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Archive for the ‘Jacques Tourneur’ Category

Blu-Ray News #393: Stranger On Horseback (1955).

Posted in 1955, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Jacques Tourneur, John Carradine, John McIntire, Kit Parker, Louis L'Amour, Nancy Gates, United Artists on November 22, 2025| 36 Comments »

Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Joel McCrea, Miroslava, John McIntire, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Gates, John Carradine

Jacques Tourneur’s Stranger On Horseback (1955) starring Joel McCrea is a Western considered pretty much lost until Kit Parker sorted out and bought the rights — and tracked down what is probably the only surviving 35mm color print (hiding at the BFI).

This new Stranger On Horseback will be a huge improvement over the old DVD. The supplements include a mini-documentary, Thunder In The Saddle: The Making Of Stranger On Horseback; an audio commentary by some dude named Toby Roan; the theatrical trailer; and image galleries that include production photos, the original shooting script, posters, lobby cards and more.

UPDATE: The release date is December 16. Get ready, folks!

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Old Movies, New Technology — And A Happy New Year!

Posted in 1955, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Film Masters, Film Preservation, Jacques Tourneur, Joel McCrea, Kit Parker, United Artists on December 24, 2024| 25 Comments »

This old world has been churning out motion pictures for well over a hundred years. Some are good, some ain’t. Some are easy to find, and unfortunately, some ain’t. This has been on my mind lately, and it’s been a fairly frequent topic among the comments on this blog and “the other one.”

I just wrapped up my contribution to the second volume of Kit Parker’s Saddle Up Westerns series. (The first will be out soon.) Number 2 includes Jacques Tourneur’s Stranger On Horseback (1955)* starring Joel McCrea, a Western considered pretty much lost until Mr. Parker sorted out and bought the rights — and tracked down what is probably the only surviving 35mm color print (hiding at the BFI).

There was a DVD released through VCI several years ago, and now that lonely print has been pulled back into service for Blu-Ray. We should be happy to have a chance to see Stranger On Horseback, period. There are lots and lots of movies that haven’t come back from the abyss like this one has. For it to make it to DVD, much less Blu-Ray, is really something.

We’re Spoiled, Admit It.
Many of us complain about “double dipping” — buying a film over and over as technology evolves. First, nobody’s holding a gun to your head — you don’t have to make all those re-purchases. You can stick to that VHS copy of Goldfinger (1964) you bought 30 years ago. Once upon a time, you thought that tape looked pretty damn good, now you’d turn your nose up at it. (Same goes for that ancient DVD of it.) 

This new Stranger On Horseback will be a huge improvement over the DVD. And just as you have to open your wallet for these upgrades, so do these video companies — an entirely new transfer/scan is required. And that kind of restoration work comes with a pretty hefty price tag.

I’m so thankful that folks like Mr. Parker and Phil Hopkins of Film Masters are giving these films another chance to be seen (and maybe later another chance to really shine). Their efforts are to be applauded — and certainly supported. To be selfish about it (and to prove I learned something in Economics class), as long as we keep buying them, they’ll keep making ’em.

The major studios seem to have given up on the old, obscure films we cherish, making these independents even more important as a video source and as an engine for film preservation. 

2025 already promises a wealth of video riches (and the restored The Searchers might hit your mailbox before the end of 2024). Rather than complain because there are so many movies NOT available on DVD or Blu-Ray (such as Republic’s The Great Train Robbery from 1941), I’m gonna look at my video collection as half full rather than half empty. And if I’m gonna complain about anything, it’s gonna be that I need more shelf space!

*The second feature in this set will be Outlaw Women (1952) starring Marie Windsor, scanned from a 35mm Cinecolor original.

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Blu-Ray Review: The Alaskans – The Complete Series (1959-1960).

Posted in 1959, Claud Akins, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Frank Ferguson, George Waggner, Jacques Tourneur, James Garner, Jesse Hibbs, John Dehner, Julie Adams, Karen Steele, Lee Van Cleef, Leo Gordon, Marie Windsor, Myron Healey, Ray Teal, Roger Moore, TV, Warner Archive, Warner Bros. on December 4, 2024| 3 Comments »

A while back, Warner Archive dug the series Colt .45 out of their vaults for a stunning Blu-Ray set. They’ve done it again with a Warner Bros. series that’s been even harder to see over the years — The Alaskans (1959-60) starring Roger Moore and Dorothy Provine.

Roger Moore stars as Silky Harris, a con man in Skagway, Alaska during the state’s Gold Rush. Jeff York is his cohort Reno McKee and Dorothy Provine is the saloon singer Rocky Shaw. It looks and plays much like the other Westerns WB was putting on TV in the late 50s, only this one trades the Wild West for gold-crazy Alaska (which had recently become a state).

Of course, the Alaska we see here is actually the WB backlot. One of Roger Moore’s complaints about the show was how miserable it was wearing a parka in the California sun.

A TV show is almost like a living thing. It’s born, it grows and hopefully it finds its way. Most shows’ early episodes are a far cry from that first season’s final ones. With The Andy Griffith Show, for instance, Andy’s take on his character is almost completely different going from Season 1 to Season 2. And look at how The Man From UNCLE changed as it went to color (and maybe the suits saw the success of Batman).

Though The Alaskans was part of a terrific ABC Sunday-night lineup (all Westerns!), and it boasted an incredible roster of guest stars — from Julie Adams and Claude Akins to Frank Ferguson and Leo Gordon to Ray Teal and Lee Van Cleef to Marie Windsor and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., the show never quite took off. After a single season, it was done. (Moore was then coerced into joining the cast of Maverick when James Garner left).

The Alaskans has the look and feel of the other WB TV Westerns of the period (and reportedly some recycled Maverick scripts), but something never quite clicks. (Jeff York’s character often seems totally unnecessary.) Close, but no cigar.

But all these years later, with this nice Blu-Ray set at our disposal, it’s easy to give The Alaskans some grace. There’s that cast, directors like Jesse Hibbs, Leslie H. Martinson, Jacques Tourneur and George Waggner, and gorgeous 4K transfers from the camera negatives. I’ve longed to see it (never thinking I would), and even though its shortcomings were what I’d been warned about, it’s easy to recommend it.

It’s more than just a curio from the early days of Moore’s career, and I’m grateful to Warner Archive for putting it out. 

And back to that idea of TV shows being like living things. The Alaskans didn’t get a second season, but here’s its chance at another life. Check it out.

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Blu-Ray News #362: Wichita (1955).

Posted in 1955, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Edgar Buchanan, Jack Elam, Jacques Tourneur, Joel McCrea, Lloyd Bridges, Monogram/Allied Artists, Vera Miles, Wallace Ford, Warner Archive on July 10, 2023| 85 Comments »


Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Joel McCrea, Vera Miles, Lloyd Bridges, Wallace Ford, Edgar Buchanan, Peter Graves, Jack Elam

Jacques Tourneur’s Wichita (1955) was an early DVD title from Warner Archive and we were all excited to see it turn up. Now it’s coming to Blu-Ray in August — and I’m probably more excited this time around, given what we’ve seen CinemaScope and Technicolor look like in high definition these days. Wichita is getting a 4K scan of the original camera negative.

But no matter how you’re looking at it, Wichita is terrific. Tourneur was one of Joel McCrea’s preferred directors and they always seemed to strike gold when they worked together. This one, with McCrea as Wyatt Earp cleaning up Wichita, Kansas, is one of their best.

Riding along with Wichita are two Tex Avery cartoons, Deputy Droopy and The First Bad Man (both 1955). The whole thing comes highly, highly recommended.

Thanks to Paula for the tip!

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“Hello, Folks…”

Posted in 1950, Ads, posters & art, Jacques Tourneur, Joel McCrea, MGM on March 8, 2023| 11 Comments »

Came across this ad for Stars In My Crown (1950) and thought I’d share it.

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Blu-Ray Review: Great Day In The Morning (1955).

Posted in 1956, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Jacques Tourneur, Leo Gordon, RKO, Ruth Roman, Virginia Mayo, Warner Archive on February 5, 2020| 15 Comments »

Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Produced by Edmund Grainer
Screenplay by Lesser Samuels
Based on the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews
Music by Leith Stevens
Cinematography: William E. Snyder
Film Editor: Harry Marker

Cast: Virginia Mayo (Ann Merry Alaine), Robert Stack (Owen Pentecost), Ruth Roman (Boston Grant), Alex Nicol (Captain Stephen Kirby), Raymond Burr (Jumbo Means), Leo Gordon (Zeff Masterson), Regis Toomey (Father Murphy), Carleton Young (Colonel Gibson)

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Director Jacques Tourneur is well known for his horror (Cat People) and noir (Out Of The Past) pictures, and he should be. It’s a shame his Westerns — a handful of very good, and very unique, pictures from the 40s and 50s — don’t get the same recognition. Great Day In The Morning (1956) was Tourneur’s last Western feature (he did some cowboy stuff for TV), and it’s often overlooked or shrugged off. It’s well worth seeking out, especially now that we can see it in all its Technicolor and Superscope glory on Blu-Ray from Warner Archive.

Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) arrives in Denver from his home in North Carolina, right before the start of the Civil War. He finds the place divided between those sympathetic to the North or the South. He’s a self-centered opportunist (about the nicest thing you could say about him), hoping to profit from the gold being discovered there and the unrest created by the impending war. Owen quickly establishes himself, drawing the ire of the town boss (Raymond Burr), getting caught up in all the pre-war bickering and fighting, and catching the eye of both a businesswoman (Virginia Mayo) and saloon girl (Ruth Roman). He’s always willing to play one side against the other for his own benefit.

And that’s where the trouble comes in. The male lead isn’t very likable, and it’d be easy to transfer that opinion to the film itself. But you’d be overlooking a lot of good stuff. First, there’s the incredible look Tourneur gives all his films. Pools of light in deep shadows are used well to direct our eye and highlight certain characters or bits of action. Cinematographer William E. Snyder does some great work here.

The cast of Great Day In The Morning is terrific, from the villains like Raymond Burr and Leo G. Gordon to the ladies, Virginia Mayo and Ruth Roman. Roman is especially good. Robert Stack is fine as Pentecost, and he’s to be commended for playing the character as the creep that he is. Westerns, especially the ones from the 1950s, get a lot of mileage out of the theme of redemption. It’s the backbone of many of the genre’s finest films. Here, we fully expect Pentecost to see the error of his ways, have a change of heart and make amends before the final fade. But with almost every genre convention Tourneur faces, his pictures seem to zig where other films zag — it’s very evident in his first Western, Canyon Passage (1946). Being that Tourneur is at the wheel on Great Day In The Morning, we shouldn’t be surprised when Pentecost’s redemption doesn’t happen the way it usually does.

Warner Archive has been bringing out 50s SuperScope movies on Blu-Ray lately, such as John Sturges’ Underwater! from 1955, and they’re doing a tremendous job with them. You hear a lot about how the process was grainy and soft, but you’d never think that after look at these Blu-Rays. They’re beautiful. It’s great to see them looking like this, and I’d certainly welcome some more.

A lot of people simply don’t like Great Day In The Morning. But it’s a Jacques Tourneur movie that’s often overlooked, and for that reason, along with its superb presentation on Blu-Ray, I recommend it highly.

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray News #292: Kino Lorber’s Heading West In March!

Posted in 1957, Andy Devine, Audie Murphy, Ben Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Brian Keith, Dan Duryea, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Harry Carey Jr., Jack Arnold, Jack Elam, Jacques Tourneur, Jay C. Flippen, Jeff Chandler, Jimmy Stewart, Kino Lorber, Lloyd Bridges, Maureen O'Hara, Post-1959, Pre-1950, Robert J. Wilke, Royal Dano, Universal (International), Ward Bond on January 2, 2020| 41 Comments »

Kino Lorber is serving up four terrific Universal Westerns in March, an announcement that gets. 2020 off to a great start.

Canyon Passage (1946)
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, Patricia Roc, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Andy Devine, Lloyd Bridges

Canyon Passage was Jacques Tourneur’s first Western and first film in color. It’s got a great cast (Ward Bond is terrific — and very scary) and incredible Technicolor photography from Edward Cronjager, who also shot Lang’s Western Union (1941). This is a very overlooked, underrated film.

Night Passage (1957)
Directed by James Neilson
Starring James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Dianne Foster, Elaine Stewart, Brandon de Wilde, Jay C. Flippen, Robert J. Wilke, Hugh Beaumont

Shot in Technirama, a high-fidelity combination of VistaVision and anamorphic widescreen, Night Passage is as sharp as movies could get in the late 50s. And with loads of incredible location work in Durango, Colorado, it’s stunning — and a perfect candidate for Blu-Ray. The movie itself, while it’s no masterpiece, has been unjustly maligned. You’ll find the story behind all that in an old post.

Man In The Shadow (1957)
Directed by Jack Arnold
Starring Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller, Barbara Lawrence, John Larch, Royal Dano, James Gleason

There are a thousand reasons to be excited about this modern-day (well, 1957) Western — Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, B&W CinemaScope and Jack Arnold, for starters. Welles and producer Albert Zugsmith got to talking here, which led to Touch Of Evil (1958).

The Rare Breed (1966)
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
Starring James Stewart, Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, Juliet Mills, Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, Harry Carey, Jr.

The best thing The Rare Breed has going for it is its incredible cast — how could it go wrong? Not to mention the Technicolor/Panavision cinematography of William H. Clothier.

All four films will feature a commentary (I’m doing both Passage films) and an original trailer. It’s no easy to recommend these things!

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray News #287: Great Day In The Morning (1956).

Posted in 1956, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Jacques Tourneur, Leo Gordon, RKO, Virginia Mayo, Warner Archive on October 17, 2019| 4 Comments »

Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Regis Toomey

Jacques Tourneur’s post-Civil War picture Great Day In The Morning (1956) is coming to Blu-Ray from Warner Archive in November. Whether it’s morning or not depends on where you are in the world, but another Tourneur Western in high-definition makes for a great day indeed! The Superscope, Technicolor cinematography by William Snyder is incredible. This somewhat overlooked picture comes highly recommended.

This followed Tourneur’s better-known Westerns Stranger On Horseback and Wichita, both with Joel McCrea and both released in 1955. It’d be great to see those get a Blu-Ray release, too!

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray Want List.

Posted in Allan Dwan, Andre de Toth, Anthony Mann, Audie Murphy, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ben Johnson, Budd Boetticher, Burt Kennedy, Clayton Moore, Clint Walker, Dale Evans, Dale Robertson, Delmer Daves, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Frank Ferguson, Fred F. Sears, George Montgomery, George Sherman, Glenn Ford, Gordon Douglas, Guy Madison, Hank Worden, Jack Arnold, Jacques Tourneur, James Coburn, James H. Griffith, Jay Silverheels, Jeff Chandler, Joel McCrea, John Ford, John McIntire, John Payne, John Sturges, John Wayne, Julie Adams, Kirk Douglas, Lesley Selander, Lippert/Regal, Mara Corday, Marie Windsor, Paul Landres, Phil Karlson, Randolph Scott, Ray Nazarro, Republic Pictures, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Rory Calhoun, Roy Rogers, Sam Katzman, Sam Peckinpah, Sterling Hayden, The Lone Ranger, Universal (International), William Castle, William Elliott, Yvonne DeCarlo, Zachary Scott on September 4, 2019| 22 Comments »

A while back, I asked for Want Lists of the 50s Westerns still lost on the high-def trail. Here they are, presented in chronological order. The titles in bold are the ones that were brought up most frequently.

With the recent news about Fox/Disney’s lack of interest in their back catalogs appearing on shiny silver circles, getting this finished and posted seemed very timely. Many of these, mind you, haven’t even turned up on DVD yet.

The Virginian (1946)
Albuquerque (1948)
Coroner Creek (1948)
Whispering Smith (1948)
3 Godfathers (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949)
Hellfire (1949)
Streets Of Laredo (1949)
Ambush (1950)
Branded (1950)
Devil’s Doorway (1950)
The Nevadan (1950)
Saddle Tramp (1950)
Short Grass (1950)
Showdown (1950)

Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)
Across The Wide Missouri (1951)
Along The Great Divide (1951)
Apache Drums (1951)
Best Of The Badmen (1951)
The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
Inside Straight (1951)
Man In The Saddle (1951)
Red Mountain (1951)
The Redhead And The Cowboy (1951)
The Secret Of Convict Lake (1951)
The Texas Rangers (1951)
Westward The Women (1951)
Vengeance Valley (1951)
Warpath (1951)
The Big Sky (1952)
Bugles In The Afternoon (1952)

Hangman’s Knot (1952)
The Lawless Breed (1952)
The Lusty Men (1952)
The Naked Spur (1952)
Ride The Man Down (1952)
The Savage (1952)
The Story Of Will Rogers (1952)
Untamed Frontier (1952)
Ambush At Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Charge At Feather River (1953)
City Of Bad Men (1953)
Devil’s Canyon {1953)
Escape From Fort Bravo (1953)
The Great Sioux Uprising (1953)
Jack McCall, Desperado (1953)
Last Of The Comanches (1953)
The Last Posse (1953)
The Silver Whip (1953)
The Stranger Wore A Gun (1953)
Wings Of The Hawk (1953)

Tumbleweed (1953)
Apache (1954)
The Bounty Hunter (1954)
Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954)
The Command (1954)
Dawn At Socorro (1954)
The Law Vs. Billy The Kid (1954)
The Outcast (1954)
Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954)
Silver Lode (1954)
Wyoming Renegades (1954)
The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
At Gunpoint (1955)
Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
The Last Frontier (1955)
The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955)
Shotgun (1955)
Smoke Signal (1955)
Tennessee’s Partner (1955)
The Violent Men (1955)
Wichita (1955)
Backlash (1956)

Dakota Incident (1956)
Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
Fury At Gunsight Pass (1956)
Great Day In The Morning (1956)
The Last Wagon (1956)
The Lone Ranger (1956)
The Maverick Queen (1956)
Reprisal! (1956)
Seven Men From Now (1956)
Stagecoach To Fury (1956)
Tribute To A Bad Man (1956)
Copper Sky (1957)
Domino Kid (1957)

Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957)
From Hell To Texas (1958)
Frontier Gun (1958)
The Lone Ranger And The Lost City Of Gold (1958)
Face Of A Fugitive (1959)
Last Train From Gun Hill (1959)
No Name On The Bullet (1959)
Thunder In The Sun (1959)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
Hell Bent For Leather (1960)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Firecreek (1968)
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)

As this was being compiled, a few titles actually made their way to Blu-Ray, one of them being the exquisite new Wagon Master (1950) from Warner Archive.

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Pre-50s Western Blu-Ray News #280: Canyon Passage (1946).

Posted in Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy, Dana Andrews, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Jacques Tourneur, Kino Lorber, Lloyd Bridges, Pre-1950, Susan Hayward, Universal (International), Ward Bond on June 12, 2019| 48 Comments »

Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Starring Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, Patricia Roc, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Andy Devine, Lloyd Bridges

Canyon Passage (1946) is a large-scale tale of the Oregon Territory. Jacques Tourneur’s first Western and first color film, it was a big hit back in 1946. It’s got a great cast (Ward Bond is terrific — and very scary) and incredible Technicolor photography from Edward Cronjager, who also shot Lang’s Western Union (1941).

It’s coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber later this year. You can bet it’ll look great.

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