does have a couple of things going for it. Alexis Smith is an attractive heroine. Her character has a life changing decision to make and it works well. The film also attempts to flesh out the role of the Railroad in small communities in the west. The Railroad Club comes off as another saloon but the very fact that its a club is an interesting historical footnote. Much of the exterior scenery is beautifully presented, although the hideout left something to be desired. A good wet Sunday amusement.

I reviewed this movie and find it very strange, that after all these years this movie is still around. I was visiting my relatives in Sonora California when I was 16 years old and Universal International was filming the movie. Most of the movie crew ate at the El Nido Inn where I stayed. I was introduced to the producers and and directors and they took me into the production as a guest. Every morning I would tale the big limos to the locations. One location was the Sonora city dump transformed into a scene that didn't resemble the original location. I met actress Alexis Smith, although she was a very private person. I was introduced to her because she was from Penticton B.C. Canada only 50 miles from my home town. I recall many moments of the production. It was strange to see it later in the theatre, because most of the scenes became different than what I saw in real life. Memories still linger.

I watched it because it was from Universal studios and also directed by Reginald LeBorg, whom I did not comment so many films from him so far. It is a good effective western starring Stephen McNally for once in a good guy character, an undrcover agent to nail a gang of outlaws. As you see, nothing exceptional here. No surprise at all. I would have prefered Mc Nally as a gang leader, but Howard De Silva could not be an undercover agent. It would not have matched at all. I don't even speak of Ed Begley. Good sequences though, good production design, this western was a small budget one, OK, but not PRC or Monogram either, so the lack of budget did not justify some flaws explained by a lack of care from the director and not the production.

I have never heard of Director Reginald LeBorg but from a quick glance at his IMDB bio, I surmise that he did not do anything particularly memorable.

Exactly the same description for the screenplay by Essex and Lee: no dialogue to remember for too long.

The things that stayed on my mind: Stephen McNally, a very fine supporting thespian, here a lead who delivers credibly, especially in the company of lovely Alexis Smith; and Armando Silvestre as Indian Joe, wearing moccasins that change from white to near black and back to white all in the same run on the mountain.

Howard da Silva also stands out as one of the baddies, though not the kingpin, and James Arness for once plays a villain instead of goody two shoes Dillon.

Competent cinematography by Russell Metty, unobtrusive landscapes here and there, some gripping bits of action in between slower stretches. Not a waste of time, though - as indicated at the start - nothing to remember for long. 7/10.