RED MOUNTAIN (director: William Dieterle; screenwriters: from story by George W. George/John M. Lucas/George F. Slavin; cinematographer: Charles B. Lang; editor: Warren Low; cast: Alan Ladd (Capt. Brett Sherwood), Arthur Kennedy (Lane Waldron), Lizabeth Scott (Chris), John Ireland (Quantrell), Francis McDonald (Marshal Roberts), James Bell (Dr. Terry), Neville Brand (Dixon), Jeff Corey (Skee), Jay Silverheels (Little Crow), Iron Eyes Cody (Ute Indian), 1951)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Standard Civil War story set in the mountains of Colorado in 1865, with Captain Brett Sherwood (Alan Ladd) as a former Confederate officer who rode with General Pickett; Arthur Kennedy as Lane Waldron, a former Confederate soldier who was in a Union prison and was paroled out West with the condition he remain neutral; and, John Ireland as the renegade Confederate General Quantrell, someone who is fighting a brutal guerilla war in order to establish a Southern empire out West and to make himself rich, using the Ute Indians as his allies. The raiding party scalp their victims during their raids against the civilian population.
The pleasures derived from this Western are seen in the beautiful vistas from Lang's camera; seeing Alan Ladd playing a heroic role, as he changes sides from a villain to a good guy during the course of the film, as he teams up with Kennedy and his wife Cris (Lizabeth Scott), to fight off Quantrell; and, lastly, the typical Western action sequences, with a well-staged shoot-out to end the film on.
There are no surprises in this oater, but it's watchable fare. It is surprising how soothing these lightweight films can be and how nostalgic they are for those of us who sometimes have a yen to recall the 1950s, thinking fondly back when films such as this one were regularly part of a double-feature.
In the first scene, a gold assayer gets shot. Lane is accused by a mob in town of doing the honors and they therefore try to string him up, even as the marshall warns them they don't have sufficient proof. Brett from his perch on a mesa top shoots the hanging rope freeing Lane, as the two ride off together pursued by the mob. They escape to Lane's hideaway, where Lane swears he didn't do the killing, that he was only in the assayer's office to stake a claim on a gold mine he found. After seeing Brett's Confederate gun, which hold the same cartridge shells found at the crime scene, he realizes that Brett killed the assayer, and he decides to bring Brett back to the marshall in town to free himself of the murder charge and go on to claim the gold mine he found. But Brett jumps him and the two fight it out, with Lane breaking his leg. Ladd will explain later on, that he killed the assayer because he cheated him out of a claim once before and he cheated many other people.
Brett meets Quantrell and quickly becomes disillusioned by him, seeing that he is on his own and the Confederacy is secondary to him. Also, Brett realizes the war is almost over and the South can't win anymore, so there is no reason to keep fighting. He, thereby, tries to keep Lane and his wife, who has joined him, alive, as Quantrell wants to kill them and continue on with his raids. But Brett tempts him, by telling him of Lane's gold mine, and that by killing him he won't know where the gold is.
The other twist in the story is that Brett falls for Cris; and she, after initially hating him, begins to show that she loves him. Though, she stays by her husband's side more out of duty than love.
There are villains galore here. My favorite portrayal of one is by Jeff Corey. He is the wormy Quantrell soldier who tries to rape Cris, but she shoots him in self-defense.
When Cris brings a doctor to the hideout to mend Lane's leg, Brett tells them that they better get help, because in the morning Quantrell plans to shoot the doctor and the couple. as Brett now sides openly with Lane. They send the doctor to town to get help, but in the morning he comes back dead, and Quantrell's men attack. These scenes are action-packed. There's nothing special about this oater, nor is there anything terrible about it. But, by golly, you get to see the cavalry come riding in to save the day, and to me, that's when you know for darn sure that you are watching a genuine Western.
REVIEWED ON 5/15/99 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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